The view from the outhouse
Saturday February 13
Thursday morning I woke up at Wolf Lake. Roger is on the way in from his cabin to meet his delivery at the landing and then he is going to spend the night. We are planning to go back out tomorrow after more traffic packs the trail. My plan for today is to get a quote on metal roofing for Spruce Manor, get some breakfast, and run a few more errands. I was at Magic Metals in Palmer talking about roofing when Roger called and said the trail was good and he was going to round trip it today and come in for another load tomorrow, giving me a heads up in case I wanted to go today. I decided to wait. When i got back into my truck I thought more about going back, I guess “Make hay while the sun shines” or haul freight while the trail is good. The sun is shining and it is warm probably 20 degrees Anyway I called Roger and told him I changing my mind. He said good get one that works this time. Now the pace for my slow day has suddenly accelerated. I ran back home and got suited up and grabbed the things that needed to go back with me into the truck. The plan had been to bring Pappa Murphy’s Pizza back on Friday, but no time for that now. The trail awaits. I need to eat. I went to the drive through at Wendy’s and just as I was ordering Kari texted “Are you still bringing pizza?” Ok, order online, I’ll pick it up. Only about 20 minutes extra time to keep the woman happy.
I arrived at the landing just as Roger was strapping his load down, 1200 pounds or so of metal roofing. Roger got my sled with the septic tank hooked up turned around. All I need to do is tie the tote with the pizzas down and fuel the machine. Soon we are underway, my load is fairly light about 1000 pounds but the tank is a little bit top heavy. Within the first mile or so there was a 3 or 4 foot drop off to go down and it was on an angle. With a normal load not a problem. Going straight up and down steep inclines is easy. On an angle or side hilling is a different story. Freight sleds aren’t known for their side hilling capability. I looked in my mirror coming down the first incline and saw the right front ski about a foot off the ground. Whoa baby!! I guess I’ll have to pay more attention. I was mostly worried what the woman would say about dumping the pizza. Oh shoot, I forgot to spray a red heart on the septic tank to make it more Valentiney. I just made up a new word. The new snow on the trail made for a little harder pull but not bad. The ice road was great. We had a couple long grades to go down. Start slow, don’t even think about the brake. The first one was fairly steep and long. Here I go picking up speed, jake brake on the Arctic Cat engine just cackling, echoing off the front of Kari’s new septic tank. Music to my ears. You’ve heard of the “Nashville sound”, well I’ll tell you folks this here is the “Skwentna sound”. I don’t need no stinking exercise to get my heart rate up. Now for the real story. I rode gently down the slopes while towing the septic tank behind me. Doesn’t sound as exciting does it. This is how fake news BS gets started. The front ski off the ground is true.
Soon we were back at Roger’s place pizza delivered and the septic tank in full view for Kari to see when she arrived for dinner. Today’s trip was quick and pleasant both ways. So good that I agreed to make a round trip tomorrow. One little chore left, Roger and I are going to deliver the metal to his customer a mile or so away on Otter Lake. It will only take a few minutes, I can taste the pizza now. Out of Rogers place a couple left turns and about then we ran into Murphy, not Papa Murphy the pizza guy but Murphy the lawyer that follows us around all the time. Roger was in the lead, he started up a fairly steep grade, not too long but long enough 20 yards from the top he started to spin the track in the new snow and forward progress stopped. I hung back and he tried to back the rig down the hill. All of you farm boys know about backing up a 4 wheel hay wagon. Well this rig has a difficulty factor 2 or 3 times that. The sled is off the trail in the deep soft snow. The plan is for me to get my machine turned around and tie a rope on the rear of the sled and drag it back. This worked for about half a sled length then the front of the sled was hung up. Roger unhooked got turned around, squeezed between the sled and a tree. We hooked both machines to the back of the sled and tried to pull it. No workey. We turned around again squeezed by the sled and I went up the slope to a flat spot. There were tracks off the trail where someone had turned around earlier. I started around the loop and soon I was stuck with my heavy machine in deep powdery snow. I was digging and tromping a path to get out. In the meantime Roger was able to get the front of his sled free. He came up and gave me a tug with a tow strap and I was out. Now somehow I ended up hooked up to the sled. Roger tied on to my machine and we pulled the sled to the top. We decided to just stay hooked together until we get to the site to unload because there are more steep grades that are even longer. Once at the site Murphy showed up for a few moments. We ironed that out and we’re ready to unload the crate of metal roofing. Words can’t describe it. Look at the attached video. Soon we were back to Myra and Roger’s place, Kari was there and loved the septic tank, and the pizza was cooked. Mission accomplished, well almost. After dinner we headed home and rolled the tank off the sled into the snow, fueled my machine for tomorrow’s trip, and called it a day.
Friday same drill except we have an accomplice, another guy from farther on up the river is going to run with us. I’m pulling my empty sled and one of Rogers sleds with empty drums. Roger has two sleds. We have us a convoy, good buddy. “This here is the Rubber Duck 10-4”. We headed out the back way, trail is good, sun is out, we are haulin. 10 or 11 miles on the river and our convoy took a side trail to avoid a steep drop from the sand bar to the river. The side trail has a drop with a pretty good side hill, more about this spot later. 13 miles on the river and we are turning on the ice road in record time. I’m seeing speeds of 25-30, a little slower in the turns. I know this doesn’t seem fast if you are an Iron Dogger but when you have two freight sleds it’s fast enough, although I’ve gone over 50 with a single sled in my younger days. I think this may void the warranty on your body if you hit a chuck hole in the ice. There were lots of beautiful pictures of the two rigs in front of me kicking up a mist of dry snow in the sun, I just couldn’t manage to take any on the fly. Roger usually stops to pee often. Today not, we are on a record run, he is either holding it or has dry clothes to change into at the landing. We stopped only twice. The second stop we have been traveling 2 hrs and are only 3 miles from the landing.
At the landing we sort out the sleds. Roger ended up with 2 sleds and 6 barrels of fuel. I had one sled with about 1600 pounds of plywood. I ran into a guy that I had met briefly last winter. He said you are Don aren’t you. I like your post of the view. First time. I guess I’ll have to think about trading in my snow machine helmet for a big white hat like Marty Rainey’s. I got my sled turned around with some help from our convoy companion. Note to self: 1.Turn sleds to head out of the yard before they are loaded. 2.Bring keys for snow machine from home to accomplish note1.
Bought 8.5 gallons of fuel and we are off. The first 10 miles are rough. My machine is beating me up on the moguls. Roger and I looked at it earlier and decided the suspension needs some adjustment and we found a front shock that needs to be rebuilt. After that we are on the Deshka and the Ice road. We are cruising good about 20 mph since we are loaded. Before we left the landing Calvin told us that they passed the snow cats and sleds from the mine on their way in this morning and we should be meeting them. We did, less than two miles left until the turn back onto the river trail. The rigs are huge and take up the full width of the trail. A big snow cat was in front, he just plowed an oval around the second rig that was towing a big sled. The snow was loose and powdery but we made it around ok. There wasn’t a snow cat in front of the second two machines. They can’t leave the groomed trail with their skids. The rig got over as far as he could but it was still tight. Roger made it through but it was very close. My load is wider. I headed through staying as far right as I could but the top of my plywood stack hooked the very last stake pocket on the back of the big sled. Roger unhooked came back and pushed the front of my sled over with his bumper. The big rig pulled ahead and we hooked the sleds back up and we were on our way again. The second rig was smaller and easy to pass. Back on the trusty river trail now. I think about mile marker 39 Roger took the side trail that I talked about earlier. I thought about the side hill and almost stayed on the marked trail. It is the steepest incline but you can hit it square for the climb. Kari and I took the side trail last week and just made it. We would have been in deep do do if we had dumped her sled with 600+ pound Bonnie on it. I was scolded for taking that route.
If Roger can make it with doubles, I can make it with a single sled. I hung back a bit when Roger hit the side hill. The first sled made it. I wish I had my phone out to make a training video. I would like to teach Cooper and Teddy to roll over and play dead, just like the second sled did. Roger has a winch on his machine and had it righted in no time with the 3 barrels of fuel still strapped on. He volunteered to ride my rig up and I agreed since he was already practiced up for today. I filmed this one. No problem. Only 20 minute or less delay. Soon we were where the trail splits to go to his ramp, he made the right and I kept going to Silty Slough. I dropped the sled of plywood in front of the stack so we could unload it tomorrow. Another good trip. After I had a bite to eat the boys wanted to go for a run. I hooked up the groomer and took them down to make a pass on the trail by the runway. I brought them back home and made a couple more passes. Time to sit and watch a movie.
Saturday
-10 when I woke the boys up to take me outside. Supposed to warm up to plus 10 by noon when the Iron Dog racers go by. The plywood has to be unloaded today because I’m planning to go back to the landing tomorrow morning with Roger and spend the night at home. I have more material to be delivered Monday and want the driver to set it right on the sleds with his forklift. 62 2”x 10”-18’.
3 loads of material now at Silty Slough for Spruce Manor. I don’t want to think how many more.
Stay safe and healthy my friends.
Thank you Lord for keeping us safe.
I’ll be in touch.
Blue skies!!!
The View from the Outhouse 