I slept better last night, which was certainly a good way to start the day.
With Jen, Austin and the girls coming tomorrow, I started tidying up the cabin a little so Camp Hidey Ho will be presentable for company. I also wanted to make some more progress on the walkway so they’ll have an easier time crossing the bog without getting their feet wet.
I called Princeton Ace Hardware, and surprisingly, they had exactly what I needed: 6x6x12 timbers.
So I drove down, picked up a couple, and brought them back to camp.
That’s when the day’s entertainment began.
I was backing the truck toward the beginning of the walkway, trying to get as close as possible so I wouldn’t have to carry those heavy timbers any farther than necessary.
Unfortunately, I’d forgotten about a stack of five 2x10x6 boards that I had sitting on top of a couple of rocks.
I backed right over them.
The truck climbed up onto the stack until the passenger-side rear tire was completely off the ground.
I had essentially managed to jack up my truck.
Without a jack.
Well, okay. No big deal. I’ll just pull forward and drive back off.
Nope.
The left rear wheel just spun.
I wasn’t going anywhere.
I crawled underneath to see exactly what I’d done and discovered that the truck had ridden right up onto the stack of boards. With the weight of the truck bearing down on them, they were firmly wedged in place.
I tried pulling one out.
Nothing.
I tried pounding it with a digging bar.
Nothing.
Then I decided I’d dig out underneath the rocks supporting the boards. Maybe I could lower everything enough to get the tire back on the ground and regain some traction.
I dug.
And dug.
That wasn’t working either.
At some point, I began wondering what exactly I was going to do if I couldn’t get the truck unstuck.
I’m a long way down a private driveway, in the middle of nowhere, with a truck sitting on top of a pile of lumber and one wheel hanging in the air.
Who exactly do you call for that?
But strangely, I wasn’t particularly panicked about it.
I didn’t have anywhere I had to be. Nothing terrible had happened. The truck wasn’t damaged. I just had a problem that needed solving.
And I had a feeling that eventually I’d figure it out.
Then I had another idea.
If the lumber was trapped because the weight of the truck was sitting on it, what if I actually jacked the truck up even higher?
Maybe I could take enough weight off the boards to pull them out.
So that’s what I did.
It took quite a while and more effort than I would have preferred, but eventually I got the truck high enough to relieve the pressure.
Then I started pulling the boards out.
One by one, they came free.
Once they were gone, I lowered the truck back down, got in, and drove away.
Crisis averted.
I have to admit, it felt pretty good.
Not the part where I backed my truck onto a stack of lumber. I’m not particularly proud of that.
But there was something satisfying about being faced with a problem, knowing there wasn’t anyone immediately around to solve it for me, working through several ideas that didn’t work, and eventually finding one that did.
That’s a lot of what being at Camp Hidey Ho seems to be about.
You make a mistake.
You stare at it for a while.
You try something.
That doesn’t work.
You try something else.
Eventually, somehow, you figure it out.
After freeing the truck, I actually managed to use the timbers for their intended purpose and extended the bog walkway a little farther.
So it’s in pretty good shape for tomorrow. Hopefully Jen, Austin and the girls will be able to get across without too much difficulty—and without getting too muddy.
I didn’t get any work done today on the insulated battery closet, so that’s still hanging over me. I’ll need to get moving on that tomorrow because I’m rapidly running out of tomorrows.
I also need to make a dump run, get rid of the trash and figure out what I’m going to feed my guests.
That’s an interesting question.
Camp Hidey Ho isn’t exactly equipped with a gourmet kitchen, so I’ll have to come up with something that doesn’t require much cooking.
I’m sure I’ll figure that out too.
There was a chance of rain today, but fortunately it held off while I was working. It finally started around 8:00 tonight, and now it’s absolutely pouring.
So I’m sitting here listening to the rain on the cabin, with the truck safely back on all four wheels and the walkway a little farther across the bog.
And I’m genuinely excited about tomorrow.
After spending most of the month here by myself, I’m finally going to have visitors.
Jen, Austin and the girls will get to see Camp Hidey Ho, walk across the infamous bog, see the cabin and lake, and experience this place I’ve been talking about for so long.
Hopefully they’re not disappointed.
Although after hearing all my stories, their expectations should probably be calibrated somewhere between “beautiful secluded lakefront retreat” and “ongoing construction project accessible only by crossing a swamp.”
Either way, I can’t wait to show it to them.
Talk to you tomorrow.