A Most Excellent Adventure

The title to this one brings back memories of one of my personal favorite movies when I was younger.  To the younger ones (i.e. 20 and younger), this movie will be as obscure as some of the movies my parents watched were to me.  The movie is Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure.  This was the first movie I ever remember seeing Keyanu Reeves.  Not one of his more intellectual roles, but a classic none the less. 

Anyways, my “excellent” adventure started Sunday night when I spun off the road in a truck that wasn’t even mine.  It was Mr. Jeff Wheeler’s.  Fortunately, I did not hit anything and came to rest softly in a nice mud pile.  Unfortunately, that same mud pile that provided a soft halt was the reason I could not get out.  A friendly State Trooper gave me a free ride up the hill to a McDonalds while I waited on a couple selfless gentlemen from church to come pick me up (a special thanks to Bob Kenward and Kevin Daugherty).  Walking out to Bob’s truck was the longest walk to date as I just knew they were laughing at me.  Shoot, I would have been laughing at me.  I don’t think any of this would have been as embarrassing if I had done it in my own vehicle.  

Monday, I headed back out to the scene of the crime to have the truck towed out.  It was in mud, so how long could this take…right?  Well, overnight in the near zero temp, the ground had frozen and the puddle the back tires were in had frozen around them.  All inch and a half of water was now a block of ice and the tires were it prisoner.  After and hour and a half on Monday night, we acknowledged we were not going to win this battle that night and headed home to gather the troops for another battle the next day.  Tuesday, Kelly and I headed back down to the site with shovels and garden hoe’s in hand as well as hammers and screwdrivers to break that ice apart.  Pastor Dan followed us down there, unannounced to us until we were a couple of miles away.  I truly did not want him to head down there with us because it was his day off and for a man who works as tirelessly as he does, he should enjoy that day off.  Rescuing a vehicle from the snow is not my idea of a day off well spent.  Pastor Dan, however, is a man unlike most.  Some people will spend Sunday mornings puting on a show for others so as to appear to be a “good Christian.”  Pastor Dan is what he appears to be.  He really is the kind hearted individual you see Sunday and Wednesday.  There is no mask there.  His actions outside the church support this claim.  I’m very lucky to have the oportunity to worship with him.  Anyways, back to my story.  The 3 of us ventured back down to West Branch on Tuesday sure this would be the day we drive the truck home.  Wrong again.  No matter how much ice I broke away, there was always more underneath it.  Now, I might be crazy but I’m sure I heard the ice laughing at me as I tried to break the truck free.

I took Wednesday off from work so I could dedicate the entire day to getting the truck out of the ice block it was in.  I started at roughly 10:30 (perhaps 11am) and FINALLY got the back driver’s side tire to bust free of the ice at about 2:30pm.  Excited, we called the tow company.  However, due to the heavy traffic that resulted from a wreck that had happended 100 ft away from where the truck was, they couldn’t get out to us until later.  After waiting an hour and a half only to be told it would be another 30 – 45 min, we elected to wait until the next day to try to pull it out.  We hurried home to shower and get to church for AWANA where we learned Thursday was to welcome in an ice storm.  All my hard work would be wasted.  I called the towing company to see if they could meet us out there that night.  They agreed and at about 9:30 pm (roughly 77 hrs after the accident) I was out of the median and back on the road.  Like a prisoner set free, the Dakota was back on the road.  A bit dirtier (well, a LOT dirtier) but back on the road none the less. 

Through all of this, the Wheelers have been wonderfully understanding.  Their first concern was of my well being.  I got the playfull ribbing that a friend would give you following such an occurance, but it was the same kind of ribbing I would have gotten had I done this in my own car.  I count myself truly fortunate to have such understanding and patient friends as the Wheelers. 

With this, I wish you all a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, and safe driving.