Saturday, March 26, 2011

Gone Muddin' - Part Two!

A few of you may remember two years ago
just after we had purchased the van we have
currently that Warren and I had gone to 
what we call a Mud Sale.

No, they do not sell mud...
but there is almost always an
abundance of it there due to 
Spring rain and thawing ground.

We had to be pulled out of the field we
and everyone else parked in.
I thought it was a blast.
Warren, not so much!
You can read that post HERE
if you so desire.

Well, yesterday we kind of did an
unintentional replay...
except we had the excitement
of sliding off the road first.

Jonathan is still learning to drive.
Most of the reason it is taking so 
long is that he is so laid back that 
he doesn't beg us to take him out
to practice and therefore it is easy 
to just let it slide.
I mean, who really gets excited about 
all of that adrenalin and fear anyway.
So........my dear Mom has been working
with him and we occasionally 
white knuckle it.
I am not a good passenger for anyone.
He is not an exception!

Anyway....
Jonathan was going to be helping
our friends at Creekside Cottage with 
some tree work yesterday and it seemed an
excellent opportunity to allow him to drive.

All went pretty well until we started onto
a road that has deceptive curves.
They really look innocent until you are into 
them and it must be the way they are graded 
or something
but they have nearly gotten me several times.

Well,
despite all of my warnings....
we went into one of these curves about 
20mph too fast.
In the Buick.

Next thing we know we are 
off the road and stopping in the freshly 
plowed and very wet field.

You may wonder if I was calm.

Well, there are two sides to that answer.
The first thing to know is that my second time
behind the wheel I took my father into a field.
Sheer disobedience on my part.
He was ready to be done with the lesson and 
go home....
I wasn't.
So, when he told me to turn 
I resisted until it was too late to 
make the turn and then accelerated to help the 
car turn sharper.....
that doesn't work!
Don't try that at home!!

So....was I calm?
I was hysterical!!

But I knew I had it coming.
I had just patted myself on the back 
that neither of the boys had landed us in 
a field and I thought we were past that risk.

Why, oh why, did I allow that 
thought through my brain cells!

So, anyway, while I wasn't happy,
and I was shaking,
I did have the cell phone and managed
to call our insurance agent to ask for 
a number for a tow.

Then came the waiting.
Quite a few awkward moments as men in 
pick-up trucks would stop and stare
before asking,
"What happened here?"
with big grins on their faces....
"Duh!"

Oh well, some were nice and offered
to try to pull us out but I told them that 
we had a tow truck coming.

Finally about 40 minutes later
our neighbor's dad pulled up in his 
flatbed tow truck.
We are a small community...
you are likely to know 
your tow truck driver.

He hooked on a chain to the 
back of the car.

(Yes, that was the proper
way to say that in PA Dutch!)

With Chelsea and I inside,
me at the wheel,
we went for the most fun
backwards mudding adventure
I have had.... to date!!

If it had not happened under those circumstances
I would pay for that kind of a ride.
So much fun!!!

Shh...don't tell Chelsea.
She starts driving in July.
I'd rather not go through that again!!!

The car is fine.
We are fine.
And we gave those farm boys something
to look at yesterday.
Lucky them!

Now, I have not had an accident 
or speeding ticket since my episode
in the field when I was eighteen.
I hope that Jonathan just follows in my 
footsteps and has a clean, clean 
driving record!

Have a great day...
and avoid the mud!

Edited:  I want you to know that
Jonathan wasn't speeding...
there was a sign just on the other
side of the curve announcing that
the speed limit was 45mph....
It was just that I would have taken the curve
at maybe 35mph and with his inexperience
he probably should have been slower than
that by about 10mph.

7 comments:

Vee said...

You told that so very well! Don't you believe that a minor incident such as this helps a new driver to know that stuff can happen? That's what I think.

(Both my daughter and my son had a minor episode and it opened their eyes to the possibilities. My son was actually thrown into a field in his "minor" incident and we are so blessed that he lived to tell about it. He didn't even have a scratch.)

I hope that those children of yours don't read your sentence about the "fun" part. Ha!

Glad that all is well...praise God!

Theresa said...

Oh my goodness! MUDDING and waiting for the tow truck:) Happy that nobody was hurt and that the car wasn't damaged!

You'll be talking about this for some time now!

Have a blessed day, HUGS!

sherry said...

oh. wow. hehehehehe.

jAne

Turtleheart said...

Oh my word, that's too funny, the EXACT same thing happened to me! Y'see, I can't drive yet either, although for me it's more because I am terrified and so is my mom...so a friend from our church was teaching me to drive, and my first time ever out on the road I took a corner WAY too fast out of pure ignorance and ended up stuck in a muddy field. For two hours! Oh, it was so embarrassing!And I've just realized...that was early last spring and I haven't driven since. Maybe I'm not cut out for driving...

Elena said...

Wow, that sounds like quite an adventure:)

Anonymous said...

We had some adventures of our own teaching a teenager how to drive. We taught our very first exchange student, a girl, how to drive. We had some close calls, nothing serious .. all in the gaining experience so that when something happens she'll know (hopefully) what to do to avoid danger. Now, my stepdaughter, she was a different story. She drove like she was born behind the wheel. She learned very quickly and quite well.

Bee said...

The first time Lewis drove he went off the road too. It was an Amish field. The road was straight. We didn't go into the mud but that was enough for everyone (4 kids and me) in the car.