Creosote,
I can relate. About six years ago I was trapping in a WMA, beaver trapping. A two track road that runs in 7 miles and dead ends, half a dozen spots to turn around even when the snow isn't too deep. I have a spot I drop my snomo and trap off that about 4 miles in. This was mid January, we had about 18 inches of snow, but not real cold the previous evening. On my way in I could see somebody had been trying to straddle my tracks going in but no apparent track coming out. I get almost to my drop off point and here a Chevy S10 PU, double cab, was high centered and off to one side, stuck for sure. I was almost to the truck when a young lady jumps out of the drivers door and started jumping up and down and waiving her arms. This road runs parallel to a river, so close you couldn't get around another vehicle without stopping or running into the river! I get out to see what was going on and four late teen, early twenties girls were in that truck. They had tried to get back to the main impoundment pond, to see the ducks and geese (did you catch the part about being January?). Told them it had been frozen solid for over a month and the waterfowl was long gone. Didn't take long for this old MP to figure out there might have been a considerable amount of weed and booze involved. As the story was told they had been there since the night before and were almost out of gas. None of the four had boots, real gloves, or anything they could have walked out to wear. Two of them were what I've heard referred to as scantly clad! One had lived here a few years prior, and was familiar with the area, but not raised the outdoor type. She knew what a chain was! Seems they were here attending a relatives late Xmas party.
Because the road was so close to the river on the North, and the snow and ditch were so deep on the south side, I couldn't get by them, nor could they move forward any farther. The only way to get them moving was to winch the front of their truck around 190 degrees to get them pointed in the right direction, then I could just back up to the first spot I was able to get turned around. Only real problem was there weren't any trees larger than 3" in diameter to winch them from, without going under their truck with the cable. I had plenty of chains and cable and a 8' tree strap.
I could have just pulled them backwards, but figured if they got in the river, things would go downhill fast. So I had the driver turn her wheels all the way to the right/ east, had her put it in reverse, and used the tow strap to the winch to keep from doing any damage to the fenders or undercarriage. That put the rear of their truck in the ditch on the south the first pull, then back onto the road the second pull. Worked pretty well actually, to get them going in the right direction anyway. I could have been real mean, and told them to push when they asked, but it was pretty obvious they weren't dressed for such activities. Told the driver to just keep her truck in gear, keep her tires in the south wheel track, and don't run into the front of my truck, while I pulled them with a twenty foot chain. Worked until I could back into a spot to turn around and they could get by.
The driver, the best looking one (yes I noticed) was most appreciative and gave me a big hug and asked what she owed me! Followed them out to the road to make sure they got there.
Can't tell you how many folks I've pulled out during deer seasons past, but for sure these young ladies were the most memorable.
Ian,
Neat project. Is there a "South Texas Moulds" in the future?
JonB,
The Va in St. Cloud is a great facility, but is limited as far as what is offered, or can be done there. MSP is a full service operation and has a pretty good Staff there and a big facility. I even asked to have a Lymes test done, and they were more than happy to accommodate my request, which has to be sent to a state lab.
MSP is also a teaching hospital, with lots of students there. I wouldn't be afraid to make a referral to a friend, to either facility.
