I certainly am not going to call anybody else dumb - having been there done that myself!

I was driving a small two door maverick down a gravel road along side the ATSF in Port Chicago, Ca (was still in the Navy then), when I ran out of road. I thought there was still gravel there under the grass; but actually, it was soupy sandy mud and the whole place was flooded. I sank to the floorboards the instant I stopped.

After waiting quite a while hoping a switcher would come along and tie onto me and pull me out; I set out on foot. Found a friendly SP section foreman that came to help. Unfortunately, he didn't hear me holler as he drove his pickup into the bog I had just slogged through. He got stuck too.

He then went and got a big SP tandem axle dump truck to pull us out. He got that stuck in the bog too! So on SP's dime, he hired a tow truck to pull all three vehicles out. Trouble was, the tow truck got stuck as well!

Well strangely enough, it was a little tiny open top four wheel jeep from a nearby oil refinery that happened by - pulled all of us out with his winch rapped around the rails of a nearby spur.

Oh - and did I mention the dozen times that bog with lots of standing water over it - managed to suck the shoes right off our feet (every one of us) - forcing us to lay flat in it to reach down to get them out.

Ain't it just plain amazing how just one young and stupid railfan could cause so much trouble to a real railroader!

OPB