16. We Almost Lose Our Car
Sometime in 1964 we camped out at Fort Stevens State Park located at the northwest corner of Oregon. We enjoyed this park and camped there a number of times. The kids liked it and always wanted to see the wreck of the Peter Iredale which had wrecked there in 1906. They wanted to see each time we went to see how much it had deteriorated since the last visit. The wreck can just be seen in the background.
That day we drove down to the beach and then drove out on the sand. We begin to play in the sand building sand castles. The time passed and the tide began to come in slowly but steadily. When it came time to go we all loaded in the car and started off. We started the engine, the wheels began to turn but we didn't move forward. The tires just spun in the sand. The wet sand just held us fast. If you keep spinning you just go deeper and deeper.
Bernice began to panic. She grabbed Landon who checked in at about 1 year old. She began to carry out of the car what she could carry and took that and Landon higher up on the beach to safety. I will admit I became quite concerned but set about how to solve the problem. After about 2 minutes I figured out a solution. I sent Chet to pick up some pieces of driftwood. Whatever he could find. I got out the bumper jack and placing it on a piece of driftwood I jacked up the car. The driftwood packed the sand and lifted the car off the sand. I placed another piece of driftwood under the wheel and started the process again on the other wheel. After we accomplished that we just drove off onto harder and dryer sand.
You can just see the corner of the car sitting in the approaching water. Bernice repacked the kids and goods and off we went. I could not have done it with out Chet's help even as little as he was.