Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2013 15:40:47 -0500
Reply-To: Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Triple-A won't extricate you from just any old where
In-Reply-To: <516ee122.ef98320a.0699.68ba@mx.google.com>
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The getting out story is the best part, but it is long and I won't say much
because it was not Vanagon related, but it did involve giving a very poor,
down-on-their-luck family who ran out of gas in the hot sun with an infant
in the car on their way to the county food stamp office close enough to me
that I could walk to them, and I said if they would call a relative to come
pull me out that I would buy them gas and deliver it and I did. I also
bought them cold drinks.
I had a an entrenching tool and a long strap and some wood to put under the
wheels. The wood did no good. McNeely wrote and said that he used carpet
strips, and that sounds good to me. I will keep some on board.
I used to carry a come-along with a steel cable, but getting stuck in the
mud once proved that was just added weight. What about those portable 12v
winches, the kind that don't mount on the car?
A side story... I have not used that entrenching tool since I was at Ft
Rucker in the early 70s. I got stuck about five miles from there last week.
That thing just wanted to taste Ft Rucker sand again, I guess.
Jim
On Wed, Apr 17, 2013 at 12:50 PM, Rob <vwrobb@gmail.com> wrote:
> Nice story Jim!
> I've found my VW in 'bad' places before & started carrying a come-a-long,
> shovel, chain, tow strap & shackles after one of them.
>
> How did you get out of that?
> Would a come-a-long, shovel, chain, tow strap & shackles have helped in
> your situation?
>
> Rob
> vwrobb@gmail.com
>
>
> At 4/17/2013 09:36 AM, Jim Felder wrote:
>
>> This may have been covered before, and it is not strictly Vanagon content,
>> but I was in a Vanagon last week when it happened to me.
>>
>> Looking for places to get on a river, I naturally found myself under a
>> bridge. I was a long day from home on a multi-day Westy trip to research
>> rivers in part of my state. The surface I was on went from hard-packed to
>> deep sand in one short moment, and I could not see it coming. The front
>> wheels dropped down and quickly the back wheels had dug in. I had to dig
>> out under the muffler for clearance to be extricated by a local who,
>> because I travel with a very long tow strap, was able to pull me out from
>> the hard packed road.
>>
>> While locating a local, I called AAA, which has always provided me with
>> really good service when I have needed it. "Can the service vehicle get to
>> you without getting off the paved roadway?" I was asked. I replied that
>> you
>> couldn't even see the paved road from where I was. "We can't help you,
>> thanks for choosing AAA today. Is there anything else I can do for you
>> today?"
>>
>> I thought that I might ask her to pave the access road, but thought
>> better.
>>
>> Don't wander farther off the beaten path than your tow strap will reach.
>> And don't tell me to buy a Syncro. Even the four-wheelers I encountered
>> would not cross over to me on the soft sand.
>>
>> : )
>>
>> Jim
>>
>
>
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