Car oops

I was off to go for a walk with a friend. The dog was all excited to come with me. He had his harness on and sat in the front seat. I back up the driveway. On the way up, my left front tire goes up and over the concrete barrier that lines the driveway. Usually when this happens the car just plops back down into the drive and I keep going. this time I turn the wheel and the tire falls on the wrong side into the barked planting bed.

My Taurus is a low slung sporty car. Not a lot of clearance under the carriage. I try to slide the car forward, then back in hopes I can just drive the car up and over the barricade again. I am stuck in the wet leaves, scraping up the bottom of the car. The tires spin. I call my girlfriend to warn her I am probably not going to make the walk, my car is stuck.

I think about getting the other car out of the garage, but I can't get it by the car that is stuck in the driveway. I go into the garage and grab a hammer and some boards. Perhaps I can build up a ramp and get the car out. The problem is the concrete boarder is just a little tall for the undercarriage.

My girlfriend arrives to watch, gloat, and offer advice, and see if by pushing the car we can push the car out. The wet leaves and height of the barrier defeat us. My girlfriend laughs enjoying the moment of adventure. She tells me she had been anticipating my doing this. She was just waiting for it to happen. I call the tow truck.

$85 dollars later, the truck driver hitches the tow truck up to my bike hitch in the rear of the car. He lays down 4x4s which are taller than what I was working with and the car backs up the rest of the drive, with one wheel on the wrong side until it reaches the top and can be driven right up onto the road over the boards to prevent the front end from being dragged off while crossing back over the concrete to dry land.

Some guy in a red pick up drives up the street in the middle of the towing process. He roles down the window and asks us to move out of the way, like we could move. Idiot, I can't believe he is such a grouch. Our street is a circle. Turn around and go the other way. Can't you see we are stuck and in the middle of getting out? I call out to the driver an apology and ask him to go the other way. What a jerk, he roles up his window at me. Finally after he sees this is going to be a slow and careful job, he turns around and goes the other way. It wasn't like he didn't have a choice. Me, I was stuck right where I was, unless that tow truck can pull me out.

The whole process took an hour. From my struggles alone, to my friend trying to help, to finally caving in for the tow truck. Luckily the tow company is very close. When we were finally out, my girl friend is out of time, so no walk. The dog sits confused in his harness. I got some pictures to remind me of what not to do again.

I want to order some bark to fill in the planting bed. I figure if I can raise the level of the dirt, if I ever get stuck again, it wont be so difficult to get back on the right side. The problem was that both sides of the barrier have a significant drop which hung my car up. One inch higher and I probably would have cleared the impediment and been able to drive my car up and out myself. I will add a ground barrier and spreading bark to my to do list.

I turned the car around and backed down the driveway this time, so next time I pull out I will be facing forward. All our houses have had wierd driveways. I wish we could have a drive that allows for a turn around.

Once I have recovered enough from my little adventure, I drive the car to Les Schwab for a free tire rotation. Get those spinning front tires on the back and the less erroded tires on the front for my front wheel drive. I also want them to inspect the under carriage, make sure there is no damage. It is a free rotation, since I buy my tires from them. They see no significant damage. The tire is not going flat, which was my other concern, having spun it and had it up on boards, dragged the car across concrete and dropped. In the grand scheme of things, all is well that ends well.

While the car was being looked at I even got some grocery shopping done at the store nearby. No wasted time at all. I am sorry we missed our walk, but we'll go again on another day.