It Was Almost Horribly Worse

"sonicgabe" (gabeloewenberg) 08/14/2016 at 13:54 • Filed to: Perseids, Ranger Life

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Last night, Lady SonicGabe and I drove to a spot in the middle of nowhere to watch the Perseid Meteor Shower. Our neck of the woods in Florida has been plagued with rain and heavy cloud cover all week; last night was the first clear night. I scoped out a spot several miles up the road from our alligator encounter earlier this year, but this time was careful to avoid somewhere with large, water filled, gator infested ditches.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

We drove past the planned area and I did a u-turn on the two lane road to get the truck on the preferred side. As we completed the turn, I went a little off the road, which was anticipated. Unfortunately, the shoulder was not much of a shoulder. It was more steep drop-off to a ditch. With all the rain we’ve had, the ground was just mud and wet grass. This caused us to slide off and down the embankment. Now, I don’t know what the lateral tipping point of The Ranger is, but we were damn close to it.

The issue was the right rear wheel was stuck. Look at the header pic. See that clean circle in the middle of the wheel? That’s how deep it was. The left rear was getting some traction, the right not so much. But because physics and coefficient of frictions, while trying to drive out, even with the front wheels at full lock to the left, the truck was getting pulled further down and closer to tipping. This was especially troubling as Lady SonicGabe would have been on the side that hit the ground. And frankly, I prefer her to be unbroken and not pissed at me that I rolled the truck. Oh, we had the dog with us, too. That would have sucked. The dog was already freaked out at the angle the truck was at. She knew this wasn’t right.

For several minutes, I did “forward and reverse” to feel out where there might be some traction. I finally found the sweet spot, gave her the beans, and slowly got The Ranger free of the muck and back on the road. We left behind a huge rut and several tire-sized piles of mud and grass on the road which fell out of the wheel well.

Once back on the road, we found a safe, level spot to pull over on. Once I got out of the truck to bask in the glory of the heavens, I saw that the moon was still far to high and bright in the sky. Damn it! It was bright enough out that my camera had no trouble focusing on objects without the use of a light. Damn it! I set my stuff up anyway and starting taking pictures hoping maybe I’d get lucky. Nope. It was pointless. The visable star field was better than in the city, but the moonlight was killing every thing. I did see one faint meteor, so there’s that.

For fun, I did stack four and half minutes of continuous exposures when I got home, of which this is the result.

So we rolled out (not over) and headed home. From the interstate, something in the sky to the east caught my eye, just a flash of something. Lady SonicGabe saw it, too. We couldn’t figure out what it was as it was gone fairly quickly. It wasn’t a meteor, I knew that. Maybe lights from a plane or helicopter. It just looked weird.

After we get home, I happen to see a news story on the internetz that SpaceX had a launch. Damn it! That thing we saw in the sky was the damn rocket! How did I not know about this? I’m usually on top of these things. Even with the moonlight, I was in a fantastic spot to shoot the launch. Hell, my camera was pointing right at it. Damn it!

Oh well. Next time. But not out in this area. Last time it was a gator. This time I almost killed The Ranger. Both trips were for meteor showers while SpaceX was launching. Both trips, I came away with nothing. We’re never going back.

Jonathan Harper > sonicgabe 08/14/2016 at 14:57

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Sounds like a fun adventure! I didn’t get any dope meteor shots but there was an insane lightning show last night that I captured some nice shots of.

sonicgabe > Jonathan Harper 08/14/2016 at 15:18

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It was not a fun adventure.

Your picture is great, though. I love lighting at night.

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > sonicgabe 08/14/2016 at 23:01

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ah thats why i love 4x4

sonicgabe > TheD0k_2many toys 2little time 08/14/2016 at 23:19

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As this was all happening I was wishing for the front wheels to miraculously get drive.

sonicgabe > sonicgabe 08/14/2016 at 23:30

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You know, if anyone at Ford wants to see how the new Raptor stacks up against a 21 year old Ranger, get in touch with me. We’ll be happy to take one out on one of these trips for a scientific compare and contrast study. Hit me up.

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > sonicgabe 08/14/2016 at 23:32

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yea or maybe a LSD in the rear

sonicgabe > TheD0k_2many toys 2little time 08/15/2016 at 00:54

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I didn’t think you put LSD in the rear, is it better that way?

But seriously... I think the diff did alright. I was thinking about that too, though. The biggest issue was the angle. The more the right rear dug in, the more the truck seemed like it was going to tip. I wondering now if the left rear was maybe off the ground, or just barely touching it, and once the right dug in, it lowered the whole rear enough to get a little traction from the left. There is almost no mud or debris in the left wheel well. Hmmm...

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > sonicgabe 08/15/2016 at 01:54

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Well an LSD allows both wheels to spin instead of just the one with least traction. Used in race cars and some offroad applications. (My f350 had one)

sonicgabe > TheD0k_2many toys 2little time 08/15/2016 at 02:34

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I think you missed what I was getting at. I made a bad joke about putting drugs in one’s butt.

I don’t know if a limited slip diff would have helped ,as I said I now think that the left rear wasn’t in full contact with the ground. LSD most certainly would not have helped the truck, though I’m pretty sure it would it would have made me see more meteors and I probably would have ended up naked in a field of cows.

Birddog > sonicgabe 08/15/2016 at 03:45

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I’ll do the same with Crusty (no front driveshaft since December). Let’s get em!

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > sonicgabe 08/15/2016 at 11:50

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yea probably i was half asleep lol

naked in a field of cows sounds like a fun weekend tho :)

sonicgabe > TheD0k_2many toys 2little time 08/15/2016 at 11:54

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Better than a Ranger in a ditch.