Where did all the energy I used to have go? Sitting behind a desk too long has definitely put me behind the curve. Five minutes with a shovel and I’m completely gassed. Getting old isnt for sissies….I get that. But, geez, Im not that old yet. Anyway…

So the rental people dropped the excavator off and that worked out as planned. What didnt work out as planned was me getting a flat tire on the way up there.

Not a big deal to change a tire, just a bit of a pain in the ass. But, it also means that for the time I’m up there until the time I return to town, I have no spare tire available. So, what does this mean? Well, the short answer is it means spending money. In the long answer it means buying new tires, a new wheel, and making sure when I go up there I have two spares in the vehicle. And it means making darn sure I take the hilift jack and some jack stands as well because those little hydraulic jacks are fine for working on the paved surfaces. Its a different story on dirt and gravel. So…..$$$. Also managed to somehow break thehandle on the tailgate, which means getting heavy stuff in and out of the truck was a bit more athletic than I had planned. This isnt the first time this has happened. Last time it happened I went to the local dealership and they wanted something like $150 to replace it. I went on eBay, found a replacement for $10. Went on YouTube and found a how-to video, spent $6 for a 10mm socket, and fixed the stupid thing myself.

Anyway, once I was mobile again, I parked at the Beta Site and unpacked. My goal was to leave about half my stuff up there for future trips, especially since, ideally, at the end of this trip I would have a hidden secure place to hide stuff.

A buddy of mine with a lot of experience driving everything and anything that is yellow and runs on diesel came up to ‘help’ me. I put help in quotes because he pretty much did the entire things himself. In one day. He’s a marvel of willpower and work ethic. I’ve no problem giving him a wad of cash next time I see him because he did a heck of a job that he didnt really have to do.

Although he did virtually all the work, I did get some time behind the controls of the miniex and used it for two purposes I had specifically wanted – stage some large rocks to use for blocking the road, and moving some downed trees. I’d never used an excavator before and it was a hoot. The notion that you can rearrange the Earth is a heady thing, man. Rock as big as footlocker? Weighs a several hundred pounds? And you want it where? No problem.

I literally could have spent days shuttling large rocks around and stacked them to create walls and lanes to channel vehicles. It was awesome. I actually may need to investigate buying one of these. But, as much as I was having an outrageously empowering time moving things that a hundred years ago would have taken a team of laborers hours of work, the miniex was there for other purposes. Specifically, to get two tanks in the  ground. Rather than go into a lot of detail I’m just gonna hand you a stack of pictures:

The soil in this particular area was mostly rock-free. Digging was about as easy as could have been hoped for. The hole for the second tank, however, was virtually nothing but shale….

In the end, both tanks got into the ground and were covered up. I need to go pick up a bag of grass seed and have a couple rainfalls before things look complelety innocuous.

Speaking of innocuous, game cams caught another trespasser (and his dog).

I suspect I know whats going on here. While I was up there this weekend, I went and walked the fence between me and the state land. When the survey was done, I took a picture of myself standing next to the corner marker. In that photo there was no barbed wire fence…it had been knocked down by fallen trees. When I was there this weekend I had the notion that it seemed like there were more upright t-posts with wire than there were last time I was there. I checked against the photos I took and, sure enough, there was no upright fence there when the photos were taken..but its up now. So, I think this guy was a state employee walking the wire and fixing what needed fixing. So…not gonna get too bent outta shape.

All in all it was a bit of an exhausting weekend. But some big stuff got done. While we had the miniex available, my buddy cleaned up the alternate road into the place which means that it might now be a vit more feasible for me to get someone to haul a ten or twenty foot container in here so I can start leaving more stuff up there in relative security. And there may or may not have been some holes dug for caches, outhouses, and a few other things that call for holes.

While I was out there this weekend, it also gave me an opportunity to try out and test some other gear which will wind up getting their own posts.

So…progress contnues, as does the hemorrhagingof money. But, ya gotta do what ya gotta do.