Justine needed a day of quiet at home alone so she could study for a test for her Master's degree. I had just put on my new Rock Krawler Boomerang shackles and was itching to try them out, so I selflessly volunteered to take the kids out for a spot of wheelin', and then to the park and McDonalds.

In the town where we live, there's a gully wash and small stream (I don't even know the name of it) that you can easily access. I'd been back there several times before just to get dirty. This time, however, I was feeling extra adventurous and decided to go farther out into the stream.

We got to a spot where the stream seemed to be a couple of feet deep. There were some pretty fresh tracks on the other side, so I figured I should be able to make it over there with little problem.

Whoops! Not only was the water deeper than I thought, it was deep enough for me to sink past my tires and mid-door! We sank in deep and I got stuck almost instantly. I quickly called Justine (who was supposed to be having a quiet day to study, if you recall) to come rescue me.

The urgency increased as I noticed the inside of my Cherokee filling up with water. By the time I got out, there was about 6" to 8" of water inside! So much for my stereo! The entire passenger-side speaker was submerged as well as the main control unit for my stereo. Hopefully I can dry it out enough to fire it back up again!

So much for studying! She's a gracious woman, and I didn't even have to sleep on the couch.

Photos:

	When I called Justine, I asked her to bring the camera so I could get some photos of my stupidity. She actually pulled down into the stream in the wrong spot and had to double back a bit. But while she was out there she got some pictures of my Jeep sunk in the stream.
	I crawled out the window and jumped in to get back to shore. I had Ambrosia climb up on the roof to throw me the tow strap. Aspen was sitting back in the cargo area...the only place that wasn't flooding with water.
	Ambrosia listened as I gave her instructions for throwing me the tow strap.
	I was soaked up to my waist. Yes. The water was cold.
	No, I did not yank my Jeep out of the water by attaching to the luggage rack! I had Ambrosia attach it up there so I could hold on to it to get back out to the Jeep. I didn't know how strong the current was and I didn't want to get swept downstream.
	Once I got out there, I hooked it up to the only thing I had available... my brand new Boomerang shackles. I didn't have any recovery points yet, so my options were limited. The axle was way too deep for me to safely get to. Once I was hooked up, I waded back and hooked up to one of Justine's tow hooks.
	Our first attempt got me out about 1 foot. But not enough. Unfortunately, the front end of my Jeep dropped into a deeper rut at the bottom of the stream. That caused the front passenger area to flood with about a foot of water.
	Justine actually got a little bit stuck while trying to pull me out. Not too bad, and something we could have easily gotten out of. Fortunately for us, this Good Samaritan crossing over the overpass saw us and came down to help. He had a good heavy full-sized Bronco, and he pulled me out.
	The camera battery died as Justine tried to take a picture of when I opened my doors after I got pulled out. Water rushed out like a four-door waterfall. It was at least 3" above the door sill. Everyone thought that was pretty funny ... even me. What can you do but laugh? I scooped out as much water as I could while we were there, but we had to get back while the Jeep was still running. (I'm actually quite amazed that I was able to start the thing 4 or 5 times while I was submerged like this.) As soon as we got home, Ambrosia and I started pulling everything out. You can see how much water was left in there, and my submerged stereo.
	While crawling around inside, we got water everywhere. The only dry place was in the back cargo area... The one place where I wouldn't have cared if it got completely soaked! Go figure!
	As we pulled stuff out, the Jeep made a continuous stream of leaking water.
	Even after vacuuming for a while, there was still a lot of water under the carpet. The carpet felt like a waterbed on top of all the water beneath it. I pulled the passenger chair out and pulled up the carpet to take a look.
	We vacuumed over 6 gallons of water out before emptying the vacuum the first time. We eventually sucked out another 2 or 3 gallons.
	Not a very good picture, but within a couple of hours of getting home, I had the entire passenger area gutted. I took out all the stereo components, the chairs and the carpet.
	I hung up the carpet in my garage to dry. If you look down by the vacuum, you can see a steady stream of water coming off of the carpet. It flowed like that for about 15 minutes. The jute mat holds a lot of water. Hoisting it up to the ceiling hooks was hard work. It was awkward and really heavy from the weight of the water. I put a portable heater on the workbench behind it to help it dry out overnight.
	The carpet actually got surprisingly dry overnight while hanging in the garage. The front, which was at the bottom, was still a bit damp. So, I set the carpet out in the sun along with the floor mats to let them dry a bit more.
	After taking the covers off the stereo components and drying them out thoroughly, I tried reconnecting them and the battery to see if it still worked. No such luck. The stock stereo still worked, though. Even the front passenger speaker worked, even though it was completely submerged. Since I was going to have to have my DVD player repaired, I pulled out the wiring harness.
	Once I had the stereo wiring harness out, I pulled all the fuses in the fuse box, which was also completely submerged, and blew all the water out. Then, after flipping the carpet over for a while to let the jute mat dry, I replaced it in the Jeep. Good as new.
	Finally, I put the seats back in. The driver's side power seat still works. Everything electrical still works. I was totally shocked. The only thing that didn't survive was the in-dash DVD player. Hopefully I'll be able to get it repaired. I'm starting to wonder if I'll even put it back in, though...