dune buggies and mud baths

Some people feel that a good mud bath may be good for whatever ails you. I don't know about that, but I do recall the time I inadvertently gave my good friend whom I will call Marty a standing mud bath!

The day started out innocently enough as we were riding a borrowed dune buggy out into muddy pastures behind my house. I did not really know all the intricate workings of a clutch, as I had only very recently begun to drive. Suddenly as we drove along, the buggy hit a major mud puddle and the tire sank out of site in the mud. I knew I was in trouble, but I had no inkling of the type of trouble I was really in.

I suggested that Marty get out and push so we could get the dune buggy back to solid ground. Now this was a VW dune buggy, so it wasn't all that heavy, and I thought "Marty can do it." He got out, and began pushing for all he was worth. And I started the engine, raced the engine and popped the clutch. What happened next would have made a great scene in any adventure movie. The back tire buried in the mud began to spin wildly throwing up a solid wall of mud. When I looked back, I could not see Marty any where. All I saw was this pile of mud. Finally the pile of mud began to move, and I suddenly realized that this mountain of mud WAS Marty.

This time I let the clutch out real slowly and the dune buggy just crawled right out of the hole. Once we were out of the mud hole, Marty scraped a little mud off his face so he could see. He scraped some more away from his mouth. Finally he could open his mouth. The first thing he said was, "next time you can push and I will drive." I assured him there wasn't going to be a "next time."

We immediately headed for home where I had to wash Marty off with a hose for half an hour before he could even begin to remove his clothing. I have never seen such sticky clay in my life. Surprisingly, Marty and I had further adventures with the dune buggy.

Happy driving,
David A. Youngs