Magdalena-->Durango---Stalled Progress

My rental car got stuck in the mud while traveling from Magdalena on NM 169 state highway to I-40. It was 32 miles north of Alamo Navaho Reservation. The previous 2 days of rain caused the roadway to become impassably muddy except for high clearance 4x4 vehicles. I didn't know that but found out the hard way. I tried throwing nearby lava rocks under the front wheels to get traction, but they just slipped and sunk into the mud. I walked to the nearest ranch house 1.25 miles away but no one was home, just a barking dog that was kind of friendly. I noticed traffic was about 1 car per hour, but the second car I flagged down. It was a guy and a girl in a Porsche Targa. They had travelled a mile beyond my stuck car and turned around because it was too muddy. We drove to the Reservation Health Center, 30 miles away and they dropped me off. I told a Navaho guy who worked there, Pedro Apache, my tale of woe, and he asked his boss if he could pull me out of the mud. He said that happened fairly often. We put a cargo strap around the left rear wheel and he pulled the car out. I gave him 50 bucks. While driving back to Magdalena, the car wouldn't go faster than 40 mph without the steering wheel shaking so bad I thought something was going to break. The mud caked on to the wheels was causing severe imbalance. I travelled all the way back to Socorro, to use the quarter car wash to clean up the car and my boots and pants while wearing them. I could also pickup the interstate I-25 to get to Durango. The day was pretty much blown for travelling, so I stayed in Socorro for the night.Read more