Ok - so a couple of you want to know about Honeybee's rescue mission (sorry, Rob, can't resist)
Well, the weekend after Rob brought Honeybee up, we hauled up the rest of the implements, along with our new appliances for the log home. We dropped off the appliances at the house, and drove the trailer down to camp to unload the rest.
It was cold and rainy, and Rob was trying to find a way to turn around so he could back the trailer up into the camp, near Huge Kama's garage. Me, being the tired, practical one, couldn't understand why he couldn't just drive straight in. So, I suggested he use the meadow to turn around in.
BAD. IDEA.
We managed to get our new Silverado truck stuck in the mud in the meadow.
VERY. STUCK.
We were able to unhook the trailer, and Rob tried and tried to get it unstuck. He's usually really, really good at that. But no dice. Oh me, oh my... what to do?
Well, that's what Huge Kama is for, right?
So, he drove Huge Kama down into the meadow, and we hooked up chains and tow straps and backed Kama up. The Silverado moved every so slightly, but this was at an angle, so it wasn't very efficient.
Rob drove Huge Kama down further into an area of the meadow that was at more right angles to the truck....... and promptly got Huge Kama stuck.
VERY. VERY. VERY. STUCK.
The back tires on Huge Kama are about 4 feet tall, and there was only about a foot showing. The frame was a foot under the mud. He tried and tried and could not get Huge Kama unstuck. Now we had BOTH vehicles good and stuck.
By this time, we were cold and wet and hungry. It was dark and pouring rain. We were both soaked. The next day was a work day and school day, but there was no choice but to go to bed and wait for the morning.
The next day, we started around 9am. It's amazing what a little sleep will do. We had thought about called the local road builder, knowing he had equipment that could do it. But there's just something about that that didn't sit right - like admitting defeat. We thought about calling Enterprise and renting a car to get home, leaving the vehicles until the mud dried out. The builders had just the day before sent the Grade-All back. While we were trying to figure out our options, one of the guys working on the house came up the road - and promptly got HIS 2WD truck stuck on the road. I suggested we get some gravel left over from building the septic tank. (I had suggested that the night before, but Rob said it would take too long... well, now we had all the time in the world). Rob wasn't too keen on taking ANY suggestions from me, since it was my suggestion that got us into this in the first place, but he finally agreed.
So, while I was working on digging the mud out around the truck, he hopped on Honeybee and drove up to the gravel pile. He brought a bucketful down, and then we shoveled it out and put it in front and behind the tires. We tried to use Honeybee to pull the Silverado out, but she started to tip right over (Bad Idea). But Rob rocked the truck forward and backward, and got it to move slightly. We then put gravel in the places that had been under the tires. Rob probably brought 4-5 buckets of gravel from the homesite. We spread it out like a 'road', and finally the Silverado was able to get out.
Now, what to do about Huge Kama.
While Rob was working on the Silverado, I was busy trying to dig Huge Kama out. The mud was just goo.. almost like quicksand. You could hit it with the flat side of the shovel and it would just wiggle like jello. I dug and dug and dug. I finally got most of the mud out from around the tires and the frame (while Rob was joyfully riding Honeybee with buckets of gravel).
We put logs and other pieces of wood in the huge holes. Then Rob drove Honeybee partway down with a load of gravel and we put that in the holes.
Rob drove Huge Kama backwards, and we filled holes. He drove forward and we filled holes. He drove backwards again and we filled holes. Finally, he was able to get Huge Kama out. It was now noon.
There aren't any pictures of these activities because we were just concentrating on getting out. And honestly, I Rob would have decapitated me if I had stopped digging just to get my camera out. But I did take some the next day:
Here are some pictures of Huge Kama after we got him out. You can see how far up the mud came:
Here's what the ground looked like the next morning:
Here's where the truck got stuck:
There was also a photo of Honeybee afterwards, wtih gravel still in the bucket... but I don't know where it is.
But, that's the story of Honeybee's rescue mission.
