Our Road Can Be an Adventure

We expect our first storm of the winter season tomorrow and this can make our road an adventure to drive. I thought it might be a good time to write about driving on a dirt road.

We live forty miles from town and about 18 of those miles are dirt. The county-maintained road  is graded fairly regularly. Sometimes parts of it are smoother than the paved road. As far as dirt roads go it is usually in really good shape and easily passable by any car except when it rains or snows.

A light rain won't mess the road up. In fact it sometimes improves it. But if it rains heavily or for a couple of days it becomes a muddy mess. There are at least four or five miles that can be a serious challenge to get through. Driving on snow is easier than mud. It is really not too bad until the snow melts. Then it's muddy mess again.

When I was in my early twenties I had a 2WD 1955 Chevy pickup with knobbies on the back and would purposely go up to the mountains and drive on the worst and sloppiest roads I could find. I would drive until I got stuck and then get the shovel and plywood out of the bed and dig myself out. This was my idea of fun. As a result I learned how to drive rear-wheel drive trucks on dirt roads in mud and snow at an early age.

These days I still don't have a 4WD truck. You can slide off the road just as easily in a 4WD vehicle as a 2WD one if you don't know what you are doing. I didn't want the additional expense of having a 4WD truck. They cost more, insurance costs more, they use more fuel, and there are more parts that can break. So I got 2WD and put big knobby tires on the back just like I did when I was young. I haven't gotten stuck yet although there is always the possibility. Front-wheel drive vehicles handle differently and are less likely to get out of control in the same ways on snow and I imagine on mud, too, although I haven't tried driving the big mud in our front-wheel drive minivan.

Here are some tips for driving on muddy roads:

Straddle the Crown
When dirt roads are graded they are usually "crowned" for drainage. This means that the center of the road is higher than the edges. The profile as you look down the road is that of an upside down smile. Since dirt roads are usually not that busy, you should just drive right in the middle of the road with your wheels straddling the crown. This is so you don't slide off the road sideways. It can be scary when you see someone coming the other way and you have to move to the side to pass. If you are lucky this will not happen on the worst stretch. Get back on the crown as soon as you can after passing.

Drive Curves on the High Side
On sharp curves there is sometimes no crown to the road. There will likely be one side of the road that is higher then the other side, though. Drive on the high side of the road. Two reasons for this: Driving on the high side gives you more room to slide downhill if in a skid without going off the road; and the road is likely to be drier on the uphill side.

Maintain Speed
There is sort of an optimum speed when driving on mud. You need to go just fast enough for your momentum to carry you through a bad patch but not so fast that you can easily lose control. This is something you will have to figure out for yourself. For my road and my truck going about 30 is just right. Don't slow down when you get into the gooey stuff. Just hold steady. Don't stop in the middle of a really muddy spot. The odds are you will not be able to get going again. 

No Sudden Moves
You need to be really smooth when driving on mud and snow. Do not brake or accelerate suddenly or make quick, sharp movements with your steering. It is so easy to lose your already tenuous traction.

Steering While Skidding
The rear wheels are the drive wheels on a 2WD truck. If you start to go sideways back off the accelerator a bit and let your momentum carry you forward until you straighten out. Then ease the power back on until the next slip. In the mud it sometimes feels that you have no ability to steer at all. At some point aiming your wheels back toward the center of the road becomes useless. You have gotten too sideways to just steer out of it. At that point you need to steer toward the direction you are skidding (which will be toward one side of the road or the other), ease off on the throttle, and then, when you start to get some control back, carefully steer back to the crown.

caked with mud after a trip to town

Getting Out of a Ditch
So the worst happens and you slide off the road. Unless you went off a cliff you may be able to get yourself unstuck without being towed out. The first thing you will want to try when you are in a ditch is to simply back out. It might work! Don't spin your wheels for long if it doesn't work. You end up digging down with your spinning wheels and can end up sunk up to the frame of the truck. Then you are not going to get out without a tow truck. The farther you sink the harder it will be to get out.

I make sure there is a shovel and a couple of five or six foot long pieces of 5/8" plywood in the bed of my truck when the road is a mess. Better than plywood would be some steel ramps from a trailer - better traction. On rear-wheel drive vehicles you get more traction trying to go forward than backwards. If it is possible to go forward dig down under the front of your rear wheels and slide the plywood under the front of the tires. When there is light or no traction a two wheel drive vehicle is really only one-wheel drive because of the way the differential works. It is only two-wheel drive when both wheels have traction so make sure to do it under both wheels. Then you may be able to drive out, using the plywood for traction, and get back on the road. If going forward is not a possibility put the plywood behind the rear tires and back out if you can.

If none of the above works the only option is to call for help. For part of our trip cell phones don't work. This means a long walk. Be prepared. Keep a pair of boots, a jacket, some rain gear, and drinking water in your truck at all times. In the winter time I keep a sleeping bag behind the seat in case I get stuck in the middle of the night and need to spend it in the truck. I also carry a portable winch that I can hook to my trailer hitch. I haven't had to use it yet.

Even though I am toughing it out using only two-wheel drive I sometimes wish I had four-wheel drive. If you are getting ready to move out into the woods and will be living on a dirt road,  particularly a long one like we have, I recommend getting four-wheel drive. You will be that much safer. You still need to learn mud-driving skills, though.

The ground is thirsty here after two dry months and we love rainy days (not that common here in Arizona). We welcome the coming storm.