"The Night the Road Won" (or, "Marci's Jeep Fantasies Crushed")

I come to you this evening, humbled. A woman whose pride has been wounded. I have been known, at times, to boast of my night-time four-wheeling escapades. And I boast, because in this game, that I like to refer to as "Geo/Aveo vs. long-neglected Black Hills National Forest Logging Road," (or "500 lb., cheaply-made city vehicle with ridiculously small tires vs. 'is that really even a road? ' ") I always win. But tonight folks, tonight...the tables were turned. Tonight was the night the road won. We tried. We kept trucking along, valiantly, despite some very large rocks, very deep ruts (puddles deceptively covered with a thin layer of ice) and Andrea nearly hyperventilating because of my mad tree dodging skills. Two and a half hours, 42 miles, and 3 different attempted routes. Three impassible routes. One completely dead-ended, with tree's so thick only a skinny hiker could have gotten through. Another had some random, very hostile looking, tire-slasher contraption embedded in the dirt from tree to tree, across the trail (and yet, completely unmarked as private property or anything of the sort,) and the third ended at a small drop off with a 6 foot boulder at the bottom. No matter how determined I was, there was no way I could force the little Aveo could go any further. I accepted defeat, hung my head and (*sigh*) turned back. Not much to show for the night except a decent sized battle wound paint scratch on the drivers-side door, and probably a "slightly scuffed" under-carriage. Tomorrow, I intend on obtaining a map of Forest Service four-wheeling trails and old logging roads, so that I can see where I was and why exactly the stupid psuedo-roads didn't go anywhere. Seriously, roads that go nowhere? That's like very mean practical joke.

Well, we arrived back home safely. I don't want to sound like too sore of a loser, so I will add that it was a splendid adventure. Or at least I thought so. Andrea's a real trooper, but I think the evening took years off of her life. Kudos to her for tolerating my hair-brained schemes. With that, I'm out. Night.