Muddy Makanda Spring Fest.

We went to the Makanda Spring Fest today. Among the hippy-esque and hipster-ific* moments of the day, one stands out in particular. It rained all night Friday and all day and night Saturday. The parking at the festival is outside, on grass. On the way in, some friends of ours told me that I should get my "off-road badge" for getting the Focus through mud and standing water. The car was pretty muddy at that point. On the way home, however, I took the sludge too slowly, and we sank. And sank. And sank some more. The wife, M and K got out of the car and got very muddy trying to push it. In a strange coincidence, the senior who was recently cleared of his charges at the university was there, and he suggested we try to put a floor mat under the spinning and digging front wheels. That didn't work, since the car had sunk so deeply that I could barely open the door. The mud was flying so high that M, K and the wife were getting caked. The wife got mud in her hair, all over her clothes, on her glasses and even in her mouth (I have a picture of that, but I know better than to show it to anyone). At that point, we were going to give up. Then, someone in a black pick-up showed up, pulled up behind the Focus, hooked up a cable and pulled it free -- all out of the goodness of his heart. At the same time, a family man stopped, came over and helped direct things. What could have spoiled a nice afternoon turned into a far smaller mess. We drove home, muddy, but relieved. My face really hurt from laughing about it so much. So to the young man out there in the black [non-Ford name here] pick-up truck, and the country guy in the red shirt, thank you for being our saviors in mud. My mother thinks I have a guardian angel of some kind, but I think that detracts from the sheer niceness of what those gents did for us. [*Coined by my office-mate, M2.]