Wild Burros and Being Stuck Jan 3, 2009

We ventured out today for adventure, little did we know what would come our way. So off we go down the dirt road to Senator Wash Lake. We stopped to get a shot photo of the old home place, the coach is just over my head.

Since we arrived here on Monday we have seen three other wild burros, but we did not have our cameras...but this time we did. This is a zoomed photo, they were not this close. A whistle got their attention.

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Our original thoughts were to drive around Senator Wash Lake, but there was a locked gate across the road that led across the dam. So we turned around and came back partway and took the road heading to Ferguson Lake. As you can see from the next two photos, this road had it ups and downs.

Then when we tried to pull off at an overlook, as least we thought it was an overlook, this is what happened in the matter of just a few seconds. For some unknown reason, when we pushed the button to switch the Explorer into 4x4, it did not engage. Major bummer?@#. Don't think AAA would come to our rescue.

Well, we were going to have to dig ourselves out. First we had to get the jack out. It was neatly stored in the rear side compartment, so after unloading a few pieces of fire wood so we could get to it, there was some difficulty in getting it out. But Bob succeeded in releasing the jack from the car's grip. He then dug out enough sand to set up the jack.

Then he jacked up the car so we could put some 2x4's we had in the Explorer for firewood under the tire.

He finally got it cranked up enough to put several layers of boards under the tire.

So now it is time go, we hope...

And go, WE DID!!

Here is the aftermath. Success!!!

After rescuing the Explorer, we were hungry, so we drove back a short distance to another pull off we had stopped at before and had lunch overlooking Ferguson Lake.

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While we ate lunch we were still puzzled why the 4x4 button did not work, after all the Explorer is only 16 years old! Got out the manual and basically just push the button--it should work. Right!

Before heading out for the drive home, I tried the 4x4 button, then Bob did a couple more times, and finally it did engage. Yea!!

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For this special moment in life...Make some mistakes