In the “it’s funny because it’s not happening to you” department… it rained a lot last night and then today we had another steady downpour. As a result, the stream swelled from two inches deep and about 10 feet wide (tops) to about 50 feet wide and at least 6-7 feet deep – its highest point yet this season. The water was flowing swiftly and occasionally you could see old tree trunks and things floating on by. This photo shows the high river, and on the other side, about 2/3 of the way down river, you can see a patch of grey which is the gravel road that goes through the water, and is USUALLY a piece of cake to traverse.

Now, apparently, two guys in a pickup truck (I wonder if you know where this is going already – LOL) who had been working on a ranch far on the OTHER side of the river decided that around 4 p.m. they were going to leave and get back home (in town, about 30 miles away.) I guess they weren’t too familiar with the streams around here and thought it would be okay to drive back through the stream, even though it was much higher. (I’m not sure if beer was involved in this decision.) I guess they decided that the river was too deep when it started flowing over the hood up to the windshield, and they evacuated back to the bank, sans pickup, but with their cooler. They were wet up to their chests, but okay.

Since the guys were stuck on the OTHER side of the river, they yelled one of their wife’s phone numbers to us, we called, told her that they said to tell their father what happened, and their father and a friend came in a huge pickup truck. They also threw a few beers over the river to the other side – first things first after all. Anyway, it’s four hours later now, and we just learned that the tow truck won’t come out until they get the truck out of the river. (They aren’t built for soft mud and are really heavy and don’t want to get stuck.) It’s pitch black out here now, but I can tell by the fainter light of the headlights down there that the dad’s pickup is backed further down the slope of the road than before, so maybe they’re having more luck now. (John’s down there with them – will get a full report when he gets back.) Before, the water was running too deeply and swiftly and they couldn’t get the rope attached to the front. I do give all these guys credit – they’re a bit frustrated, but they’re still keeping their senses of humor at least!

John just came back and reported that they got the rope attached to the river truck, but then the rope broke. However, the two trapped guys were able to get across the river, almost getting swept away a few times, and they left in the other truck, with the plan to go back to town, refuel, and come back tonight with chains. I suppose if they just waited until morning they could pull the truck out rather easily, providing that it doesn’t rain anymore tonight, of course. Anyway, we shall see if they really do come back tonight!

Also, after they left, we snuck down and tried to take a photo of the truck (it seemed like it would be rude to take photos before), but it was just out of flash range. Maybe I’ll see if I can do some level adjusting and bring out some of the details, but I don’t have a big hollywood budget to help me with that – LOL – so it might not work. At least the headlights were above water now though!