I was headed from my first job to my second job yesterday morning when my truck started to slide sideways and I crossed the center line and left the roadway backwards at a 45 degree angle to the road headed towards the tree line.  As the truck started down into the small ditch, it pulled the truck down and the truck slid sideways breaking the bead on the passenger front tire.  Just as the truck entered the tree line it was jerked back around 180 degrees and I ended up facing the direction I was headed initially.  Thankfully I wasn't hurt, and the only damage to the truck was a busted front tire.  It rained in central GA for the first time in probably a month or so and I think that there was some oil on the road that caused the car to slide.  It was raining at the time, but there was no standing water anywhere.

I wouldn't call myself an expert driver, but I spend a good bit of time on the road, with a good bit of it working in bad weather.  My 2007 truck has 95,000 miles on it already.   I have driven fast cars and fast bikes all my life so sliding it not a new sensation to me.   This happened fast,  I felt the truck's rear end step out and gave it a little counter steer to try to correct...nothing just kept sliding... took my foot out of the gas and the truck immediately snapped around 180 degrees.  Truck is well maintained, tires had less than 20k on them, and I wasn't speeding.  Just a freak accident.

My truck came to rest on the side of the drainage ditch amongst all the dirt my tires had just dug up.  This is middle GA so we are basically talking about sand.   I pulled my truck up about 20 feet,  Got out the rain suit that I carry in my truck (thanks to this forum).  Removed the spare from under the truck.  Got out my piece of 2x12 that I keep in the toolbox to use on soft ground to jack the truck up (thanks to this forum).  Changed my tire out, and it was a little low on air, so I got out my compressor (that I had thanks to this forum) to top it off with air.  Put the blown tire in the bed, put the tools and piece of 2x12 away.  Pulled off my rain gear and stowed it away, then got a good running start and i was able to drive out of the ditch and proceed on the work.

It took me about 30 minutes to get my truck out of the ditch and be on my way, I didn't need any help, it didn't cost me any money out of pocket right then.  It was a great excercise for me in working on my truck in adverse conditions without help.  My equipment worked great with no failures.

What I took away from this experience was to be more cautious when driving in the rain after long dry spells. and to put a spare pair of boots in the truck.  I had my work boots on and they got quite wet and muddy.  Had I not frequented this forum for the past few years, I have no doubt I would have had to sit on the side of the road for probably at least 2 hours before a tow truck showed up, then pray that he didn't tear up my truck pulling it from the ditch. And I would have been out at least $100 bucks for the tow truck.

All in all a good experience from a very scary event .  

Thanks guys.

glad your safe.

and glad the forum helped you!!!

Yeah but where is the story of having to shoot your way out? just kidding. I opened it thinking wow a real life SHTF, Survivial, EOTWAWKI, type scenario that your truck gun and ammo along with your recent tactical experience saved you from. oh well... good job man on the rated G self save.

well done. Nice when it all comes together, isn't it.

Congratulations

This is what the SF is about––picking and choosing our excitement; rather than the world choosing our excitement.

It really is awesome to have the right tools for the job and just calmly going about fixing the situation. For a lot of the world around us, its time for panic and stress.

Got to watch that oil on the road after a long dry spell!  This was best illustrated to me in the Middle East (where car maintenance is not a priority), with the first rain of the rainy season (winter) the roads would be covered with about a half inch of oily sludge.  Some mighty hairy driving witnessed during that first rain!

Glad to see you had all the tools you needed to get the job done.  And interesting to note that you learned something (the spare boots).  I have yet to experience any form of SHTF where I did not learn about my gear, or more commonly, discover some tool or item that would have made the situation better.  It is a learning curve, and you just hope that the next problem goes even smoother.

stasiman

I called my wife and told her that I had slid off the road and that I was going to be a little late to work. (We work together)  Well she freaked out, called my brother who I also work with.  My little brother god bless him had already assembled a rescue team to come get me.  I almost couldn't talk him out of coming, but hell......that's how family should be.  

It was kind of funny, I felt fairly calm during the wreck.  When I went off the road backwards, I remember feeling some relief that I was going to hit the trees backwards instead of forward.  I knew there was nothing to do at that point so I just pulled my arms up and along side my head to protect it and just waited for the impact.  Thankfully it never came.   When the truck stopped, I turned it off and stepped out to inspect the truck.  At that point it was just automatic, get geared up, get it fixed and get on down the road.  After it was all over, I was thinking....damn that went pretty well.

I'm definitely gonna add a pair of boots to the truck, and I'm also gonna add some ears to my jack so that it will better "cup" the frame rail for lack of a better word.  The truck was sitting slightly sideways on a hill  when it came to rest, so the jack didn't really have an optimum purchase on the frame rail.

Glad to hear everything is A-OK. I wouldn't have handled it so well

Excellent, now, get rid of the 2/12 and please put in a pad made of (2) 3/4" plywood glued and screwed together. I had a piece of nominal lumber split doing the same thing and it made a bad situation worse as I was then scared shitless to re-use the split piece. The plywood idea comes from OSHA's description of what is acceptable under a scaffolding leg in questionable ground, although much larger and with the 2x material sandwiched between the plywood.

this.    glad everything turned out ok.  

Can I get an AMEN! That is exactly what this community is about.

Well done OC. Being self-sufficient is the greatest security blanket in the world It's not about zombies and rogue comets striking the Earth-it's about having the mindset and the tools to mitigate and overcome bad circumstances.

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It's what I've been preaching for years.  In all reality this should be a non-event for everyone.  Yet 90% of folks would have been stranded there helpless.  If they can't even take care of something so minor then when the aliens do invade they're going to be alien food because something stupid waylays them when they are trying to mount the resistance.

Thank you for that information.



I have all sorts of wood scraps I use for stuff and now and then some crack or split.



Using the plywood sounds like an excellant idea, I do love how plywood can be used to strengthen some stuff when used in this way.



OP, glad you had the tools available to make this a non-issue.

Not only is plywood strong as hell, but its flexible so it will hold together under extreme stress, especially when laminated with another piece with glue.