The muddy road was progressively getting worse. More than once, they’d gone into a low spot and Erika had to gun the motor to keep from getting stuck. If she drove too slowly, they would bog down, but if she drove too fast, they risked a crash. Keeping the truck between the trees that lined each side of the lane was becoming next to impossible.

They came to a dip in the road, and she had to stand on the accelerator before the truck finally grabbed enough traction to get out of the ...