Eventually got that low range savior

Local columnist

link Audra Brown

It was a couple of weeks before Christmas, or otherwise well into winter that year. The point is, it was cold and had been snowing for days, and it sure hadn’t gotten anywhere near thawed.

Been on the ranch doing cattle work that had to be done, while all the young’ns spent most of the time in the semi-truck with the engine running, keeping warmer than the rest of the crew.

Except for the occasional excursion to let fly a few well-packed snowballs or to give the new puppy a chance to run around, the truck was the place to be.

Finally the time came to head back the hundred miles to home, and nothing stood in the way except for the angling road up the side of the valley that wasn’t too bad except for the hairpin turn and steepest section right at the top. The pickups were strapped on the semi’s flatbed trailer and everybody climbed in the truck.

Gonna get back home that night ... or so they thought.

Now, as you may know, and in this case, this type of truck transmission that has a high range and a low, was stuck in the high position thanks to some ornery rat’s teeth finding an air-line to chew on.

But surely sixth-gear would be sufficient, and maybe it would have been, if not for that darned slick snow.

The truck turned into the last corner, but didn’t make it up. It stalled just before the end and right after there was any chance to back back down.

Stalled, stranded, and praying the airbrakes hold, the truck was stuck and it was getting quite cold. There’s nobody close, nothing for many a mile, but four hours of freezing, and reaching through the floor, and they did eventually get that savior known as low range.

The trick was the ferrel off a Ralgro gun that was luckily in the toolbox in one of the pickups on the trailer (neither of which could be unloaded without falling off a cliff either).

The truck was a cold, scary place for a while, but everyone and everything made it home intact, except for the Ralgro gun.

Audra Brown finds the combination of snow and cliffs uncomfortable. Contact her at:

[email protected]