A "Getting Stuck in Something" story

On Friday this week, one of the fellows at work was talking about heading for a week-end trip to Washington DC just as weather reports were saying there was going to be a huge storm there (and there was). That led to a bunch of stories by everyone about getting stuck in the snow at various times. It brought to mind a time I got stuck, too, but not in the snow.

I had recently moved here (about thirty years ago!) and had never lived near the ocean before. So, one morning I decided to drive down by the beach before heading to work. There was a storm offshore that was supposed to be stirring up the waves and I wanted to see them. Well, not only were the waves high but it was high tide, too. Water was coming over the road. The waves weren't crashing over the road, though, so I figured it was not dangerous. I kept going but there was more a more water and in a few places, the water was depositing sand on the road. The sand and water weren't deep at this point but I didn't know what was up ahead. I was on a section of the road where no roads entered to take away from the shore. The only way out was to move forward into the unknown or back through the bad conditions I'd already been through.

In January last year, I wrote a post called Almost made the Third Mistake. I was walking through the woods behind our office in icy conditions and ignored two warnings but finally wised up and turned back before it got too bad. I did that, in part, because I learned my lesson from this story almost thirty years ago.

In this case, with sea water getting deeper and waves crashing just short of the road and sand building up on the road, I had made the first two mistakes:

1) I ignored the bad conditions and went anyway 

2) I assumed the conditions would get better up ahead

I didn't think I had to worry about the third mistake:

3) I was going to have to go back through all the mess I had already gone through

I was just going to plow ahead because I knew there were roads away from the shore ahead. They were closer than if I turned around and headed back. But oh that second mistake! Surely things wouldn't get worse in the next 100 yards or so. Well, they did. As I made the next turn, I could see the turn-off that led away from the beach but then, as I got closer, I could see a sand bar all the way across the road about 20 yards before that turn-off road. What to do? I didn't have a lot of time to think about it. The waves were getting higher and throwing more water over the road and the sandy areas were growing and getting deeper. I gunned the engine and headed for what looked like the lowest part of the sand. I'd just blast through the sand like they do in the movies.

The car stopped as soon as it hit. There was no way out. So, I had to walk up the rad about a quarter mile to a pay phone (remember, thirty years ago - no cell phones) and called the AAA tow truck. At least I was covered for the towing.

The final indignity was that by the time the tow truck got there, the town Department of Public Works guys came by and put up Road Closed signs. Where were they a half hour ago? The tow truck driver couldn't even get to my car by then and had to walk the tow cable about 10 yards back to my car and drag it through the sand bar. Then, as we're driving to my house he said I owe him the full amount because AAA doesn't pay when the road is closed and you make a stupid decision. I argued that the road wasn't closed when I got stuck but it was no use. And I did feel pretty stupid anyway. Maybe having to pay the full towing fee made the lesson sink in.