[strollerssfsfs]

Ever since graduating high school I've had this incredible urge to just go out and drive on roads far away from home, or from anyone else for that matter. Some members here know I basically stay at home or go to work, and don't go on any large trips, so I have to get out somehow, and that usually means driving on roads I don't know, or in the middle of the woods, somewhere so I don't have to constantly see city streets or stoplights every ten feet.

Tonight wouldn't have happened if I actually learned anything from last week. I drove my car in a parking lot here in town that had about a foot of snow. It wasn't plowed, and I thought, "what the heck", so I got a running start, entered the parking lot, and did almost an entire loop around before I got stuck. In that situation I was in the best place to get stuck... literally across the street from the nearest house, 12:30 in the afternoon, on a weekday in case I needed to call the tow truck. But I managed to dig myself out with only my bare hands and a little determination.

I told myself afterwards I'd never take my car places I knew it couldn't handle, but stupid me, I did it again about an hour ago. When you're young and got AWD for the first time, you tend to have this "It'll never happen to me" attitude despite all the stories out there saying "yes, stuff CAN happen". And when you play with fire, you get burned.

So there's this trail about ten miles from my house. It looked wide enough for off road vehicles and other vehicles with some variation of four wheel drive. About a couple hundred feet down the road it splits into two roads; one goes to a house whose owner drive a Toyota pick-up; the other goes sharply uphill into some deep woods. Guess which road I took.

So my father and I are in the Subaru, and I had told him I already went up it twice in the past. In those situations there was no ice and only about half a foot of snow on it, and I did go to the top of the hill without a problem. But tonight was a different story. It rained yesterday and the road turned to complete ice. I got halfway up it, realized it was glare ice, and I spun. I stopped, tried to back down, and the car slid to the right. Again, I was stupid and thought a little momentum would help, but instead I slid the car into a ditch, into some trees, and almost into a small swamp.

"Now how the heck are we gonna get out?" Dad said.

My cell phone had no reception, it was 5 PM, it's Christmas Eve, it was getting dark, the house a few feet away had no one inside, and I ended up running two miles to the next nearest house. The scared part of me was knowing I'd need to enter some complete stranger's vehicle and put him in a situation he probably didn't need to be in. I told him the whole story about what happened and he's like, "You know, that road was only made for snowmobiles. People with Jeeps have gotten stuck much further down that road and I had to help them out, too". I offered money but he kept refusing. He had a heart of gold, and if it wasn't for him, my father and I would have had to walk ten miles and leave the car there for two days until a tow shop opened.

Long story short, my car has a tow hitch on the back and I had this towing cable in the car I bought at Wal*Mart for $15, and out of sheer luck we managed to get the Subaru pulled out of the ditch within about 15 minutes. He spun all four wheels, I spun all four wheels, and he ended up dragging me out until I was back on the road. I could not thank the guy enough and was so happy I hugged him (awkward, I know). I finally drove to the end of the road after he left and I cried in the car so hard I almost had to have Dad drive. Dad starting talking about how I'm his "little boy" and no one ever stops learning, so he ended up laughing and I was quite the opposite.

I don't want any sympathy because I was stupid and got myself into a mess I had to get myself out of.

I just want to wish you guys a safe and happy holiday season. If anything, I just hope what happened to me convinces someone who thinks they're invincible that they REALLY do mean it when they say "your car wasn't meant for off road". That, and be prepared for the unexpected! I had no shovel, no gloves, a quarter tank of gas, and it was the worst place in the worst time of the year to get stuck. You can fix scratches on a car, but as Ron White once said, "You can't fix stupid". And yes, the rubber around the right-side windows of my car is all scratched up.

[usaneisfiecup]

Dont worry Scott, look at the brighter side of it, you probably learnt a fair bit. I learnt to drive offroad in a 35 year old Land Rover, and I still managed to get both the Camry wagon and the Magna Wagon (Both FWD). The latter was stuck in so deep that shovels + a Pajero towing it did absolutely nothing, and I had to dig out half of australia, put the jack under each corner, fill in with rocks and bricks, then gravell, then, after all 4's were done, pull it with a Pajero AND drive it out. It happens and you really dont need to be hard on yourself.

Remember, its all part of the adventure.

If you're going interstate with some friends for a holliday and your car breaks down, you can either get down and depressed about it, or you can enjoy it as part of your holliday. Actually, often, the best part of your holliday...

So, laugh it up and merry Christmas

[strollerssfsfs]

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[KuRoregioNka]

Which model is the Subaru?

[risyGreeple]

Excellerator, you call yourself stupid on your choices but I think it's well worth it if you learn something from it. You got yourself into an adventure sort of speak and you shared it with your dad and on top of that, no one got hurt. It couldn't end any better and you'll share it with your dad for years to come.

We take some stupid chances when were young but I think we need to in order to learn from them. To better prepare ourselves for the long run.

[Niobaralegra]

Wow man, what a story, good to hear that the worst damage was to the car!

We all have to go through this stuff, it's how we go through life and experience it. As long as you learn from this and don't make the same mistake again, then you're fine. Just be thankful that you're still in one piece and that you can laugh about it, and next time you decide to do something stupid like this with the car again, think twice about it. At least you have actually experienced what can happen when the best decisions aren't made, and you'll know not to do it again.

I was in a similar situation this past May. My friend was driving his 2 year old BMW 330i and I was in the back seat. We decided that it would be fun to take it to the limit on some windy roads near our neighborhood... Well low and behold, he ended up losing control and flipping the car on its roof, completely totaling it (It was such a beautiful car too). While it was a terribly scary situation for the both of us, we now know better than to do stupid **** like that. It was especially hard on him for the first week, but we've come to realize that having something like this happen is sometimes the only way one can learn about life and how fragile it is.

Next time you feel the urge to get the adrenaline pumping, you'll know better

[strollerssfsfs]

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[OWV9LSxH]

Well, a lesson learned Scott. Remember, it's better to regret something you have done than something you haven't done.

I had a similar thing happen a few years back. I was 18 and stupid, I had my bright yellow Saxo with my alloys and my sound system. I was the don. Or at least I thought I was. Anyway, my car was full up with all my mates and me driving. We were driving round 'Malvern' (Lots of hills - not far off from officially being labelled a mountain). We're driving along the main road that had been gritted and my mate points out some house party up this side road. So we turn off up this hill that hadn't been gritted in a FWD Saxo. I didn't want to, but my mates were egging me on. We get to the top just about and get out of the car to try and gatecrash this party. The Partygoers didn't take to kindly to this, so we made a swift exit. On the way down the hill we started to slide. No matter what I did I couldn't control it. There were parked cars on one side and a kerb on the other with a big drop behind the kerb. I was screaming and my mates were telling me to hit the cars as it would stop us, but I didn't want to smash up my pride and joy. I chose the kerb and luckily it stopped us. My alloys were wrecked and we were all just silent. After a few cigarettes to calm my nerves we headed back very slowly. The rest of the journey was made in silence. A lesson learned for me!

[Munccoughe]

One time my car ran out of gas and my dad refused to come get me. It happened a few weeks ago, but I'm still feeling the pain. I thought I'd just put that out there.

[KuRoregioNka]

Saw your web page Excellerator (scott), nice interior on that subie Wonder how it got stuck though with the cold weather pack? Love the snow, wish we had some over here, instead it's usually a scorcher on Xmas day (40 degrees celcius) but it was only 20 degrees this year and it also rained! Sorry, going off topic!

[strollerssfsfs]

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