Let me tell you a tale... of mud

I just got back from an overnight trip doing field work in the north of Louisiana. One of my assistants thinks he's our talisman for not getting the crappy '99 Suburban that the school "let's" us use stuck in the mud. Well Mr. Lucky Boy was driving and gets us stuck in the mud. Really red sticky sloppy mud. We fishtailed slightly so the truck was at an angle across the road.

So we whip out the come-a-long which has no directions and takes all three of us to release the cable which breaks from the wench mechanism the first time we try it out. We think we rig it to work but only have about 4 or 5 feet of cable (which can't be right). Thank goodness I got an extra tow rope. So we work on getting the front end straightened out. But now that there is intense weight and pressure on the come-a-long we can't release it; not without getting our fingers jammed and possibly our faces sliced off when the cable releases.

Four, count them, four towing companies deny us help because they don't think they can get their trucks in to where we are stuck. And by the way, on the map the road we were on is labeled as an improved road. Our talisman was able to get a hold of a game warden who brings out his 4x4 pickup truck with a wench on the front.

His first attempt to get us out actually gets the truck stuck worse in the roadside ditch of flowing mud river. He has to change it up working in the front and then the back, switching until finally he gets us on gravel again. Thank goodness he follows us out because the '99 had trouble the rest of the way as well.

I hate Louisiana...