The road is flat, it must really be spring this time
We are 1 1/2 miles away from a paved road. Here in NH, living on a dirt road means that springtime can be a challenge. As the frost in the road thaws, first it gets squishy in places, then big "mud bog" type stretches appear, then when the water generated by melting snow flows down from the surrounding hillside, washouts occur.
The town can only do so much, such as dumping more gravel on the gooey parts. Eventually, the road starts to firm up. As it firms up, however, the school bus that goes up the road a few times a day causes deep ruts and where water flows across the road, washboard surfaces form.
It's pretty rough on a vehicle. My old pickup respond to it by letting random parts fall off (not to worry, most of the parts that fall off are not important). Wendy's little Buick, however, we gotta be careful with. It might need an alignment, now, but I think it took the spring without too much pain and suffering.
Yesterday, as we were getting ready for the homeschooling co-op (I got "volunteered" to teach about NH history at it), we heard a rumbling sound coming up the road. To some folks, the sounds of spring are all about the tiny frogs not-too-creatively called "spring peepers" or the return of songbirds, but to us, the most glorious sound of spring is the rumble of a road grader!
The town's dump truck follows it, dumping fresh gravel behind the swath that the grader cuts in the packed dirt, then the grader makes a second pass to smooth it out. Today the road is flat, but covered in little sharp tire-piercing bits of gravel, but in a week's time it will all be packed down flat and smooth.
Happy spring!
The town can only do so much, such as dumping more gravel on the gooey parts. Eventually, the road starts to firm up. As it firms up, however, the school bus that goes up the road a few times a day causes deep ruts and where water flows across the road, washboard surfaces form.
It's pretty rough on a vehicle. My old pickup respond to it by letting random parts fall off (not to worry, most of the parts that fall off are not important). Wendy's little Buick, however, we gotta be careful with. It might need an alignment, now, but I think it took the spring without too much pain and suffering.
Yesterday, as we were getting ready for the homeschooling co-op (I got "volunteered" to teach about NH history at it), we heard a rumbling sound coming up the road. To some folks, the sounds of spring are all about the tiny frogs not-too-creatively called "spring peepers" or the return of songbirds, but to us, the most glorious sound of spring is the rumble of a road grader!
The town's dump truck follows it, dumping fresh gravel behind the swath that the grader cuts in the packed dirt, then the grader makes a second pass to smooth it out. Today the road is flat, but covered in little sharp tire-piercing bits of gravel, but in a week's time it will all be packed down flat and smooth.
Happy spring!
posted by MVTCoPete | 6:01 PM
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