Trip Date: May 22, 2020
Find this SpotThis is the story of two trips up to the property. I had just been up a couple weeks before for the first time this year. Bob and Tom came up and Jordan was here for the first time. We had been ripped off over the winter, but I got through the pain and disappointment, and despite four days of freezing weather, had a good trip, especially the day Jordan was up and we had great weather.
In talking to Mike after we got back, we were trying to do what we wanted to do up there before the trailer came and the cover was installed. Problem was, we didn’t know when either of those things would happen, and we didn’t know exactly where we wanted the trailer. It had been imagined to sit close to the Eastern edge of the top of the hill to maximize the view. Road builder Mike cleared a nice spot that trail and deck would have fit nicely into, but after we got ripped off, we became very concerned about how visible everything would be from the road.
We already were surprised how visible the kitchen was. Even though it was just in one spot coming from the East, and only for a few seconds, it was fairly obvious. There was nothing we could do about that, short of camouflage and some paint maybe, but it wasn’t going anywhere nor getting any shorter. However, we didn’t want to put an even juicier hunk of bait out for everyone to see and wonder what was up on top of that hill, so it became clear, we didn’t want to increase the risk of getting invaded again, and rather waned to minimize risk. The view, the big sky, the quiet; everything we loved about the hill was still there and still accessible. Every view and every great aspect simply wouldn’t be available from every location.
We had a glimpse of this from Sheriff Evans when he came up to visit with Jordan, but now was the time to really imagine where it would sit out in the middle of the top more, behind the kitchen. It would seem “out in the open” for a little while, until we got our heads around it, and then got the cover, built the cabin to make the “L” for sun and wind protection, and then planted some trees. It will become a great location, in proximity to the kitchen and shitter and tents and bench, etc., and would minimize visibility from the road, or so the thinking was.
We needed to clear some brush and rock and level it the best we could to make it ready for the trailer. I reached out to Mike and he told me he had cancer, this bout after beating it back some two years ago. He thought his young partner might be able to help us, but we never heard back from him. We kind of have a standing offer of an excavator from Sheriff Dave, but we weren’t ready for that yet. We decided to rent a small backhoe from the Rental Guys in Susanville. Problem was, the medium sized backhoe was down, the small one was too small, and only the full sized one was available. Despite the price increase, we thought perhaps we could do in less time with the mongo unit, what would take longer with the smaller unit, and besides, it was our only choice.
So we headed up Friday May 22, as Cecil was to drop off the equipment Friday evening. All went smoothly and we set up in camp and Cecil was right on time. It was a massive thing with many levers, but it seemed quite simple to operate. The night’s sleep was not comfortable with all the thoughts of driving the beast and trying to accomplish what we wanted to do. Fortunately, the weather was great and we had a good idea what we wanted to do. We began by just using a ten foot 2×4 to screed the area on the East side to make it perfect, just in case the cover people wouldn’t build the cover out where we now wanted it. Then we got the priority #2; widening the top area and moving the boulders down the bottom of the road by the gate. This is where we started to learn about the backhoe.
I made a few passes with the massive bucket and out came the sage and grass. The straight edge of the bucket pushed most of the rocks around rather than scooping them, and that caused huge divots and gouges in the ground. The rear wheels spun when I tried to scoop up big stuff or immovable things. We made quite a mess but we scooped a couple boulders and dumped them on the trailer and Mike drove those to the bottom by the gate. I used the “clam” attachment on the front bucket to grab 2 boulders at once and drove them down. We used the backhoe part to scoop a couple boulders and dumped them on the trailer. In a couple hours, we had moved all the big rocks from the top and made it maybe 20’ wider. We were quite impressed.
The next priority was bringing as much of the rock deposited alongside the top of the road down to the bottom, to distribute along both sides of the road to be a barrier to going around the future fence and getting onto the road. It was a fine goal. Driving the hoe up and down the quarter mile or so of road from top to bottom was very time consuming and bouncy and boring. We really needed a dump truck or heavy duty trailer to load with the hoe and then make the dump trips up and down. The trailer had already suffered and simply wasn’t what we needed, so it was retired. I was not unhappy to not be using the truck for this kind of work either.
I figured I would try to scoop up some of the material lower on the road, about half way up where Mike had to scoop it out to build the road. Lower down, there aren’t any rocks, so none had to be removed therefore none are deposited along the road. I was concerned about messing up the road as I worked alongside it and on it trying to scoop alongside its shoulders and I was concerned about getting too tilted out of level from working on the side hill. Those concerns didn’t really materialize, but the basic issue of scooping up the rocks was very frustrating. I just couldn’t get a good scoop most of the time.
I was moving a few rocks around, and not doing much damage, AND, I was bringing some good scoops of soil from the bottom to the top to use on our trails once we cleared out the toe stubbing rocks and tripping tips sticking up. I had a great view from up high on the tractor but I was getting shaken (not stirred) and bounced all over. I was getting a sore on my back from rubbing vigorously on the seat, but I was getting the hang of the bucket and levers and what did what. Thankfully the “end of the day whistle” blew in Bedrock, and my first day on the hoe was done.
We were stoked. The top was cleared and only two big messes were made. All the big rock was gone and used down below. Some material from alongside the upper stretch of road had been moved to the bottom, and a fair amount of good soil was now up top for trail work. Nobody got hurt, the weather was great, the future looked bright. After some shade, and a little R&R, I decided it was time for a shower. My solar bag had been working hard and the water was great. The tallest thing we had was the hoe so I rigged the bag on the roof and gathered my gear. I set a couple cinder blocks down in the dirt because that stuff turns to sticky muck with just a little water. I was all ready to go when I had the bright idea of bring the trailer over to get dressed on.
The trailer was already attached to the truck and perfectly perpendicular to the hoe, so all I had to do was back it straight back about 20’ until I just about kissed the massive tire or rim with the trailer. I didn’t even need to get that close, just close enough to hop onto when I was done, although the thought of showering on the trailer did occur to me, but it would have gotten me too high and then I would have had to fool with getting the bag higher, etc, etc.
I was moving approximately 600’ per hour, feeling for the slightest resistance to my rear motion, when all of a sudden I hear a loud pop and then the gushing of air like from a massive blower. I braked to come to a full stop and pulled ahead, never having touched the tire or rim. Mike had come running down from the kitchen and together we could see that the valve stem from the tire had been knocked off and the tire was kaput. WTF!!!! How did that happen? This was the ridiculous one in a million angle of approach for my plastic taillight to come up against the stem at just the perfect angle with just enough pressure for it to be knocked out without me feeling the resistance in the truck. Fuck Me!
As we stared at each other and then back at the tire and then back at each other, it was with more incredulousness than anger. It was just a ridiculous thing to happen. It just wouldn’t happen in a million tries. We had the thing rented for three more days, but fortunately, since it was the Memorial Day holiday weekend, they rented everything out at a daily rate, so if we used it less than eight hours, we would charged for one day, and in eight hour increments thereafter. But, this being the Memorial Day holiday weekend, nobody was open over the weekend, nor Monday, so we were screwed until Tuesday when we had planned to go home. Mommy!
Mike suggested we lower the stabilizer arms to take the weight off the tire and that was a good move. The tire seemed to re-inflate a little, enough at least to not make it look so bad. Mike propped the valve back in the hole and there she sat. That night was also not good with thoughts, and plans, and counter plans, and rotating priorities dancing through my tiny head. Not to mention the weighing of concepts such as stopping to look a foot or so away from the tire, or asking Mike to help me back in seeing as I could not see the end of the trailer over the tailgate. But dinner was good; cocktails were good, even if sleep was not. The next morning, after a quick check of the flat tire to see if it all had really happened, we got on the phone with our friends from the East, Tim and Cindy, to ask to borrow some shovels and a wheeled barrow. This had become an “old school” project.
I also reached out to an old friend of Marty’s from back when he lived up here, John Wisser, who Marty suggested I talk to about fence building and rock moving. He and his girlfriend came about 2:00. We met down on South Grasshopper and showed them the proposed fence line and gate locations. They came up top and hung out in the kitchen with us for a while. We told them about the tractor tire and we had some good laughs. He had some experience with big equipment, but when he pulled out the valve stem, he pushed in the tube and we lost the spot where the valve attached. This didn’t make any difference to anything, as the tire was shot and it needed a new tube, but it was nonetheless disheartening for some irrational reason.
Once they left it was time for more stir-fried vege’s, chicken enchiladas, and steak. Dinner, cocktails, tunes, fire, and sleep were all outstanding Things were looking up. Mike had set up his bed in the back of his new 2004 Nissan Exterra. He said he had to work at getting the back seat to fold down flatter, but said he slept well. I had had to tape the shit out of the bottom of my tent, inside and out, as it had torn the entire length across the bottom of the East side. The tape was holding up and it was working out. After a fine morning, we decided to take a ride up to Alturas. We took West Side road up to Brockman, then over to 395, and then shot up to town. We had to hustle a little as Tim and Cindy we coming by in the afternoon.
We cruised town, noting the location of the grocery store, bank, hotel, etc. Mike got gas and then some batteries and misc. at the Rite Aid. We took some back streets to find the Ace Hardware and the Four Seasons Supply, which seemed to be one and the same. We headed down south and were still running today (Steve Miller). Mike was doing 80 and almost ran us off the road checking out a flame red headed hitchhiker, but we made it unscathed. We called Tim and Cindy as we passed by (4 honks) to let them know we were back. They came up shortly thereafter and had a great visit. Mike was happy to meet them. Once they left, it was that time again. Dinner, cocktails, and tunes again led to a good night sleep.
After a fine morning, we got to work filling the holes in the newly expanded cleared area. I didn’t want to use up all our trail dirt, so I was reluctant to use it. Instead, we threw a bunch of sage into the two big pits, which were each about 6’x6’ and a foot or more deep. Then Mike began hauling flat rock down from around the kitchen. We filled every hole and divot we made the best we could with flat rock, then finally topped it off with the dirt from our pile and from little sources of decent dirt around the perimeter. In a few hours, we had done a very good job, and took the rest of the afternoon off.
I had left messages at the Chico “Rental Guys” and at the Susanville one where we rented it. I had hoped someone by chance would have checked the phones and been able to reach out to us with instructions on how to get the tire fixed. As it was, it wasn’t until first thing Tuesday morning that Cecil called to tell us they do not fix anything, we have to get it taken care of. He suggested calling Les Schwab in Susanville and gave me the number. A really nice guy said he already had his service guys out and they were to the South so it probably would be well after noon before anyone could get to us. I figured I would try Alturas Les Schwab because we might actually be a mile or 2 closer to them. I got a hold of a real nice guy named Milton and he said someone could definitely be out there by noon so we went with them.
About 11:00 I got a call from Jason saying he was on his way. About 11:45 we met him at Termo-Grasshopper and he followed us up the hill. Luckily the tire that needed fixing was on the outside and Jason was able to maneuver his sizable rig right alongside it. He swapped out the tube in no time and we ended up talking about him moving his family down from Burns, Oregon, and his playing football and wrestling, a very common combination out in these parts. He wrestled his junior year at 145 and came back for his senior year at 185. We talked about Jordan and Jason’s son, a scrawny 108 pounder who is sure to fill out during his high school years.
He made sure we had his cell phone number and said to reach out anytime. These are the people that help make up for the few fucks that are few and far between but do enough damage to keep people unnerved and worrying about loss, damage, and other divisive behavior that is so common in Dumbfuckistan. The pot growers stealing water and whatever they can get their hands on. The big cow ranches taking whatever cows they come across, branded or not. The “Free Grazers” that expect to have their rights and your rights too. They don’t want to pay for anything themselves, but will help themselves to your land, your water, your improvements with regularity and without thought to fair compensation. The fucks that grow 40 acres of wheat irrigating with water they have no rights to and aerial applying pesticides that blow onto the neighbors crops and pollute surface water. Fucks are everywhere.
But good people abound too and Jason Strain is certainly one of them. Once the tire was fixed, we called Cecil to let him know. We drove it down the bottom of the hill so he could pick it up and sighed a sigh of relief that the backhoe ordeal was over. I got to worry about it being ripped off for 2 days until Cecil finally picked it up, but we had done what we came to do. I brought another big load of material from the boneyard up top in the truck. Moving the rocks was beyond our ability, but we smoothed the initial spot we prepared for the trailer, we cleared a 40’ x 60’ spot up top, and we smoothed all that area out to prepare it for the cover. We got a ton done despite the tire malfunction. We were happy to be ready for the trailer and cover to come whenever that will be.
Mike helped me hook up the trailer in hopes of bringing one massive load up and being done. I stopped by Tim and Cindy’s on the way out to return the wheel barrow and shovels and visit a bit. I took 36/32 home without incident, although I did find a main support for the trailer hanging by the light wires before I shoved off. Despite the humps and bumps, another fine trip up top the hill.
Find this SpotHart Brothers atop Hart Hill Photo Gallery
