Today I decided to get my dumb butt stuck in the snow. We had planned on taking our usual Sunday morning hike, and with the sun out and the weather warming up, it felt like a good day to do so. We decided to go to a trail that I hadn’t been to before – a short nature walk within a few miles of my house. It’s not very accessible via walking, so we loaded up Cosette in my SUV and took off.
When we arrived, the turnoff is right off the main (read: busy) road, and we came upon it fairly quickly. The road quickly descends into an open parking lot and I made the decision to turn into it, even though it was covered in snow and ice. I quickly realized that was a bad idea. After the momentum carried me down the hill and into the parking lot, my tires started to sink into the snow and I lost traction. I pressed on the accelerator and my wheels just spun. We looked at each other, grinned, and decided to just go hike and hope the sun melted the snow a little bit while we were gone.
We played around on the trail and on the frozen lake and had a nice hike. We then returned to the car and attempted to turn it around. Some cars had already done the same thing, but apparently they had come a few days before I had, when the snow wasn’t sealed with a sheet of ice. We spent about 20 minutes taking turns rocking the car, reversing, pulling forward, reversing, pulling forward, but each time we would get the front tires stuck in a rut. After we were both tired from pushing, Joel went ahead and reached in his coat pocket for his cell phone and dialed 411 for a tow truck. He told the towing company where we were at, and the truck said he was already on his way. I was standing outside the car and said that we might as well keep trying. We did for a while, but no real progress was made. Joel went to walk towards the street to see if he had given the correct street name, and I hopped back in the car. The car door was still open, and I decided to reverse and see if it would take me anywhere. I felt it reverse just up to the top of the rut, and I changed gears and pressed the accelerator. My car drove several feet! It stopped, but I was motivated, and reversed and tried again. By this time, Joel was walking back to the car and said, “Woah, what do we have here?” I had managed to drive it a few more feet when it became stuck again. Joel got behind me and pushed, and I revved the crap out of it. I started gaining traction quickly and sped up the snowy incline. My left foot was still out of the door, so I pulled my appendage in and quickly closed the door. I managed to reach the top of the hill, and when I did, I looked back at Joel and said, “Okay, get the tow truck on the phone!!” Joel called the company and said, “Well, we don’t need you anymore. My girlfriend insisted that we keep trying, and sure enough we got out.” A few moments after he hung up, the tow truck drove by, waving. We waved back. Unfortunately, the top of the hill had just enough ice on it that I had managed to get stuck again. We pushed and pushed, but it wasn’t going anywhere. Luckily, a family in an SUV saw us struggling and pulled over to help. The man and woman got out, and they looked like they were going to church. I didn’t think they’d be able to push me out because they were both fairly thin, but three people combined was just enough to push me out and over the hump of ice.
Next time, I’m braking before I pull into an icy parking lot. But I also know not to give up!
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