For the last six weeks Mary and I had been conducting our Arizona Digital Complete Nature Photo Courses and our Arizona High Speed Flash Hummingbird Shoots in the Santa Rita Mountains of southern Arizona. The mountains are surrounded by desert foothills, and these deserts are rich in wildlife, from roadrunners to rattlesnakes, geckos, scorpions, spiders, kangaroo rats, coyotes, and more. It's a great place to escape to when we need a break from the canyon, but the desert can be dangerous.
This year, I had a close call that would not have been fatal for me, but would have been awfully inconvenient and uncomfortable. However, had I been in a different location in the desert, or in a different desert -- like one of the side roads through remote Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument on the Arizona-Mexico border, this close call could have been more than a lesson for me, it could have been deadly dangerous.
Here's what happened, followed by the solution that could quite literally save your life.
I was driving through the desert west of the Santa Rita Mountains, on some very remote ranch roads. In two hours I encountered one pickup truck and one ATV. I stopped several times to look for reptiles, turning off the car before disembarking and hiking through the landscape. At my last stop, my wanderings brought me back to a main thoroughfare, a dirt track that was a shortcut to a highway on the eastern side of the Santa Ritas. When I returned to the car after my hike I turned on the engine, and tried to get my automatic transmission into gear. The gear shift would not move. I tried everything, wiggling, using force, second-guessing myself as I wondered if I was just having a brain-blank moment, but nothing worked. Luckily, a great couple drove by, I flagged them down, and got a lift into the town of Green Valley where I called the Ford dealership to arrange a tow.
In that conversation I asked the service guy if there was a workaround for my problem. As an afterthought, I told him that my ABS light (Automatic Braking System) was on, would that mean anything? He said it might, because the ABS switch can disengage the transmission. If that was the case, I could get the truck started if I turned the ignition switch one turn (it goes two 'clicks' when you go to start the engine), and with the ignition switch turned one click, you'll be able to move the gear shift (remember, I'm talking about an automatic transmission here) into neutral. Start the car in neutral, and when you do, you can then shift to any gear.
I borrowed a friend's car and drove out to my truck, did this, and it worked. From there, I drove back to Green Valley and dropped off the Ford (Mary drove our friend's vehicle back). Had I been on one of the roads I'd been on earlier, or had I driven down to Ajo and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, where some of the roads are VERY remote, I'd have been in a life-threatening situation. I was in the desert, I'd drank all of my fluids because I was ready to call it a day, and, had I been on a remote road, no one may have discovered me for hours -- or days, in some of the places I've been.
I've talked to friends about this ABS trick, and they told me that they've had this happen to them, too, and had to resort to towing. So, apparently it is not an isolated occurance, and I pass this on because at the very least I may save you a tow, and at best, may save you from a life-threatening situation. Does this relate to photography? Of course it does, because we're often in remote spots and any trick that can get us out is important. So, remember this tip!
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