Frog and Toad Survey Adventure

Last night a sibling and I went to Kannabec County to complete the first of three frog and toad surveys.  We had the same route as last year so we didn't feel the need to run the route in the daylight first.  We knew the way.  The route is on the back roads between Mora and Hinckley.  We were pleasantly surprised to hear the lusty males singing.  Spring peepers were peeping.  Chorus frogs were making their "finger on a comb" song.  And wood frogs were singing "Keck-a-heck, keck-a-heck."  After the second of the ten stops, we came upon a huge muddy spot in the road.  I put the car in a lower gear and plowed through.  After the fourth spot, we came on several muddy spots.  The car fishtailed a little bit in the mud and the f word accidentally slipped out.  For the fifth spot, we couldn't stop exactly where we were supposed to because it was so muddy so we went up a little ways to a dryer segment of road.  At each spot, we wait in the dark for five minutes listening to frogs and marking down our observations.  Teal Road has very few houses on it and as I waited for the five minutes to be up, I thought it was a little scary out here and I would never do this on my own.  By 10:15 we headed toward our sixth stop near Lily Lake.  I saw another muddy spot ahead so I stopped and planned my route. The right side of the road looked dryer than the left.  I proceeded ahead and promptly got stuck.  Really stuck.  I opened my car door and the bottom of the door touched the top of the road.  I had a shovel in the trunk. I popped the trunk and stepped out.  My foot went into the mud almost to my knee.   I braced my hand on the car to catch myself and shut the trunk.  I had to pop the trunk again but when I stepped toward the back of the car, my left foot would not come up out of the muck.  I could feel the road playing tug of war with my expensive left shoe.  I got my foot out and walked to the front of the car and shined a light on a partly submerged licence plate.  We didn't know whether we should shovel dirt away from the tire or toward the tire.  Actually the tires weren't touching the road at all at this point.  We were really stuck.  What to do?  I wished I had bought that AAA road service the last time I thought about it.  I suggested calling 911.  A friend told me that if you get a flat on a freeway you shouldn't change the tire yourself but call 911.  I figured this was similar enough.  I used my prepaid cell phone.

"What is the address of your emergency?" a woman asks me.

"I hope this is an appropriate use of 911 services," I say, "but I'm stuck in the mud on Teal Road."

"Yes, I see you are on Teal Road near 340th.  Would you like me to call a tow truck or would you like some phone numbers to call yourself?"

I responded, "Could you call for us please?"

After a half hour of being on the phone with the very nice 911 operator named Susan, we learned that seven local towing companies refused to come and get us.  One company said they MIGHT try during daylight hours.  She said she was going to call some local businesses and homeowners to see if someone had a tractor.  OK - that moment, when she says no towing companies will come out was the low point of the evening.  During our half hour conversation, I told her we were volunteering for the DNR and surveying frogs and toads.  I told her what kind of frogs we had heard.  She asked how we knew the difference.  So I told her what each frog sounded like and let me tell you, it was a little embarrassing to say "keck-a-heck" to a 911 officer.  She was very nice.  At the 40 minute mark, she asked if we could walk back to 330th.  A man named John would pick us up in a black pick-up and take us to the church in Kroschel where a deputy was waiting to take us to a hotel in Mora.  Or John might try to pull us out with his chains.  We said we would be glad to walk to 330th. She added that if we got scared or needed reassurance we should call her back. 

So we put on our gloves and slogged through the mud with our flashlights.  We saw the pickup lights approaching the intersection.  We introduced ourselves to John, his friend Bob, and Bob's wife Cathy.  John said he got a call from a deputy saying two frog hunting sisters were stuck in the mud on Teal Road and could he help them.  He said, "Is this a prank?"  John, Bob and Cathy were full of energy and high spirits.  They said we were brave to come out here and do this.  "Not brave," I answered, "naive."  They drove us back to our car so they could look over the situation.  John said he would be willing to try and pull us out or drive us to the casino - our choice.  We asked him to try and pull us out.  He decided he needed another length of chain because  he had to be on solid ground to pull.  After getting the chain and letting us use the bathroom in his dog breeding/hunting business, we went back to the car.  John and Bob hooked up the chain.  I made sure the car was in neutral.  John wanted me to stay in the car and keep the steering wheel from jerking right or left which would put me in the ditch.  And then John said, "This might be violent."  I could feel a huge dose of adrenaline course through my body when he said that.  To be a good sport I replied, "Bring it on.  I'm looking forward to it."  That was a total lie.  I sat in my car holding my steering wheel in the dark night praying for my life.  I felt a strong yet gentle pull.  The back end went up, then down, and then backwards.  He pulled me out of that frost boil and onto semi-solid gravel road.  I was free!  After unhooking the chain, John turned his truck around.  Bob said he would guide me with the flashlight so I would stay on the road to the turn around spot.  I should back up and watch his flashlight.  I didn't want to go too slow and get stuck again so I backed up.  Soon I saw Bob's flashlight ahead of me and saw Bob running through the mud to catch up. I stopped to wait for him.  He got me turned around.  We followed John's truck as he navigated through the frost boils.  You can really see the dangers when you are high up in a truck.  The road problems don't looks so bad from a Honda Civic.  Everytime we drove down the road it seemed like it was in worse shape.  Yet not once during our survey did we consider stopping.  During one segment of road I saw John's truck go from right lane to left lane and back to right lane and almost bounce into both ditches.  I said to Bob, "We're not doing that."  I learned later John was yelling, "Don't go the way I came."  Eventually we made it to 330th Avenue and I followed John back to his Royal Flush English labrador breeding/hunting business.  I was told to talk to the deputy and let them know we were out.  So I called 911 again.  I could tell by her voice that she was glad to know we weren't stuck  anymore.  Bob took a hose and washed the gravel, mud and dirt off my brakes and front tires.  And they refused to take any money.  They just spent 2 hours of the night helping us and must have used quite a bit of $4/gallon gas in that pick up.  We told him we would be back two more times this summer and would stop by with something for him. 

I think we will write a thank you letter to Susan, the 911 dispatcher.  For John, we'll get him a thank you card (with a frog on it) and a gas card too.  More importantly, we will repay his kindness forward.  I can't pull anybody out of the mud but I'm sure there are other kindnesses I can offer.

What an adventure!  I had a blast.