What a DAY!

I got up this morning, excited because my baby would be here this morning. I read some blogs as I waited for him to come in. And waited. And waited. Finally, around noon, I sent him a text asking his ETA. He was on top of Mt Graham, where he had camped the night before. And it is at least an hour and a half away.

Finally he arrives....looking like Grizzly Adams. Seriously. I will post a picture. He has the mountain man beard thing going on. I don't mind beards, but seeing my son looking like a biblical prophet was a little disconcerting. Well, maybe I exaggerate a little. But only a little.

After the "hello's" and hugs and unloading of my stuff from Mesa, Cory announces that he is bored. He wants to go toolie hopping. So, I take him out and show him one of my favorite roads. He returns me home and goes back for some fun. Hours pass. Finally, I text him to see if he needs help. He is stuck. Stuck with a 4wheel drive. How in the Hell am I supposed to get him out of that when my 2wheel drive van has a bad transmission?

Well, since it was raining, I went out there to get the guys and bring them home at the very least. No way I was making it up the wash, so they were walking out to the main (albeit very primitive) dirt road to meet me. Poor guys. My tranny had actually made it up and down the hills on the way in, but I didn't want to have a problem on the way out, so I FLEW out of there. My tranny does better under a load so speed is my friend. Fortunately, I learned to drive on these roads, so in spite of the dudes awe at my skill, we were relatively safe. We got to my house where there was hot fresh pumpkin cake waiting.

After exhausting all other possibilities, I the did the only thing I could. I called my dad. I didn't want to have to drag him out at night in the rain, but he knows how to handle these things and he has a 4wheel drive. So the boys and I went to his place and loaded up in his truck. As we drove out to the wash the boys were stuck in, Dad and I were astounded that they tried to drive up this thing to begin with. There was no road in this wash. It was just rocks. BIG ASS ROCKS! Well, except for the pockets of waist deep sand. We got to Cory's truck, and the rear end was buried up to the bed of the truck in some of the aforementioned sand. Seriously.

Dad hooked up a chain and started pulling. Nothing happened. Dad noticed that none of the wheels were moving, so he asked Cory if the emergency brake was on. Cory sheepishly admitted that "yes, it was". Dad let loose with the usual dad'isms that I dreaded while growing up. I cringed inwardly and told him to mellow out. He yelled a little more. Finally, after giving Cory specific instructions....Cory was out.

I got in Dad's truck to leave, and he started backing out. RIGHT ONTO SOME OF THOSE BIG ASS ROCKS! The man managed to get his truck high centered. And not just on the front. And not just on the back. BOTH AXLES WERE HIGH CENTERED! That was an amazing feat, let me tell you.

So began the hour and a half of jacking his truck up. Trying to get it to move. Failing. Trying again. And again. And again. We finally got it up and added Cory pulling with his truck. Dad's truck came out. PHEW. We were ready to leave.

Cory began to drive out and......you guessed it.....stuck again. This was getting freaking ridiculous! He tried rocking back and forth. We pushed. No luck. Finally, Dad got in and drove for Cory. After rocking and pushing, he broke free.

This time, we all stayed unstuck. And arrived home at 11PM.

I have to say too, that I was very proud of my Dad. This is the man who said that he would never apologize to a child because it would demean his authority. Well, he has changed. He told Cory that he was sorry for blowing up. I told Dad I was proud of him, and I am.

What a day this was!