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dolariIf there's one thing I learned during Emily's visit to Texas is that my truck is, in no way, a wimp.
I've never gunned the engine, I'm very gentle with it, speeding and slowing gradually (I do tend to "punch it" getting on freeways, though), graceful turns at decent speeds (unless there's something I want to see at the last minute and I swerve). Basically, the reason my truck runs smoothly is I baby it.
While Emily was here, we nearly got stuck in mud twice, and DID get stuck once. The truck has terrible terrible rear end traction when taking off. In PA, a decent snow would get my truck stuck in it. In Texas, a good rain will make it hydroplane in one spot. Ad my babying to the engine, and the truck didn't go a lot of places in that weather.
On one trip to West Point, we'd visited some tracks at sundown and didn't realize the place had gotten a good rain. The roads were narrow, there were fields on either side, and we attempted a three point turn around. Points 1 and 2? Really good. Point 3, I clipped the field, which went from being a field to being quicksand, and promptly got the truck stuck in it.
We'd sunk in a good 6 to 7 inches, my back tires were spinning on dry ground uselessly, while the front end decided to keep getting itself deeper in the field. Emily jumped up and down on the bumper, and encouraged me to gun the hell out of the engine to get any kind of traction. Sure enough, it worked. I asked her afterwords if that hurt the engine at all. She told me it didn't, as long as you don't do it too often.
My truck, as it turns out, is no wimp. The driver was.
Not that this changed my driving habits - I still never gun the engine, I'm still very gentle with it, speeding and slowing gradually (I do tend to "punch it" getting on freeways, though), still make graceful turns at decent speeds (unless there's something I want to see at the last minute and I swerve). But now I'm not afraid to gun the engine when I need to.
Case in point:
Today i wanted to take a picture of a place that was about to be overrun by progress. It was an old dead-end road in Northwest San Antonio that is on the verge of being totally revamped and re-made into a subdivision. So I went. when I got there, sure enough, I saw that progress was encroaching quickly, and that this would prolly be the last chance I could get pics before it was overrun by tract housing.
On my way down the road to my old stargazing spot, I saw a mud-pool. A deep mud pool. A really not good looking mud pool, with a dry road in front of me, and more dry road behind it, and no other way around. I considered jumping out and walking it, but the spot was still a good ways away and the truck would be out of view, something I don't like to do in unpopulated areas.
I spied a side on the pool where it was above the water, backed up, got some momentum, and aimed for the side. Sure enough, it was all mud and gaveway when I hit it. I immediately gunned the engine, down shifted and the minute I felt I was losing traction, turned the wheel any way I could an kept the back wheels spinning. I almost lost it there, but punched it again while veering the steering wheel the opposite direction, and just as I was feeling traction slipping again, I made it out the other side.
She's no wimp. :)
I took my pictures and left, but rather than tempt fate again, I found some private driveways of old houses that used to be back there (now demolished) that emptied out into a construction area where a new subdivision was going in. After spinning my tires on the gravel road onto Culebra Road, I made for home.
(Quick aside...on the other side of the road, I got out and took my pictures, only to find I left my phone at home. If I'da gotten stuck, there would have been a good 2 or 3 mile walk to the nearest phone. ::whew::)
I've never gunned the engine, I'm very gentle with it, speeding and slowing gradually (I do tend to "punch it" getting on freeways, though), graceful turns at decent speeds (unless there's something I want to see at the last minute and I swerve). Basically, the reason my truck runs smoothly is I baby it.
While Emily was here, we nearly got stuck in mud twice, and DID get stuck once. The truck has terrible terrible rear end traction when taking off. In PA, a decent snow would get my truck stuck in it. In Texas, a good rain will make it hydroplane in one spot. Ad my babying to the engine, and the truck didn't go a lot of places in that weather.
On one trip to West Point, we'd visited some tracks at sundown and didn't realize the place had gotten a good rain. The roads were narrow, there were fields on either side, and we attempted a three point turn around. Points 1 and 2? Really good. Point 3, I clipped the field, which went from being a field to being quicksand, and promptly got the truck stuck in it.
We'd sunk in a good 6 to 7 inches, my back tires were spinning on dry ground uselessly, while the front end decided to keep getting itself deeper in the field. Emily jumped up and down on the bumper, and encouraged me to gun the hell out of the engine to get any kind of traction. Sure enough, it worked. I asked her afterwords if that hurt the engine at all. She told me it didn't, as long as you don't do it too often.
My truck, as it turns out, is no wimp. The driver was.
Not that this changed my driving habits - I still never gun the engine, I'm still very gentle with it, speeding and slowing gradually (I do tend to "punch it" getting on freeways, though), still make graceful turns at decent speeds (unless there's something I want to see at the last minute and I swerve). But now I'm not afraid to gun the engine when I need to.
Case in point:
Today i wanted to take a picture of a place that was about to be overrun by progress. It was an old dead-end road in Northwest San Antonio that is on the verge of being totally revamped and re-made into a subdivision. So I went. when I got there, sure enough, I saw that progress was encroaching quickly, and that this would prolly be the last chance I could get pics before it was overrun by tract housing.
On my way down the road to my old stargazing spot, I saw a mud-pool. A deep mud pool. A really not good looking mud pool, with a dry road in front of me, and more dry road behind it, and no other way around. I considered jumping out and walking it, but the spot was still a good ways away and the truck would be out of view, something I don't like to do in unpopulated areas.
I spied a side on the pool where it was above the water, backed up, got some momentum, and aimed for the side. Sure enough, it was all mud and gaveway when I hit it. I immediately gunned the engine, down shifted and the minute I felt I was losing traction, turned the wheel any way I could an kept the back wheels spinning. I almost lost it there, but punched it again while veering the steering wheel the opposite direction, and just as I was feeling traction slipping again, I made it out the other side.
She's no wimp. :)
I took my pictures and left, but rather than tempt fate again, I found some private driveways of old houses that used to be back there (now demolished) that emptied out into a construction area where a new subdivision was going in. After spinning my tires on the gravel road onto Culebra Road, I made for home.
(Quick aside...on the other side of the road, I got out and took my pictures, only to find I left my phone at home. If I'da gotten stuck, there would have been a good 2 or 3 mile walk to the nearest phone. ::whew::)
