The beautiful day started simply enough. I’ve been eyeballing quite a few neighboring yards with dead trees used in their landscaping and thought one would go well in ours too. Marc, having just been out to the desert the other day in the Freightliner to pick up the boulder for our address, said he would take me out and we’d check out some washes for downed trees. I know you know where this is going….
Not twenty minutes later we find my prize. It’s awash in a cluster of brush so we wrestle it out of its hiding place only to find that it is fairly heavy for the two of us to pick up. We have left the truck parked back about a block away on the dirt gravel/road so Marc figured he would get the truck closer. We consulted and my best advice was “That’s foolish; it will never make it through the wash.” What is it about men that when you make a direct challenge to them such as this they just have to try anyway?
Yup, he made it all of about ten foot down the incline into the wash before the tires started burying themselves in the sand. He obviously knew enough not to keep on spinning the wheels and we did a “now what?” look between us.
Ok, step two. We only have a couple pieces of 2x6 with us; he places these behind the back tires (the front are not stuck at this point), gets in and revs another try in reverse. The wood totally disappears; to where we never do find out. Step three—we’ll build a rock “road” for the tires. So…we pack rock for the next hour. We try again; again it buries itself, this time with the back of the bed hanging up on the slight incline. We throw more rocks to the front of the truck so Marc can drive forward dislodging it from the hill. He crawls under the truck and adjusts the air suspension as high as it will go to give maximum clearance. Tired of packing rock, hot and thirsty, I tell him this is the final try and then we need to call for help. What is it about men that when they are in trouble they will never admit defeat and call for help?
Step four fails again. Thankfully, I brought the cell phone and we have signal! We call out the Calvary, our good neighbors Ron and Jan in their half ton four by four. “Bring lots of wood, 2x4’s”. Half an hour later, they arrive with camera in hand and wearing smiles that say they can’t believe the sight of us. Marc snakes out the long tow chain; we have made yet another rock road and the lumber goes down behind the rear wheels and up the incline. Ron gives a tug; Marc goes into a strong throttle in reverse and up the hill the Freightliner moves as she skids across the lumber. Success!
"Now, you guys wanna help us pack out my prize?"
