Maybe it was the shear number of people in the field, or the hard work the farmer had to do to get the cars out, but the one time I got myself stuck near a storm, the farmer actually told me to drive THROUGH his field to get to dry roads.
We were chasing in the TX panhandle on May 12, 2005 (a lot of you were there as well), and before the tornado formed, we tried to go a little west of the main N-S paved FM road everyone was sitting on. Why we thought we should do this, I don't know. We took a small dirt road west and it quickly turned muddy. My little Saturn wagon barely made down a hill into a farm access before we were stuck.
At this time, there was hail falling in the storm, but nothing major happening at our location. The curtains of rain and hail were moving closer, however. We started the process for having the 3 guys with me push while we back tracked on an uphill road 3/4 mile in the mud.
Just as we were about to start trying to get out, a truck pulled up next to us and asked if we were okay. We told him of our predicament, but that we thought we could get out by pushing. He promptly suggested that we drive into his field in front of us, as the field was dry only about 100 feet in. He said we could drive through the remainder of the field south (about 1 mile though his field) and get to the next E-W road, which was dry. He then proceeded to tell us he was on his way into the storm to get one of his workers which was stuck in the baseball hail.
Sure enough, about 100 feet in the ground was hard and dry, and the car was able to make it without incident. If it wasn't for that farmer's suggestion, who knows what situation we would be in.
On top of all this, I also know the issues of not having an escape. I am sure a lot of you will remember that same day as the day the tornado that formed knocked power lines across the south escape road, and then proceeded to cross the east escape road, trapping a lot of chasers in huge hail, including myself.
The point(s)?
- Situations will come up that nobody can control.
- You do things you need to do to survive.
- The mapping programs are not accurate. Never assume a road is going to stay in good condition, no matter what it looks like on Delorme/MS Streets, etc.
- If the farmer wants a fee to tug you out and to repay him for his crop damage, that is honestly the least owed to the guy. I agree with what
Mike Kovalchick said:
I thought the price was fair..if for no other reason..the cost to pay somebody else to tow us would have been considerable at that very remote location..and also the farmer spent A LOT of his own time helping us with his tractor.