Ken, I immediately thought of the same someone..........
Where is that boy?! Is he intentionally ignoring this thread?
However, I'm really glad I didn't gloat about this driver's unfortunate incident. I went fishing at one of my favorite remote mountain lake yesterday evening with my boat. (No cell service within at least four miles.) I could have ended up in a similar situation last night.
Over the winter, the DNR built a really nice, but very steep concrete ramp and nice wooden dock for launching boats on about an 80 acre lake that is about 20 miles from here. In the past, we had to back into the mud at the edge of the lake and hope for the best.
I had my truck in 2WD when I backed the trailer down to the water to pull the boat out near dark. After getting the boat on the trailer, the rear tires started to spin a little bit as I started to pull the boat and trailer out of the water. As soon as they started to spin a little bit on the corrugated concrete, this thread came into my mind!
No problem! Or, so I thought.
I slipped into 4WD LOW. It didn't activate. I slipped it into 4WD high. It didn't activate. I slipped it back into 2WD. I think it got stuck somewhere between 4WD LOW and 4WD HIGH. It didn't want to move. It was like the emergency break was on.
I've had this happen a few times before when I haven't used the 4WD for a few months (the manual recommends activating both HIGH and LOW at least once per month). When this happens, it seems like one axle goes into HIGH and the other axle goes into LOW. If one can't slip, the truck goes nowhere.
So, I made sure the emergency brake was pulled as tight as possible, and I had put cell phone and flashlight on the boat dock. I turned off the truck engine, got out, and put my trailer wheel chocks behind by rear truck tires.
When I got back in and started the engine, it clunked into regular 2WD.
I took a chance and put it in 4WD HIGH. No problem. I took another chance, and I put it in 2WD LOW -- and drove out without a problem.
I will say I was a little panicked. As mentioned above, there is no cell phone service for at least four miles out from the lake. The road ends at the lake, and much of the land to the main road (which is also a back road) is public land without homes. I hadn't seen a human in several hours. It was after sundown, and I could hear thunder and see lightning in the distance. The closest house is probably 2-3 miles away. I don't think the teenagers even go this far out of the way to party or do drug deals.
Oh well. At least I didn't get my 15 seconds of fame for sinking my truck and boat.