Connor and I roll down to the recently crowded and muddied up spot known as the “strip” here in Media, Pennsylvania. For the many high school rednecks like me, this is the primary “mudding” location, there is a whole path completely cleared for a gas or oil pipeline. You can see all the ruts leftover from the construction trucks that run by, giving us one perfect mud line to carry out our antics. The group is now up to 6 guys and I don’t even know half of them. This is the very first time I was hanging out with this particular group of guys, so I was curious as to how this would go.

            First thing I see is this old, beat-up Jeep Cherokee shifting back and forth rapidly with the axel of the car completely stuck in a mud rut. One kid in my group is standing next to the car and from the ground hops right up onto the top of the Jeep. He was known for his daredevil-like antics, so I wasn’t too surprised to see him do this.  He starts bouncing on it to give it some traction. Well that is just impressive, for one Jeep’s don’t even have a real top and yet somehow Brandon is completely stable. These are some cool guys I think I just found my new friend group.

 The front hood of the Jeep is steaming, clearly overheating and I look over and recognize the driver. I only met him maybe a few times before, seemed nice enough, as did his car. I’m a car buff in the making and currently own a gorgeous red Ford 150, so my realm mainly is with trucks and anything Jeep is foreign to me. This kid is driving back and forth for a half and hour at least, revving his car as high as he can as he keeps slamming it into gear. His buddies are trying to help him by giving him tips but the Cherokee does not budge. Suddenly the car shuts off from the high heat being produced.

            Even though I’m not friends with this guy is I feel like I have to do something, there is no way I’m leaving until we figured out a way to pull the Jeep out. Unfortunately he had no hitch attached to the back of his jeep, we do however have a strap. “Hey man! Hand me that strap I’ll take it and hook it to the axel” I yelled to one of the driver’s friends. From my standpoint I could see that the only way I was going to fit this strap around the axel of the car was if I hopped right into the now giant hole of muddy water. Well, what’s there to lose. I took off my shirt and the cold hit me right away. Not thinking about the chilly weather I jump straight down into the pit, it hits me now that I am basically swimming in mud just to wrap a strap around the axel of some stranger’s jeep with a group of boys I don’t even really know, it was an interesting night alright. After 10 minutes of maneuvering I hooked the strap around the axel!

            “Yo Connor! Try bringing your truck over here, maybe it can make it past all the mud” said driver from the window of the Cherokee. Connor slowly drives over and somehow he makes it to the end of the jeep, he is the only car that made it through the mud without getting stuck itself. “Alright load her up!” Connor yells. I connect the strap to Connors truck and just like that Connor hits the gas, within a few minutes he pulled the Cherokee out of the ditch. I was covered up to my chest in mud, but I was enjoying the victorious feeling of our feat. I got in the car with Connor and we drove back for some Wawa.