Driving Sand Ridge Road when it's Muddy

Down the Hill and across the Road

The farm where I grew up if you drove out our driveway and did not turn right nor left you would find yourself driving down a road that was not maintained, and in places it was very difficult to get through during wet weather. This stretch of road was known as “Sand Ridge Road”.  Running east and west it crossed a creek at its lowest point. When I was a kid this creek ran full time. Just to the east of our place and south of Sand Ridge Road was an Indian/early Settlers graveyard?  Sand Ridge Road was the route my brothers, sisters and I took to Mineral Point School, the one room elementary school we attended. In the daytime it was a pleasant interesting walk. On either side of Sand Ridge Road were blackberry vines, hazel nut bushes, grape vines, and also a short section of bank on the north side that had wild strawberries. At the bottom of the hill a creek crossed Sand Ridge Road. We had stepping stones to walk on to keep our feet dry when we crossed the creek. Late of the evening as it was beginning to get dark, Sand Ridge Road becomes very eerie and spooky. I always had a certain feeling that I cannot explain about Sand Ridge Road. I didn’t like being on Sand Ridge Road at night!

My sister Donna had gotten a job at Alexander’s Café in town as a waitress. She worked after school till closing time. There was no transportation problem for Donna getting to work all she had to do is walk from the high school to the café.  However, since we lived three miles out of town, getting from the café to home when she got off from work was a completely different story. Many times it was my job (to my delight) to go to town and pick-up Donna from work. I wasn’t old enough to have a Drivers license. Yet, I was a very accomplished driver, especially when speed was appropriate. So, off I would go to pick-up Donna from work. Donna always insisted that she drive home since I didn’t have a Drivers license. One particular night it had been raining and the roads were still wet. Coming home we turned off of High Street Road on to a gravel road that went north toward our house. There was a car parked almost in the middle of the road with the passenger’s door open. Instead of passing on the left which would have been close but could have been done. Donna pulls up close behind the car and puts her lights on bright.  In a matter of seconds the lights come on in the car. The driver decides it is time to move on, so down the road they go. Donna just drives along right behind the car making no attempt to pass. When we get to our driveway that car turned right down Sand Ridge Road. Did Donna turn into our driveway? No! She turned right and followed the car down Sand Ridge Road. As we were passing the old graveyard my heart skipped a beat. I was afraid to look toward the graveyard. In my mind I thought is she crazy?  I looked over at her with my voice trembling and said do you think we can make it? It has been raining a lot today. As we drove down that muddy road it was a lot like a fox chasing a rabbit and both of them walking. Donna said to me “I think I know that guy” I said, you do? She said yeah he comes in the restaurant a lot. By now I could feel the sweat running down my sides. I was sure we had done the wrong thing by coming down Sand Ridge Road. I said what will we do if he gets stuck? Donna said what can he do but ask for help to get pulled out? I said what if we get stuck? Donna said, I know how to drive in mud we won’t get stuck. By this time we had crossed the creek and had started up the hill. The Willys Jeep Station Wagon we were in was kind of sliding sideways now and then and we were moving slower and slower. The car in front of us was having even more difficulty and was driving slower and slower and staying on the right side of the road like he was giving us room to pass. Donna said “come on, don’t stop you fool or we will both be stuck”. We were barely creeping and sliding sideways every now and then. The car we were following was moving more to the right side of the road. About that time Donna took the opportunity to pass and started around I looked at Donna and said “we are going to get stuck”!  Donna said, “Calm down” it’s those darn worn out tires that’s causing us to spin so much, if we had good tires we could have been up the hill by now. I said I don’t know. By now it was evident we were not going to make it.  Our attempt to pass was in vain. All we had accomplished was changing sides of the road. The other car was moving at a snails pace but that was faster than we were going. I said, we are getting stuck. Donna said we are not stuck yet. However, she didn’t sound too sure of her statement. As I watched the taillights of the other car pass out of sight my heart almost stopped, we were no longer moving!  Stuck in the mud on Sand Ridge Road….. How much worse could my life get?

To ask the question what do we do now would have been stupid. The only thing we could do was walk home and catch “old Pat” our horse, put the harness on her, find a chain and come back and pull the Willys out of the mud. That’s exactly what we did! At the time it certainly wasn’t a funny or entertaining adventure. However, looking back now some sixty-four years later it is fun to talk about and entertaining to those who will listen.

Jim Gray