When I opened the door to the truck the muddy creek was nearly to the bottom of my door. I was in trouble, stuck for sure…
A few years ago, my dad, my brothers, a few friends and I drove to a remote lake in Northern Saskatchewan to do some fishing. I am not a very dedicated fisherman, but I thought a week away would treat me well. Apparently the Northern Pike and Walleye were excellent.
If you have never been on a “fishing only” trip, let me paint you a picture. Three of us got up every morning before a reasonable hour and headed out in this little-motorized fishing boat. We would find a little corner of the lake and then sit and fish ALL day. And that was about it.
I suppose if you love fishing this would be a dream. For me, I enjoyed a few minutes and then curled up in the bow and mostly napped. If I’m being honest, the week was great. We spent a lot of time joking and relaxing and built some great memories. I even caught a few fish.
The lake was in a remote part of Saskatchewan; I mean very remote. We were a good half hour drive from the nearest town and apparently, that is why the fishing is so good. I guess it is part of the charm and experience.
After a couple of days of lake napping, I needed a little change of venue. My bright idea was to take the truck, my dad’s truck, and drive into town to pick up some milk and a box of cereal. Exciting right?
As I was travelling down the road less travelled, I saw a sign that for a 19 year old young man was just too intriguing to avoid, “Firework Factory” and an arrow pointing off the road. So, I made the quick right turn onto the dirt road and headed toward this important site.
I never did see the factory. A ways off the main road I came to a fenced area with signs about no trespassing and violators being shot etc. So, I decided to turn back. My interest had already shifted to this new trail I passed along the way. A trail that looked like it needed four-wheel drive. I love four-wheeling.
As I went deeper into the backcountry of Saskatchewan my smile grew. The trail got more and more technical and I became engrossed in the experience. Next, I came up over a small rolling hill that quickly dropped down to a small creek. As I descended my smile faded as I realized the drop was too steep to reverse back up. I was forced to continue and make an attempt to cross the creek.
I gave the vehicle a little gas and plunged in. The creek was deeper than I imagined and the truck almost immediately sunk in the mud. I was definitely in trouble. And, this was the days before cell phones.
So imagine, age 19, by myself, miles from the road, at least 20 miles from the nearest town, no cell phone, way off the beaten path and stuck in the mud. The more I hit the gas the deeper the tires sunk. Uh oh!
I got out to survey the situation and that is when I realized just how bad it had become. I was stuck down nearly to the bottom of the doors and that’s in a truck with a decent profile height.
Do you ever feel like you are stuck in the mud of life? Do you ever feel like you are way out of your comfort zone, separated from support, no lifeline, with really nowhere to go?
I think we all have experiences where we feel this way, whether it is burnout or job loss or relationship struggles or one of the hundreds of challenges we all face. So what do we do? Here are some lessons I learned as I tried to “save my truck”.
- Don’t panic. Rational thinking, not emotional thinking can help you find options.
- Work hard. Sometimes to overcome the obstacles in life you need to get out, get dirty, and work.
- A solution is likely within your grasp; you just need to think differently and maybe outside the box.
- Give it some gas. Push yourself outside your comfort zone and commit to doing what needs to be done to overcome.
- Never give up. Solutions will come, in time, if you persist in doing the right thing.
- Get lucky. Despite all your best efforts, there may be times that the only way for things to go right is to get lucky. If you recognize that luck is preparation meeting opportunity you will be ready.
- Ask for help. Many times we can’t do it alone. You may need to ask for a hand up.
- Clean up. Things are not always going to work out and when they don’t, admit the mistake, make the situation right and move on.
- Learn the lesson. Once you have gone through the challenge learn the lesson and don’t repeat it. Sometimes you win and sometimes you learn. Whatever got you into the tough situation is probably avoidable in the future with the new knowledge acquired.
So, what happened in the creek? After spinning my tires longer than I should have and getting fairly frustrated, I walked through the 9 ideas above.
Despite being completely off the grid, I kept my head and refused to panic [1] (too much). I got out of the truck and began the difficult task of digging out each of the 4 tires ([2] work hard). I found a bunch of twigs and sticks on the creek bank and stuffed them in the freshly dug holes ([3] creativity). Jumped back into the truck, put it in neutral, revved the engine and then popped the truck into drive ([4] give it some gas).
I had to get out and dig new holes and fill them with twigs and sticks a few more times [5] but wouldn’t you know…as luck [6] would have it…the truck roared out of the river and I made it back to the lake.
When I arrived, the truck looked pretty bad and my dad was not happy to see a mud covered version of his truck. Thankfully, his anger lasted only long enough for me to enlist his help [7] cleaning up the mess and restoring the truck to its original condition [8].
Count that as a lesson learned [9]. And, I can assure you, that was the last time I ran off to do some solo four-wheeling in northern Saskatchewan……but I plead the 5th when it comes to other four-wheel adventures in his truck.