Description
I was 15 when I bought my first vehicle, a Jeep, with money I had earned working at the Gulf Station and hauling hay around Van, Texas. There was one minor administrative problem: I did not yet have a driver's license.
The oil roads became my unofficial transportation system. They offered miles of backroads, very little traffic, and a low chance of meeting anyone interested in reviewing my paperwork.
Not long after I bought the Jeep, I took my brother-in-law Donny out to show it to him. Donny was several years older than me and an enthusiastic encourager of bad ideas. We were driving the backroads when he spotted a mud pit and suggested, in one form or another, that we should go through it. I agreed enthusiastically.
This was not a puddle that had gotten ambitious. It was a legitimate mud pit.
The Jeep had four-wheel drive, the mud was directly in front of us, and we had achieved unanimous approval.
Original Hypothesis
The Jeep has four-wheel drive. It'll be fine.
What Went Wrong
The Jeep went in. It did not come back out.
Forward progress ended, the Jeep settled into the mud, and suction took over. Pulling it out eventually required two wreckers and a tractor. The recovery felt less like towing a vehicle and more like extracting an archaeological discovery.
My parents were not pleased. A few years later, I joined the Navy submarine force. In retrospect, this was my first submarine adventure.
Photographic Evidence
Artifacts
- Two surviving photographs.
- One thoroughly buried Jeep.
- Two wreckers and one tractor.
- An early contribution to submarine research.
Exhibit Rating
Lessons Learned
- Confidence is not traction.
- Four-wheel drive does not include buoyancy.
- Unanimous approval is not the same thing as a good idea.