redpinemountain.com

We Are Stuck

Hi Everyone! I told you about our warm day and now we’re experiencing the aftermath; mud roads. Vermont roads are largely dirt roads and in our case, we travel miles of hills to reach the blacktop. Not usually a problem. They are sanded constantly in winter and easy to navigate that is until MUD SEASON; a distinctly Vermont time of year. First time I saw these muddy roads, I asked Mountain Man about all that mud and he explained to me about frost going way down below the surface and then having to melt and causing ruts and all kinds of problems. Oh, well, it’s never been so bad. Kind of fun reminding me of the Southern sport of mudding and if you have to ask what that is then I guess you just aren’t a Southern redneck like me.

Yesterday was beautiful and I was supposed to be headed to visit the big horses. The roads looked bad but navigable and Mountain Man decided to drive me. We got down our hill and we knew we were in trouble. We were skidding all over the place.

“We got down but I’m not sure we’re getting back up again.” Mountain Man said.

We drove down one way out. No, blocked. We tried another and another and all of them were blocked. Finally, we found a way out. We passed an old farm and I wanted to take pictures but Mountain Man says you never, ever stop when you’re in the middle of a rut. You just keep on going so the camera was vibrating. Anyway, here’s a lovely old farm.

The long range view was beautiful.

I made it to the barn so late Purple Passion had fallen asleep waiting.

I stayed to play with the horses while Mountain Man went to the store. “I’m not buying much because I’m not sure we’ll make it home. Don’t want lots to carry.” I never even considered we’d be hiking home. It’s a long way up. Oh, well, I’ll worry about that later. I enjoyed hanging out with the horses.

On the way home, we found a car abandoned at the beginning of the mud ruts.

“Why didn’t they try to go through? I would have.”

“Yes I know you would have. Why do you think you’re not driving? You would have gotten stuck when your car bottomed out.”

Woops. Southerners really never have to worry about frost heaving mud ruts.

We started through the rut and our truck was getting slammed all over.

Mountain Man was busy talking to the truck coaxing it through and I knew to stay quiet. That was just the beginning. We had miles of ruts and hills but we finally manged to get home.

“Worse mud season I’ve seen ever. We’re not going to be going anywhere for a while.”

“What happens if we get hurt?”

“That will be a problem.”

“Mountain Man, don’t worry, I’ll just throw you over the back of one of the mini horses and hike you into town with a turkey escort clearing the way.”

But seriously, we are kind of cut off at the moment. No mail can get through. No deliveries. No vehicles.

Oh, well, it’s part of living in Vermont but the worst part is the snow is still up to my waist but that leads to my next story tomorrow or someday soon.

Thanks all for visiting us and if you go to the grocery store, please eat a piece of chocolate for me.