He giveth....and He taketh away!

Thursday was our last day of school and I was excited to end the day and travel to Bakersfield. I planned on leaving around noon but didn't get off until about 2:30. Before leaving I checked traffic and construction and found some construction areas between Baker and Barstow. Well....I thought I was pretty smart so I got on Google Earth to find an acceptable side route to get me around construction. It seems like I always sit in the desert and I was NOT about to do that this time.

As I was driving I saw the construction signs and knew my exit was coming. I exited at Basin Road and proceeded down the road just as I had seen on the map. My plan was going perfectly and I was zooming past the stalled traffic on the freeway. It was dusk and kind of hazy out so I didn't have the clearest line of vision. All of sudden I noticed that the road appeared to be ending. I slammed on the brakes but it wasn't soon enough and promptly found myself being launched in the air over this mound of dirt that became a ramp for the car. I landed and all appeared to be fine except that the car was no longer moving. I slowly moved to a complete stop and realized I was in a dry river bed, with the tires halfway buried in the very fine, silty sand that one only finds at the bottom of a river.

Now at this point I had two options....struggle to find a way out....or face ultimate humiliation by calling for help to get me out of a sand pit in the middle of the desert. Well I struggled for a bit...I tried going in reverse, turning the wheels different ways, moving forward, and all had the same result...no movement but sand flying everywhere. At one point I was even sure I could push it by myself but had no luck.


I called the ever-helpful "Farm Tow" line and explained my situation. I can't tell if the lady was laughing or not but she told me she'd call me back and let me know who they got to come out. About 15 minutes later she called to tell me that she couldn't get anyone to come out. All the places she called said I was too far away. I told her I was 20 miles from Baker and 30 from Barstow....thats not that far. She wouldn't tell me what cities she was calling but I suspect she was calling either places in Vegas or L.A. somewhere.


She then put us on a 3 way call with the police. I'm not sure what police dept she called but the lady on the other end did ask if we might be better served by CHP. My farmtow lady hemmed and hawed until the police said she would call a couple of people to see if they could come out. (I don't think farmtow lady knows what CHP means....found out later she's in Arizona...what do they know?)


So I'm on hold with farmtow lady still while police lady finds me a tow truck to pull me out of the sand. I glance over to the edge of the road and there is a shovel. Yes I said shovel...out in the middle of nowhere. So while I'm on hold I think I might as well see if I can get myself out and save myself the towing fee. I begin digging around the front tires trying to create a path out for the car. Farmtow lady asks what I'm doing because she hears my heavy breathing. I think by this point she has decided I'm nuts. When I tell her I found a shovel and I'm getting out all she said was be careful. I found some rocks and pebbles and quickly began paving a road in front of each tire so I could get out. I was so excited that I was gonna be able to do this without farmtow, without paying any money, and best of all....DAD would NEVER have to know. (he's still my agent).

During this time I am still on hold. Policelady gets on to tell us she's still searching and leaves farmtow lady and I alone again. I finish my "road" and tell farmtow lady I am getting out. I get in, start the engine, sand starts to fly and nothing else moves. All that work and NOTHING. I was VERY disappointed. At this point farmtow lady tells me she is going to leave me since I'm on the line with the police. She disconnects and soon I realize she disconnected the whole call and I'm on hold with nobody.

Exasperated, I call 911 and tell the lady I was just talking to someone there. She told me that they are the police for that area and NO ONE there was talking to me. I figure farmtow lady connected me with someone in Barstow, Texas. I start to explain my situation and she stops and says, "You're in the sand? Ok well we have a tow truck 5 miles from there". Apparently this happens quite often. So she told me a tow truck would be along in 20 minutes.

After about 20 minutes, the tow truck arrives and out steps my chubby, Mexican hero, PACO! Paco was fast and worked quickly to get my car out. He picked up the shovel like it had been there forever and used it to work. He commented on all the rocks around the tires and wondered how they got there. I didn't respond.

He pulled me out and I was on my way. As I was leaving, the CHP showed up. He looked at me and made some comment about how my car didn't look like a four wheel drive. I smirked, got in my car and drove off. A few miles down the freeway all the sand finally was out of my car I think. I arrived home at 1:30 in the morning and took a shower and went to bed. The next day I cleaned all the sand out and emptied loads of sand from the air conditioner filter.

It was a very funny experience overall and I'm glad to be safe. Lessons learned....hmmm....Paco is my friend, sand is VERY soft and Basin Road is more basin than road! :)