You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em,

know when to walk away, and know when to run......

Headed out to Skagit Valley early this morning to get a run in before the last minute pre Christmas preparations kick in high gear. Figured I'd do a good ATV run and get back before noon...

Things were going well as I was chugging up the road that leads to the valley, outside temperatures were steadily dropping, rain had stopped, road was a bit slushy, but nothing too serious..... until suddenly we were climbing the first of a series of hills to get to my staging area, and the slush became a sheet of ice. Hmmmmm.... easy there, take it slow and steady, and I popped the truck into 4 wheel drive. First hill, ok, second hill ok, (gonna have to take it real easy coming down I thought, too bad I can't detug the truck!), third hill....... not so ok..... spinning, spinning, sliding sideways until I came to a brief halt and started sliding backwards on an angle back down the hill. I saw the trailer jack-knifing in my mirror, until it slid into the ditch. Truck continued to slide backwards, on a peculiar angle, while I had both feet on the brake, slide.. slide.. slide, ditch coming up fast, back wheels over the edge and we came to a halt. For a moment I held my breath, and then decided I best get out and have a look at things. Dumb move, my feet slid right out from under me and I landed on my back on the ice, almost, but not quite smacking the back of my head on the running boards. I caught my breath, used the door to haul myself up and clinging to the truck I walked up and down the truck to look at what had happened. Trying very hard not to panic, (ok, I did panic a little) I told myself to calm down and look and see what I was going to do. On the opposite side of the road to where I was slid, there was another drop off, but a couple feet of shoulder with snow on it. I figured if I could persuade the truck forward enough to get my wheels into that snow, I'd have enough traction, and hopefully enough room to turn the thing around and get out. And that's what I did. It took a bunch more sliding and breath holding, while I figured out which way to turn the wheels to go forwards and not sideways. You'd think that would be easy, straighten wheels go forwards, turn wheels go sideways.... NOPE!!!! The truck slid sideways with the wheels straight and gradually I gained forwards ground by turning the wheels. Slowly but surely the front came around, level with the rear, and then finally the front was past the rear and we were turning. Out came the trailer and then I slid and slipped all the way back down the hills, still holding my breath until finally I was out of the switch backs, found a pull out and we were done. There is something vastly more comforting about sliding frontwards where you can see what is coming, rather than backwards!

I dropped dogs (they badly needed to empty their bladders), I said a prayer of thanks and wondered if I needed to change my underwear!!! After a bit of thought about possibly taking the ATV off and attempting those icy hills with the dogs, I decided that enough was enough. Sometimes "You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run....." (Kenny Rogers: the Gambler)

Today I folded and walked away.

Tomorrow is another day.