a tale of tails, tenacity, and tedium, as told by me, usually barefoot and bellowing

Friday, July 9, 2010

The Power Of Chevrolet

Far Side Of Fifty has been getting the rain we need.  When Far Guy wanted to drive over a water covered road, she opted for turning around...smart move.

Now for my tale.

We had Hidden Creek and the bluffs for a play ground by White River.  If we wanted a day out, we just four-wheeled through the creek and over the mountain into the next town.  Sometimes we had to saw a tree outta our way or build up a freshly washed ditch to continue our journey.  We always carried the tools we might need in the back of the truck. 

We toured our German exchange students through this way and they said they had never seen a road go so far for so long and go nowhere.  That was a compliment...they loved it.

One day my husband and his cousin(normally smart adults) decided to go through Hidden Creek.  It was winter and the guys needed an adventure.  Driving a 1985 Standard transmission Chevrolet 4x4 short wheel base pickup, they began their journey from the back side. 

We had a very wet winter that year and the river had been up a lot.  When White River is up it backs into Hidden Creek.  Hidden Creek has always been a solid shallow crossing for foot traffic, wagons and now vehicles...until now.

The guys were having a good time, rolling along in their heated cab, snow spots here and there with enough ice to keep it interesting.  They approach Hidden Creek and it has a pretty solid shield of ice.  This is unusal but they thought it was just a cold winter.

Hubby stops the truck.  Entering the creek on this side entails a drop off but nothing they had not handled before, or so they thought.  They talked about the fact they had never seen ice in that spot (still waters run deep, ya know) but decided, in their collective wisdom, to cross the creek.

Granny low four wheel drive and they dropped off into the normally six inch deep creek.  It is over the hood!  Hubby thinks quickly and knows if he stops or tries to back up, it is over with.  He floor boards it and turns the wipers on as he creeps out to the other side.  Cousin is gripping the dash and cursing, I am sure Hubby is grinning.  I am sure he was thinking how in the world he was going to justify tearing up a truck for fun when he got home.  With that extra incentive, he pulled on up out of the creek.  They open the doors and water pours out but they are safely on the other side.

Wonder what Chevrolet would have paid for that advertisement?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I guess that's how people "get in over their heads!" I once drove my little Nissan over a river bridge that had angry, rushing water going over it. The rural sheriffs were keeping their eye on that spot, just waiting for a higher up to make the call to put up barriers. God was watching out for me that day, He has a purpose for me and it wasn't getting washed into a raging river! I would never try that little trick again, knowing how easy it is to get washed away. Glad your story had a happy ending, too.

Liz

Irene said...

Huuby did a foolish thing and lived to tell about it. Lucky him. How did the truck fare?

ellen abbott said...

We went over a low water bridge once with water rushing over it. Scared the bejeesus out of me.

Here in the city, they have lots of underpasses. The city has finally put up flood gages because people would just drive right in when they were flooded thinking it wasn't very deep.

Unknown said...

OMG Too funny! I think we married brothers did we not? Danny used to always drive thru rushing water with his Chevy but one day he had a smart moment and since the little creek that we always had to ford to get to our house showed still water, he decided to get out first and stick a long board down to see how deep it was. It was deeper than the board. It would have swallowed him and the entire truck! The creek was then fixed with a new culvert and we did not have to drive thru that water again. Of course that was fun to do anyway!

The scariest time involved me.....Danny, the girls and I were coming home from a softball game one night. There had been a really horrible storm and the water was up everywhere out in the roads. We had some friends following us, one guy taking the other home. We crossed a huge bridge over the river where the water was really raging beneath. We went on home. The friend dropped the other friend off and then went back down the road to cross the same bridge and the bridge was GONE! In a matter of about 3-5 minutes after we both had crossed it. It was the creepiest sight ever the next day when we heard about it and drove back to see it. The gully was almost 200 yards wide. God was with us all that night. Our 1970 Chevrolet pickup could have been our coffin!!!

Rudee said...

What great rocking chair memories you have! Hubby, too.

Nezzy (Cow Patty Surprise) said...

Now, isn't that just like a couple of guys! Part of the Ponderosa lays on the other side of the creek. It's been crossed in many things from tractors to dozers but I must confess we've had more than one vehicle that had to go into the shop for repairs after bein' baptized in the flowing waters. Your tale made me laugh in knowin' we all don't always abide with that 'turn around..don't drown' sayin'.

We finally received nine tenths of rain over the past to days. It's nothin' to crow about but the corn is standin' tall praising the heavens this morning.

God bless ya and have yourself an excellent weekend!

The Farmers Oldest Daughter said...

I love my Chevrolet, I don't think I could do that. Great story but a scary one. Glad everyone was ok. We are getting lots of rain here in the northwest. We really needed it.

Take care
Maxine

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Oooh! A truck to boat conversion!

Must a not been so comfie that time of year, though. Did they have icicles where icicles were not supposed to be? lol!


~Lisa

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Oh! And loving your pretty blog design, too. :)


~Lisa

Bernie said...

Great story. I loved all the tales in the comments too. Go Chevies, right?

I drove home just the other night in a belly washer and had to maneuver through some small lakes myself. It is kind of fun because it is sort of scary and the uncertainty of whether you are going to make it or not adds to the thing.

I enjoyed the horses. Thanks.

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