Winter is a cold, hard B but I am stubborn and determined to not let her screw me over this year. Here I am talking about Winter again with a negative tone similar to my last post on feeling the green thumb. Winter this year has really been a struggle for me without my snow plow running.

Lucky for me Sunday was a gorgeous day without a cloud in sight so I decided to bring along my dogs and some friends up to the property in hopes of getting the snow plow running again. We had to chain up all four tires on our vehicles because the depth of the snow the last mile up is more than two feet deep. Chaining up the truck has become a fairly straight forward process for me.

1. Park on a slight incline and engage the parking break.
2. Remove chains from their storage bag and shake them loose of any kinks or tangles
3. Lay the chains flat behind each tire. Make sure to keep the horizontal chains bent ends facing out to not cause a potential rub or puncture on your tires.
4. Also verify that the cams are on the outside so that when you snap the chains together you can tighten them snug without having to climb underneath the vehicle.
5. Once all the chains are lined up the the tires, put the vehicle in reverse and slowly drive half way over the chains.
6. Put the vehicle in park and engage the parking break again.
7. Now clasp the chain ends together as tightly as possible. Making sure the inside and outside chains are both tight and even.
8. Use the key that came with your chain set to tighten the cams one at a time around all the wheels.
9. Pull forward after disengage the emergency break and roll forward about 15 feet. Park the vehicle and re-engage the parking break.
10. Double check all around that the chains are all as tight as possible.
11. You are now safely chained up and ready to mob through some winter madness.

After I have chained up my vehicle I like to keep a window cracked so that I can hear the chains subtle clink clink, which lets me know they are still on correctly. That noise is very peaceful, it brings a sense of security to the cab. If I hear any abnormal sounds I make sure to stop the vehicle and recheck all of the tires and their chains, tightening when necessary.

Next, we continued up the hill with the smaller truck in front so that if anything doesn’t go as planned we can easily pull it back out with the larger truck. It was mostly smooth sailing until the four runner got stuck heading up one of the steep inclines where the snow drift had caused the center of the road to be much deeper than any of the road previously. We let the dogs out to roam around while we hooked the back of the four runner to the larger truck and reversed out. Once the four runner was clear we put the large truck in front, because of the higher clearance and continued on our way. 

My truck got through the dense and deep snow after a few times of driving forward and back over my tracks. After concurring most of the road I then hit another deep clump of snow and my muffler came loose. We stopped for a minute to reconnect the exhaust and muffler with a clamp. I am grateful it was a simple fix.

Once everything was fastened we went back to work trying to maneuver through the deep snow. I got sucked into a drainage section of the road and got myself stuck. Josh hollered at me to make sure my truck was in four wheel low and I said it in fact was not so he advised I engage the low feature instead of the regular four wheel drive. When I did this a low hum began behind the cab and my truck refused to move when in drive. Small amounts of panic began to well up inside of me. Had I just broken my truck? Was the rig now going to be stuck up here until all the snow melts? Curse you, you Winter she devil!

After turning off the engine and checking underneath the vehicle we could not see anything had come unconnected so we then checked all the fluid levels. Things looked fine there as well so we took a break and enjoyed a brown bag lunch while I let my mind try to relax a little. At least I was not alone on this adventure or stuck up on the hill with no way down.

Once our short break was over we began again to start the engine. It started but again would not engage into drive, only rev the engine without forward momentum. When I put the truck in reverse however it did begin to roll backwards. This was mind boggling but I decided to roll with it and try to back myself out of the location I was to at least allow vehicles to pass mine on the road if necessary. I backed up trying to stay on my previous tire tracks but failed. This caused the truck to be stuck yet again in another mound of snow. This time without being able to drive forward I was certainly stuck for good. How frustrating.

So here I am saying that Winter did in fact screw me over because now I have a truck stuck in the snow with no way to reach it or repair it until the weather invites Spring. Hopefully your week has been a lot more productive than mine.

Stay tuned for the next blog post about keeping the Homestead warm with Continued Interior Design!