Mud Phobia

[Anonymous Poster]

A little known fact about my already warped personality is that I have a phobia. It's stupid and dumb but it is just as phobia-ish as the fear of heights. It's the fear of getting stuck in the mud. The lengths I will go to to prevent getting stuck in the mud are generally more damaging than getting stuck in the mud ever could be.

Maybe I had a severe mud trauma as a child, I don't know, but the thought of sinking down into a boggy mire, alone in my truck and helpless to move forward gives me the cold sweats, and every day that passes it's gets muddier and boggier around here.

I just came back from the grocery store. It's been raining all day. The first 3/4 of a mile of dirt road leading back to the house was relatively fear free, but when I hit our section and saw what the bottled water guy did to it with his big old heavy truck, my knees started shakin'.

Oh Lord. Well there was only one thing to do. Hold the wheel straight, floor it, and don't stop until I hit the yard, or sink. So I did that, a little too enthusiastically I might add as I made the prettiest rooster tail I've ever seen, mostly because it's the only one I've ever made. I just got started going good when the neighbor's big red dog came a runnin', probably wondering what all the engine revving was about...

"Oh Lord, doggie, you need to not get in front of me because I am not gonna stop, I will plow you into the mud and not bat an eye doing it."

He stayed safely on the side watching as I slid to the left, slid to the right, did a couple more little rooster tails, and about halfway I'm sure he heard me shriek in terror when I felt the wheels start spinning and losing traction.

I'm here to tell you that it was a white knuckle experience. Fifteen feet from the gate I knew I was home free and I started giggling insanely.

"I made it! I made it!" I whipped into the yard and threw it in park, dancing a jig on the vinyl seat. Whew. Good thing I bought plenty of groceries, because you couldnt pay me enough to try and go down that road again. Not anytime soon anyway.

 

[Inspector507]

Cindi,
You may have a phobia towards mud........but admit it, you loved creating those rooster tails. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[GaryM]

Maybe you were a mud wrestler in a previous life and that's why you're scared of mud now?

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Okay yeah....the rooster tails were kinda cool. Specially the first one, what a plume! Maybe what I need is immersion therapy. Go mud slingin' once or thirty times. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I know how you feel after burying my truck a couple of times.

Naturally the only entrance to my horse field that the truck will fit through is the muddiest area by far. So I have to go pretty fast while wiggling left and right and get it heading straight right at the gate or I will rip the dual rear wheel whaeels off! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Not much room for error but if I go slow it's an 8,000lb weight stuck in the slop and I've got to bother a friend to get me out. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

SO far so good but as soon as the tractor is delivered the truck stays out of the field unless it's dry.

 

[swebb]

I share this fear! I live 7 miles back in the country and our roads are muddy....I shiver when I have to drive my kids to school. I will even sit all day in front of their school to avoid having to drive in it more than I need to. It scares the crap outta me. It happened today as I was going over one of the hills and my Ford Explorer was in auto 4x4 and I lost control and almost put my ford in the ditch. I started to feel like I was going to pass out. My poor children. I made it home needless to say...

 

[Pete Judd]

Driving on mud roads takes learned skills. Learn when to slow down, the times to speed up to get through a deep spot, don't be in a hurry, and if you are new at this, get a winch to help pull yourself out when you screw up. We have all been there before. Drivers ED does not teach how to do this.

BTW, was impressed at how many wild turkeys that are in your area.

 

[swebb]

The problem is that I am a born and raised city girl, and I'm trying to learn how to drive on these country roads. As for a wench, I don't know what I would hook it to, most of the trees around here are no wider than my 5 yr daughter's arm. I think my fear is more of not having control of what my vehicle is doing. When I do drive in the mud I go about 15 mph, but my fiance said I got to close to the shoulder is why I lost control, he says not to be a chicken. Easier said than done.

 

[rambler]

As for a wench, I don't know what I would hook it to,

Winch. Not wench.

Anything fruther I say would just get me on thin ice, but thank you for the smile.

--->Paul

 

[clemsonfor]

Is this a real post it seems like a joke? Your first post on the tractor site is about mud raods. You sit infront of the school all day? Maybe its not. i will drive sometimes 50+ miles an hour in the mud on the roads i work on. But its second nature to me as a forester chasing loggers on muddy roads.

And yes its Winch. I saw wench as i was just skimming your post and laughed as i thought that you were referring to your self till i read the context! haha.

Yea hes right get to close to the shoulder and the soft dirt/slope will "pull" you into the ditch. Stay in the center till you meet another, then pull over. If you go into the ditch, slam the gas as you turn your wheels inward(sometimes you can pull out of it), but do not burry your tires to the axle. Keep going foward n reverse if you have any progress at all. Once your stuck STOP.