On Mud, Trucks and Guys....

Question: What happens when you combine the following items on a boring New Years Day?

10 Guys
9 Sets of boots (one guy wore his Moccasins)
8 Acres of Land
7 Flashlights
6 Nextel Phones
5 4WD Trucks
4 Busted Log chains
3 Tow Ropes
2 Inches of Rain
1 Honda 4-wheeler

Answer: One Heck of a Time!

The story goes something like this:

Around 5:00 p.m. my little brother and a friend of his, felt a need to leave the confines of my apartment and enjoy the effects of a very rainy weekend. They left my place in a worn out rusted Toyota truck looking for some excitement and feeling rather invulnerable to the effects of the weather and mother nature. At approximately 5:30 p.m. my Nextel 2-way begins beeping, and what do you know, he has abruptly come to the conclusion that he is in a predicament that requires that he call his big brother and ask for some help. Apparently, the Toyota has been swamped to a point in which self extraction is impossible, or at least not anytime before the next 2 month drought.

So I jump in my trusty Ford Ranger and head out to find them, while (buddy #2) heads up to (buddy #3) farm in his 4x4 S-10 to pick up extra chains. When I arrived at the property my brother & his friend partially submerged the Toyota in mud, 3 other friends were there, including the landowner (buddy #4) who had walked to the edge of the field looking for the Toyota they could hear roaring at abnormally high RPMs, but had disappeared 30 minutes earlier.

We threw a towrope in the back of the bed, and one of the guys jumped in my truck with me, I clicked into 4WD and we headed into the field. Now, lest the reader forget, the entire weekend proceeding January 1 was a rather rainy weekend that had given us approximately 2 inches or so of rain, turning a low-lying-normally wet field into 8 acres of mud soup. We reached the end of the field where the Toyota, now appearing lifeless, was sitting in an incredibly sloppy looking hole, and attempted to turn around to hook up to the Toyota, only to realize that 4WD had gone out on us as well, and we could no longer move my own truck. After numerous attempts at "rocking" the Ranger, pushing engine and wheel speeds much higher than the Manufacturer's recommended levels, we temporarily gave up and decided to wait until the S-10 could reach us, as he was now on the property and heading into the field with extra chains.

The next matter to complicate our already worsening problems was that about 50 yards into the field, the driver of the S-10 came to the sickening realization that even in 4WD his poor little S-10 with Kelly road-treads was not made to be taken off road, and he is now stuck, and his truck will be going nowhere soon. Enter: (buddy #3); having heard from (buddy #2) that there was excitement to be had that involved mud, decided to follow the S-10 into the field to assist us with his dad's 3/4 ton 4x4 Chevy farm truck, better known as Lowell's Bomb. But 50 yards into the field, he too realized that he was now stuck and going nowhere without assistance anytime soon either.

We now have 4 trucks stuck in one field, with no tractor close by.... however, in the mean time, I had been working with my truck trying to get 4WD to engage and get myself out of the hole I had dug into, and after many attempts and nearly tearing out the engine & transmission from excessive RPMs and brutally abrupt gear changes, I got 4WD engaged and finally managed to madly spin my way out of the hole and head out of the field onto drier ground. Now there's only 3 trucks stuck.

Little bro, sensing that we might need some more assistance, called (buddy #5) (who was vacationing) and asked him to get his big 4x4 Chevy Silverado with large mudders and come assist us in extracting the numerous pickups firmly embedded in the field (swamp). (buddy #5) arrived bringing more chains and a couple more guys bringing the total number of people involved in this, to a dozen. They succeeded in dragging the S-10 out of the field backwards without incident, and then succeeded in freeing (buddy #4) farm truck from the mud, and he too scrambled to higher, drier ground.

They now send the Silverado in to rescue the Toyota... after breaking a couple chains, they managed to get the Toyota out of its hole, but alas, part way back, it got stuck again... only worse, so they head back in to dig it out again, only this time, the big Silverado dug itself into mud deep enough that, not only can it not pull out the Toyota again, but it too is stuck and going nowhere. (buddy #3) feeling he had the best chance at helping went back into the field, but once again, after making it to the stuck Toyota and Silverado, he got stuck too, effectively reversing our progress to a negative.

By this time we had my 4WD working solidly, so I felt comfortable heading back into the field to assist, and without incident made it to the mired down pickups encased in mud. We worked for 20 minutes or so, spinning madly, backing up and getting runs on the chain and trying to yank the Silverado out of the mud, snapping another chain and once again nearly tearing out my transmission and pushing engine RPMs well beyond factory recommendations. Finally after placing the snapped chains under the Siverado's tires, and taxing my truck for all it was worth, we managed to free the Silverado, which with great effort and a bit more attention to staying out of the deepest mud holes was able to pull out the rest of the trucks and we all headed up to the landowner's shop laughing wildly, to inspect for damages, remove a couple layers of mud soaked clothes and discuss in colorful detail, the events that had just transpired.

No major damage done, except to a couple people's egos, and once again, me and my little green high-mileage, been wrecked, multiple-deer-slaughtering, gaurd-rail jumping, 4x4 FORD Ranger was the only truck to not need towed out, AND the truck to save the day by pulling a far bigger truck with better engine & tires out of the mud. I guess once again, Ford shines thru and I get one up on little bro who had to swallow it this time and ask for some help from a far "inferior" pickup. OK, I'm done bragging, for now....