UPDATE:
It was wet when the weekend started, and it got wetter as it went. It has been clouding up every day and we've been getting pretty good thunder-bumpers in the late afternoon and into the evening. Most folks parked up at the house. #2 son, Moose has been ferrying stuff back and forth in his S-10. One fellow decided he was cool and drove a 2WD Suburban out to the campsite. Yesterday afternoon, about half the crew decided it was time to blow. Mister Suburban got it in his head he'd drive the extra 500 yards through the woods so he could park right in the middle of camp to pack up. This time of year, we park vehicles in a pasture and walk in-- it's only about 20 yards. There's another way through a logging road, but it's a hairpin turn on a muddy track and you need 4WD. I was just lying down for a nap when the phone call came. Mister Suburban had buried it up to the axles.
I had driven my Dad's old Caddy down, because the Silverado was in the shop. The Silverado is a 4X4, and it goes just about anywhere, anytime. The problem was that the S-10 I use at the farm for this sort of thing died last fall, and the fellow as moving the winch over to the Silverado-- that's why it was still in the shop. I called him up. He said he had everything ready to go, except the power connectors to the winch which was now mounted on the trailer hitch. He said he'd rig it temporarily to a loaner battery and it would be ready within the hour. I took off with Angus for the trip over.
Long Story Short:
We got the Silverado out to the Suburban just as it was clouding up for the daily monsoon. Mister Suburban had not only buried it up to the axle but slid it behind a tree. I got it out of the rut by rigging a snatch block to a tree and pulling at a 90-degree angle. That way I could keep the Silverado out in the pasture on more solid ground. I then did something similar, rigging the snatch block to trees and pulling the Suburban from the front to get it back on the track and up to where the Suburban could get traction. I had #2 and #3 doing all the grunt work to give them some training. At some point Mister Suburban said he could take it from there and managed to spin the tires and get the Suburban going sideways again. It's hard to tell a grown man he can't drive his own vehicle, but I got Moose back in the driver's seat and off we went.
Oh, one more stop! Everyone that was leaving decided to pile all their stuff in the Suburban. That took a while, and meanwhile the clouds were getting darker and we were hearing thunder. I took point on the way out and Moose drove the Suburban and we made it out before the clouds opened up.
I have to drive by the garage on the way out and return the battery.
