jesse3638
Hooked
We've all had them, whether it be on the trail, driving down the road, wrenching on something, just plain horsing around, consuming copius amounts of alcohol or a combination of things. Things that end up far from what you had expected or just plain bizarre. I figured I'd start a thread where we can share our "Lessons Learned"..
I'll go first:
*Disclaimer: Theatrics were added only for effect this is a true story!*
Last week while taking the girlfriend and kids to the pumpkin patch in my jeep I found myself in a predicament that I have found myself in many times, a rather large tumble weed (3-4' diameter) in the middle of the road. Watching the small sedan in front of me slow and swerve around it the decision has to be made, follow suit or the ever fun, speed up and kill it! Having met this before it almost always results in the same outcome, me speeding up and having it explode everywhere (my daughter thinks this is the funniest thing). So taking a quick vote among the passengers, its almost unanimous that this tumble weed needs to die! After sizing up my opponent to ensure there is nothing hidden by it, large rocks etc., I lock on and fire. Speeding up to about 50-55 MPH the tension in the Jeep is mounting. Low squeals start to emerge from my young passengers in the back seat as the moment of impact approaches. Finally "KA-BOOM"! Only I'm not met by the usual sound of pieces of the weed rattling under the Jeep as we pass over it. Instead I'm met by a loud helicopter like "thump thump thump......!" I immediately thought that a piece had found its way up into the engine compartment and was in the fan. I rapidly slowed down and as I did I realized the helicopter like sound was slowing too. At that point I knew what had happened, my opponent had not given up so easy and wrapped itself around my front drive shaft. During the moment of impact I noticed the tumble weed was not dry like most are and in fact was green and looked to have just been removed from someone's yard. This caused the tumble weed to bend rather than break as usual. In turn it snagged the front U-joint where it quickly enveloped the drive shaft. So for the next 10 mins, in flip-flops, shorts, and a t-shirt, all while laying in the dirt along a busy street, I slowly released the death grip of the tumble weed. As I climbed back into my jeep, covered in dirt, thorns, and soon to be sneezing with itchy eyes (I'm allergic to them) I started the engine and humbly continued to our destination. All while my girlfriend was laughing at me and telling me I should have just went around it. So this time the tumble weed may have won the battle but I can assure you I will win the war!....:crazyeyes:
So who's next? I know everyone has a story like this, where things didn't quite go as planned so lets hear them!
I'll go first:
*Disclaimer: Theatrics were added only for effect this is a true story!*
Last week while taking the girlfriend and kids to the pumpkin patch in my jeep I found myself in a predicament that I have found myself in many times, a rather large tumble weed (3-4' diameter) in the middle of the road. Watching the small sedan in front of me slow and swerve around it the decision has to be made, follow suit or the ever fun, speed up and kill it! Having met this before it almost always results in the same outcome, me speeding up and having it explode everywhere (my daughter thinks this is the funniest thing). So taking a quick vote among the passengers, its almost unanimous that this tumble weed needs to die! After sizing up my opponent to ensure there is nothing hidden by it, large rocks etc., I lock on and fire. Speeding up to about 50-55 MPH the tension in the Jeep is mounting. Low squeals start to emerge from my young passengers in the back seat as the moment of impact approaches. Finally "KA-BOOM"! Only I'm not met by the usual sound of pieces of the weed rattling under the Jeep as we pass over it. Instead I'm met by a loud helicopter like "thump thump thump......!" I immediately thought that a piece had found its way up into the engine compartment and was in the fan. I rapidly slowed down and as I did I realized the helicopter like sound was slowing too. At that point I knew what had happened, my opponent had not given up so easy and wrapped itself around my front drive shaft. During the moment of impact I noticed the tumble weed was not dry like most are and in fact was green and looked to have just been removed from someone's yard. This caused the tumble weed to bend rather than break as usual. In turn it snagged the front U-joint where it quickly enveloped the drive shaft. So for the next 10 mins, in flip-flops, shorts, and a t-shirt, all while laying in the dirt along a busy street, I slowly released the death grip of the tumble weed. As I climbed back into my jeep, covered in dirt, thorns, and soon to be sneezing with itchy eyes (I'm allergic to them) I started the engine and humbly continued to our destination. All while my girlfriend was laughing at me and telling me I should have just went around it. So this time the tumble weed may have won the battle but I can assure you I will win the war!....:crazyeyes:
So who's next? I know everyone has a story like this, where things didn't quite go as planned so lets hear them!