Jeep in a Ditch

Beautiful Sonoma County--what could be more natural than to pull off the road to take a photo of this picturesque barn? I thought it was shoulder next to the road--WRONG! It was a deep, muddy ditch that was camouflaged by wildflowers and high grass. Oops--the entire passenger side of the Jeep slid off the road and into the ditch. No problem, I thought. I'll just slip this puppy into the ol' reliable four-wheel drive and pull right out--WRONG! I only succeeded in sliding the Jeep deeper into the ditch and coming to rest against a fence at a 45o angle. The two driver side wheels lost contact with the ground.

My poor 86 year old mother was in a very uncomfortable position--the ground was up against her window. I was holding on to the shoulder harness to keep from rolling across the console into her lap.

Not to worry--trusty cell phone to the rescue. I called AAA and the first thing they wanted to know was if we had a "safety issue." Well, duh--we're about to roll over completely and no one dares move lest we shift the weight just enough to complete the roll! Question number 2: where are you?

Uh-oh. I didn't know. And guess what? When the cell phone is on and one is talking to the mirror(Blue tooth) one can't call up the map from the navigation system. If I can't see the map, I don't know where I am!

Fortunately, some bikers came by and they extracted a map from their cute little bike packs and they were able to tell the AAA person where we all were. Help was promised within 20 minutes and the tow truck arrived even sooner than that!

With the snap of a wench, the Jeep was slurped out of the muddy ditch. What a mess!!

By the time we got back home and cracked open the adult food group, the mud had hardened to the consistency of cement. Oops--brakes all messed up. Mr. T came to the rescue and after removing a field's worth of mud and weeds, he was able to take off the wheel and clean out the brakes. I owe him big time!

Not that it was any consolation but the tow truck driver said there wasn't any Jeep with enough four-wheel drive to have gotten out of our predicament. But in the back of my mind is that nagging doubt about the Faithful Jeep.