Oh man, I’ve received a great one.
A number of years again I discovered a dirt-cheap Wrangler for $1,500 bucks, the one downside was the man wanted it off his property instantly.
“No huge deal” I assumed. I hooked the trailer as much as my Gladiator and headed out.
It was smack in the midst of a 3 day sleet storm-turned-ice storm-turned snowstorm. The drive to get the Jeep was no problem, however really getting the Jeep and loading it changed into a fiasco after we discovered that the Jeep didn’t wish to begin. So, about an hour delayed, the solar had gone down, and the sky began dumping snow. The hour-plus drive residence was fairly uneventful, till within the final 5 miles from my home, a automotive accident pressured me to choose: Sit and wait within the site visitors jam, or drag the Jeep and trailer up over a steep gravel street.
It felt much less like a selection and extra like a chance to do one thing cool.
The street in query was a one lane gravel street that featured a depraved 250 foot rise in incline over precisely a quarter-mile.
Now, townships usually plow this street every time they simply don’t have anything else to do, so I knew it could be a snowy mess. Now, between the Jeep and the trailer it was sitting on, I used to be most likely dragging about 5,000 lbs up this hill. Nevertheless, there have been a couple of tire tracks heading up the hill, so I had some false confidence that it wouldn’t be too unhealthy. On the backside of the hill, I dropped it into 4-low and engaged each lockers, rechecked all my chains holding my new shitbox to the trailer. Off I went.
I took off in 2nd, and skipped to 4th gear, making an attempt to construct as a lot momentum as potential earlier than the steepest a part of the hill. About 200 toes into the climb, I noticed the tire tracks go from 2 units of tracks to a converging mess. Somebody had tried to go up, and rotated and got here again down the hill, and it regarded just like the turn-around try was MESSY. Nonetheless, I used to be shifting alongside at a great 15-20 mph and had loads of grip.
Till I didn’t. As quickly as I crossed over the mess of tire tracks, the tach needle jumped, I began listening to that god-awful sound of all 4 of my tires spinning, after which my intestine dropped as I felt the loss in momentum. The speedometer dropped to zero, and I knew I used to be in deep shit. I mashed the brake, and the trailer began dragging me backwards.
Down a one lane, twisty, icy, street.
With a ditch on one facet, and a 15 foot drop on the opposite.
In the dead of night.
I regarded in my mirror as I began sliding again, to see nothing greater than a 6×6 inch sq. of pitch black, besides the reflection of my taillights within the headlights of the Jeep on the trailer. As I noticed I used to be beginning to decide up velocity, I yanked the parking brake up, and received able to bail. A couple of cut up second glided by, and the ice spot gave technique to gravel beneath. In some way, the entire thing got here to a cease. The trailer was sitting a couple of foot away from going over the hill.
After saying a couple of fast “Thanks” prayers, I walked as much as the entrance of the truck and grabbed the winch. I spent the subsequent hour trudging by means of snow, wrapping my line to timber, dragging myself up about 20 toes at a time, many times, till I used to be to the highest.
Positively essentially the most harrowing factor I’ve ever confronted behind the wheel, and I discovered my lesson.
