We Bought a Farm: Country Roads

 "Find some fun way to get a little more oil on your hands or mud on your boots. Sometimes, that's what it takes to take down some of the really big problems." Astro Teller 

Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!

The problem presented in the picture above starts with the fact that the road leading from our house to the next "major road" is technically for cars going both ways. 

However, the actual fact is that two cars cannot fit on the road going opposite directions.I'll illustrate this for you with a photo. 

This is the country road that we have to be on for just about a mile from our house to the "bigger road." You notice that I am taking up the whole road. However, a car going the other way is also entitled to the same road:

(I often wonder why they didn't make the road just a tiny bit bigger so two cars could actually pass.)

(The fact that this road only fits one car is quite funny when people who aren't from these parts ride with me. It makes them very uncomfortable to say the least.) 

This road issue means that you watch carefully. And when you see a car coming the other way, one of you must find a spot to pull over so the other can pass. Sometimes there isn't a spot. Sometimes someone has to back up.

(Occasionally you will pass someone on this road that doesn't know the road isn't wide enough. Not sure how they don't recognize this obvious fact, but they don't. And they will try to race past with their eyes shut just hoping they fit)

(This is not a good thing.)

A few days ago, I was running to town to do some grocery shopping, when a FedEx truck peered up at me over the hill. As is usually the case, we both slowed down and began to try to figure out what to do. I glanced around and realized I could back up into a neighbor's driveway so the truck could pass.

It was sopping wet. Soooo muddy. And as soon as I backed up, I realized I had slightly missed the driveway. Instead, I was in a ditch.

The FedEx driver got out of his truck. Our current wwoofer, Alexa, was in my new Expedition with me, and the three of us tried a few different things to free my vehicle (including going further backward) to no avail. 

"Don't worry," I told the FedEx driver. "I just live up the road. I'll call for help."

"Where do you live?" he asked.

I gave him my address and his face brightened up. "Here! I have a package for you!" he said. 

After he gave me my package and drove away, I called my house. And typical Southern-style, in a matter of minutes, I had an arsenal of help at my disposal:

• Grampa took my phone call and agreed to drive over with his truck. 
• Johnny came out of his house to help. It was his yard I had torn up, but he was incredibly understanding and didn't bat an eye.
• While I was waiting, I walked to Billy's house. Gay answered the door, and as soon as Billy heard of my plight he said, "I will go get on my boots." Only, of course, he said it in his thick country accent which meant I couldn't really understood him but somehow knew what he meant by association.
• In the meantime, our other neighbors: Shelly and Jeremy passed me standing outside Billy's and offered to help.

Jeremy did the driving. Grampa did the pulling. The rest of us did the pushing as our jeans and boots were splattered with mud. (I was wearing my go-to-town boots so this upset me a bit as every other pair of boots I have are covered in mud already from farming.) With a bit of rocking, and Billy telling us things we all didn't understand but listened to anyway, I got out of the mud.

This life here is so different from anything I've known. But man do I love it. I love the mud. I love the people. I love the community. I love the country. I love my narrow roads.

I think I'm a farm girl,