09-18-2004, 04:05 AM
I've never really faced the elements for dinner but I can tell you about a rememberable family outting.
This was a family trip to the mountains to go play in the snow. My brother was 16, I was 12. My parents had an S10 extended cab pickup with 2-wheel drive. The entire family went on the trip. It was nice to get out of the desert for a while. The problem came when we got to the dirt road that led to our destination. It was plowed but it wasn't salted. It was glare ice. No traction. We didn't realize this until the truck started sliding sideways while we were driving around a turn . It wouldn't have been a pretty drop either... since we were lookin' at a good 30 feet off the side of the road.
Well, with the wheels spinning, my brother and I jumped out of the truck. Dad couldn't do anything since he's handicapped. Mom was driving. We had to climb out through the back window to get out of the vehicle while mom did all she could to keep us from going over the cliff.
Our first thought was to grab the rope in the emergency box and tie one end to the bumper, the other to a tree. Well, problem was, there were no trees close enough to tie to. Next plan. Try our best to push the truck up the slope while mom tries to power her way to a safe spot. No luck with that either. We finally managed to get the truck to stop sliding with about a foot to spare before the drop. The tailgait was pointing straight at the cliff. The nose pointing toward the other side of the road.
Well, here comes plan #3. Since we're in this predicament and nobody is willing to help us (there was a line of 6 vehicles with 4-wheel drive waiting for us to get out of their way but not one person offering to help), my brother laid his entire body on the ground and then rolled under the truck and pushed himself as far as he could under the tires while trying to maintain some sort of traction with his own body. I then went to the nose of the truck and pushed so that the nose was pointing back the way we were coming from. Mom was then able to drive to safety.
My brother ended up with 3 cracked ribs in this event. The outside temperature was about 35°. No telling what the windchill was. Needless to say, some quick prayers, some guardian angels, and lots of determination got us out safely. Of course, dad has a few choice words for the line of people that just watched instead of helping.
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This was a family trip to the mountains to go play in the snow. My brother was 16, I was 12. My parents had an S10 extended cab pickup with 2-wheel drive. The entire family went on the trip. It was nice to get out of the desert for a while. The problem came when we got to the dirt road that led to our destination. It was plowed but it wasn't salted. It was glare ice. No traction. We didn't realize this until the truck started sliding sideways while we were driving around a turn . It wouldn't have been a pretty drop either... since we were lookin' at a good 30 feet off the side of the road.
Well, with the wheels spinning, my brother and I jumped out of the truck. Dad couldn't do anything since he's handicapped. Mom was driving. We had to climb out through the back window to get out of the vehicle while mom did all she could to keep us from going over the cliff.
Our first thought was to grab the rope in the emergency box and tie one end to the bumper, the other to a tree. Well, problem was, there were no trees close enough to tie to. Next plan. Try our best to push the truck up the slope while mom tries to power her way to a safe spot. No luck with that either. We finally managed to get the truck to stop sliding with about a foot to spare before the drop. The tailgait was pointing straight at the cliff. The nose pointing toward the other side of the road.
Well, here comes plan #3. Since we're in this predicament and nobody is willing to help us (there was a line of 6 vehicles with 4-wheel drive waiting for us to get out of their way but not one person offering to help), my brother laid his entire body on the ground and then rolled under the truck and pushed himself as far as he could under the tires while trying to maintain some sort of traction with his own body. I then went to the nose of the truck and pushed so that the nose was pointing back the way we were coming from. Mom was then able to drive to safety.
My brother ended up with 3 cracked ribs in this event. The outside temperature was about 35°. No telling what the windchill was. Needless to say, some quick prayers, some guardian angels, and lots of determination got us out safely. Of course, dad has a few choice words for the line of people that just watched instead of helping.
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