When The Wheels Come Off

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I was out riding on the sands for a few hours a couple of Saturdays ago and was going along just "swimmingly" as some would say, and whumph!  I could go neither forward or backward.  A quick check of the drive train showed how the chain had jumped the sprocket.  Not only had it fallen of the sprocket, it had pinched under a bolt head on the sprocket and wedged itself pretty darn well immovable.

Since it was  a long walk back to the truck and trailer I was a little bummed and highly desirous that a satisfactory resolution would present itself to me.

After dinking around with it a bit, I remembered a similar experience several years earlier. I put the Polaris in neutral and by rocking it back and forth was able to work the chain free and and put it back on the sprocket.  The reason this went as well as it did is because I had it occur once before years ago and so I was prepared to deal with this particular situation. I remembered (no small accomplishment anymore!) what I did previously to resolve the problem and so what could have been a major headache was instead, a minor annoyance.

The moral, of course, is we know that during life's trek, the wheels are going to come off now and then.  That's just the way it is.  Knowing it doesn't make it easier when it happens, but it can help us get through whatever the present situation might be.  Experience, ours and others, can be a big help in getting us on our way again.