Rainy season driving

For those who read our other blog, this may be a bit of a repeat but I thought I should add some of the personal moments of driving during rainy season out to the village.

Going out to the village during rainy season is no easy task. The skies were black as we headed into the region on one of our trips. Thankfully, we didn't get a huge downpour as we traveled. 

The "road" is often so wet and squishy (can a road be squishy?) that the car is constantly swinging back and forth. Brett turns the steering wheel all the way right, then all the way left just to go in a somewhat straight line. There are times when it feels like you are riding on the water rather than the mud.

Haven cracked us up on one trip in particular. As we started out and Brett hit some holes rather hard (they are often hard to see), she yelled to me, "Mommy, tell Daddy to be careful!" and "Don't bounce me, Daddy!"

As we went through a puddle/lake and were riding on the water, she remarked, "We're floating!"

And as we were nearing the end of the trip and the car was swerving back and forth, she moaned, "I want out!" to which we all replied, "We do too!"

 One thing we have learned is that the day after a rain is worse than driving during rain. I guess the water has time to really mix into the mud and make things worse for driving. So though we had made it to the village without being stuck (a FIRST during rainy season!), we weren't so lucky on the way out.

While you see dry ground on the side of the car and may be tempted to wonder why we aren't on that ground, it is because we were traveling in the tracks already, where there was nothing but the muddy ground and the safest place to be is where someone has already traveled. And once you are in those tracks, you are pretty much in them and there's no way to get out of them.

 With Brett's handy dandy plastic boards (used most often in the Australian outback), a hi lift jack, and three men and Dawson pushing on the car, we were eventually able to get ourselves out.

They were all covered in mud. As they pushed from the back, standing in the mud, the mud also flew up all around them. They were D.I.R.T.Y.  The man between D and Brett was just a passer by that stopped and helped (and told us we should have been driving on the dry part of the road and not in the mud. Thanks for the tip, man.)

Thankful we have until June or July before we have to worry about rain again. There are some advantages to going months on end without rain, ok, maybe just one. :)