Tuesday 12 April 2011

Plow Truck

In years past, springtime has always claimed certain sections of the road coming up the mountain.  Annually, a wallow appears in front of Wetherbee's and it gets quite squishy down at the corner by the campground - but the one thing that could always be counted on was bone-dry hills  - Not So this year!  Oh, the lower hill is fine but the top hill coming up into the yard is 2-3 feet of muck at it's shallowest and about 40-50 feet long.

Sam, our new Cohos Treasurer, decided to take a spin up from Tamworth to get the paraphenalia he needs to function as the new check writer, order fillerer, and financier.  When I talked to him a few days ago, the road was dry so I encouraged him to 'drive right on up! - your car should be fine!'....HA!

Around noon I decided to take the 4-wheeler down to make sure nothing bad had happened out there with the warm weather and rain.  Sam was due here at 2:00 and I knew he was already on the road.  The first trip through the mud with the quad went fairly well but I was a little leary of the way the whole ground just kinda rolled to the side like pancake batter.  But I never really sank through... I came back up and hung to the right, barely sinking at all so I decided I would put ribbon up through that spot directing him to the right of the sinkhole. 

I then went down to check the rest of the road and sure enough, in front of Wetherbee's, Little Fifth Connecticut Lake was forming.  Now What Do I Do?????

I opted to put all of Sam's boxes in the plow truck to meet him at Mo's BEFORE he attempted to drive up and that's what I did. 

Now the plow truck is considerably wider and heavier than my quad so I was barely 3 feet into the mud before the plow hit the ground in front and carved out a nice little dip.  Gravity was on my side so I gave it the gas and excavated part of Prospect Mountain, hauling it down a few dozen feet.

Sam met me at the bottom and the duties were passed - then he wished me luck with the return trip being ever-so-apologetic about causing me this problem !?!  SAM - Did You Put That Mud There????

I told him not to worry - if it got stuck, it got stuck - and I plugged off up the hill....

Brmmmmm..... up the first hill.... no problem..... slight fish-tailing....Lets go....up by Wetherbee's....whoops, took out some of the snowbanking - you can do it!..... rounded the corner (better give it some more gas!)  ....ruts are pulling the truck....brmmmmmm.........I'm now an off-road racer in the Can-Am - wrestling the truck, first this way, then that way.... Then I Hit The Real  MUD.... BOOM!.... All Fours sank and the frame hit the ground and that's all she wrote!  Couldn't get out the drivers side but climbed up to the passenger side working my way out  - then walked to the house.  Let someone else deal with it!

Yes, the truck is out !- It took a come-along strung from the rear-end to a tree and 3,000 - 4,000 rpms of mud flying - but it's out.  And Sam is officially our new Treasurer.  Congratulations Sam!

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