Opinion : Getting back to nature

If there's one thing I can't stand it's a stupid person. Well, people without common sense I should say. And then I became one.

I used to be in that smart group, the ones with common sense. The shook my head at the people that did stupid things. Do you remember the segment on Jay Leno's show called "Stupid Criminals?" It was a segment highlighting things that the criminals did that usually got them caught.

Last year I was touring the countryside with my childhood friend and we were talking about her family farm and we turned off on this road that's probably the only one that borders the city limits that comes with a warning. After we turned off on the road we thought that this might not be a good idea but we made it through.

Silly me decided to track the nature trail that's being built. I followed it all out along Anderson Creek Estates, I took a picture of the street sign so that I would know for my story where the trail is located.

I drove past the sign that's posted which reads, " Caution minimum maintenance road," the next sign said, "Enter at your own risk. " So like an idiot something in my head must have said, "Okay..." It wasn't a challenge, I was just concentrating on taking pictures and observing...There needs to be another one about 6 feet past that that says, "Is it raining? Turn around you, idiot!"

So I kept going. When the speedometer hit 20 mph and the car hit about 3 mph I knew I was in trouble. I stopped. I put it in low, and crept a few feet backward and that's as far as I got before I realized that I was now one of "those people" that signs are posted for.

I called one towing company who said, "I don't know what to tell you good luck," I have a feeling that as soon as he hung up he said, "Hey Maude, we got us another idiot!" I called a second one and the kind gentleman was just coming into town and said he'd come out and look, but he wasn't sure either. I had already decided that the Parks and Recreation Department did me a huge favor putting that walking trail out there for my convenience. I gingerly sloshed my way to the ditch, hopped over and shook my head all the way to the intersection.

I have a dinner date tonight, I might have to catch a ride for that. I don't think my car is going to be going anywhere for a day or two or three...

There's a term for people like me sitting in a mud road trapped in her car waiting for a tow truck, it's called city-it. That's me. In the car. And a low maintenance road. In the mud. Following a rainstorm.

But hey, I figured my readers would want some pictures and the only other pictures I had were of people sitting in a meeting, it has been a slow week. So NOW I have pictures.

I only have one question. If you get stuck on a mud road while trying to work, is towing tax-deductible?

Sincerely, from behind the wheel,

The Village Idiot