So, at about 9:30 this morning all the guys went out to look at the van again. Yep. It was still stuck, but everything was a little drier.
Plan One was just to get in and see if we could miraculously just drive it out. That one failed.
Plan Two: They connected a come-along to the front of the van and to a tree in the backyard, then Jason ratcheted the come-along while the van was in drive, but Bruce was not applying the gas pedal. It may have moved an inch or two, but the strap was not heavy enough to haul a 3000-pound van, and it kept breaking.
Plan Three: They called the neighbors to see if someone had a chain. Our friend, Joe Rodman, had a chain, and a son (Philip) that he brought along to help us out. It was
a little nerve-wracking to see Joe squatted astride that great big tight chain, with the cable for the come-along pulled taut in front of his face as he worked the ratchet-lever. I went in the house for that part. But they decided that wasn't working too well anyway. That's when they looked inside the van door and discovered that the van weighs 3000 pounds, and then looked at the come-along and discovered that it was only rated to pull 1000 pounds. They abandoned Plan Three.
Plan Four: They jacked up the back end of the van and shoveled rocks and dirt and sod into the holes under the tires, then let the van down and tried to rock it back and forth to get it out. But since the trailer was behind the van they couldn't back it up enough to get the forward momentum they needed. Next!
Plan Five: They re-hitched the trailer to the van and tried to back it out. That worked as well as it did the very first time.
Plan Six: They chained the back of the trailer to the Rodman's van; Philip drove their van. So the Rodman van pulled the trailer, the trailer pulled the North van, and Joe (who is a professional cross-country truck driver) backed everything out beautifully—missing both the corner of the house and the big tree in the front yard. Hooray for the Rodmans!!
Plan One was just to get in and see if we could miraculously just drive it out. That one failed.
Plan Two: They connected a come-along to the front of the van and to a tree in the backyard, then Jason ratcheted the come-along while the van was in drive, but Bruce was not applying the gas pedal. It may have moved an inch or two, but the strap was not heavy enough to haul a 3000-pound van, and it kept breaking.Plan Three: They called the neighbors to see if someone had a chain. Our friend, Joe Rodman, had a chain, and a son (Philip) that he brought along to help us out. It was
a little nerve-wracking to see Joe squatted astride that great big tight chain, with the cable for the come-along pulled taut in front of his face as he worked the ratchet-lever. I went in the house for that part. But they decided that wasn't working too well anyway. That's when they looked inside the van door and discovered that the van weighs 3000 pounds, and then looked at the come-along and discovered that it was only rated to pull 1000 pounds. They abandoned Plan Three.
Plan Four: They jacked up the back end of the van and shoveled rocks and dirt and sod into the holes under the tires, then let the van down and tried to rock it back and forth to get it out. But since the trailer was behind the van they couldn't back it up enough to get the forward momentum they needed. Next!
Plan Five: They re-hitched the trailer to the van and tried to back it out. That worked as well as it did the very first time.
Plan Six: They chained the back of the trailer to the Rodman's van; Philip drove their van. So the Rodman van pulled the trailer, the trailer pulled the North van, and Joe (who is a professional cross-country truck driver) backed everything out beautifully—missing both the corner of the house and the big tree in the front yard. Hooray for the Rodmans!!
Joe backs the trailer out.
And they got it done just in time, because this is how the weather was starting to look:
And this is what our yard looks like now:
See the tire tracks?
This is how the lawn looks.
This is how deep the holes got.
It takes a professional to do the job.
But I've got my van out and working! Hooray for the Rodmans!!
4 comments:
Crazy that your van got stuck. I'm glad they got it out safely. Thank goodness for awesome neighbors!
I suggest a bucket line (not sure what it's really called) to get the soil back to the garden spot or I would probably wait until everything dried out and then try my luck again with driving it back. That's probably not a good idea though.
What a funny story to be able to share with those grandkids Bruce is planning for! ;)
I love the clown picture on the side bar. So funny and adorable!
Hooray indeed! Glad the craziness is over and you get to drive your van again. :)
Hooray for getting the van out!
What great neighbors!
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