Stuck in the MUD!

For the record, Anchorage has had the third worst summer in history. We have had continuous rain all summer and very little sunshine. What kind of combination does that make - - - MUD!!! and lots of it.

Parked next to our house sits Mom & Dad's 34 foot, 7-ton motor home. Since it has been parked in this spot it has really posed no problem at all, until all the rain began to fall this summer. Day-after-day-after-day, I began to notice the motor home sinking down into the ground ever so slowly. I would mentioned to Bill (more liked nagged him repeatedly) that we have to do something; build some sort of platform or something to make it more stable. "Yes, honey - you're right, I know...It will be done", is what my dear husband would say over and over to me again, and again.

Well one fateful afternoon after picking up the motor home from its annual "winterizing" appointment, it was time to put the motor home back in its spot for the winter. In backing up, Bill lost momentum - - went down on the gas - - and there went the tires DEEP into the muddy ground and lawn. The "beast" was stuck!!! The more he tried to get it out the deeper it got.

Well, you can all guess how I reacted. Yeah that's right...I was MAD, more liked PISSED. Not because the motor home was stuck, but more for the fact that I knew this was going to happen and that it could have been avoided if addressed sooner. Instead we paid the $150 to get the beast out of its hole. Thankfully we had a cool tow truck driver and he did not charge us more...it actually could have been a whole lot worse.

After a few hours of ranting and raving the PLAN was then developed. Materials were ordered the night before and calls were made to friends and family to help out.

Saturday morning, Ty, a co-worker of Bill's went to Home Depot in his trailer and picked up a pallet of wood, gravel and other miscellaneous supplies. Waiting at our house to help out were Zach, Dan (a.k.a. "Muscles), Sean (Kelly's brother), Jerry (the carpenter and savior to our family) and Lee (who Sara's refers to as her 2nd cousin Lee - a brother from another mother).

Both Bill and I feel extremely THANKFUL, HONORED AND BLESSED that these people came to our need and helped fix this huge mess.

Unfortunately, I did not take any "stuck in the mud pictures" or "before shots"...but I do have some photos to give you an idea as to the extent of the work that was done today.

(Bill & Jerry - - -Trenches dug, gravel in and 1st platform in)

The plan was to build a wooden platform for the motor home to rest on. Something solid enough to hold the 7 tons and something that would hold up to the cold and moisture. We decided to go with pressure treated wood and a lot of gravel.

The boys had to dig TWO 24 foot long x 2 1/2 foot wide trenches for the wheelbase of the motor home. All the sod and dirt had to be removed. Pounds beyond pounds of gravel and rocks were spread in.

If it was not for the great thievery of my brother Sean I do not know what we would have done; since we completely underestimated the amount of gravel we needed and did not have time to have any delivered.

As to what was our hurry you may wonder? Remember the Rain? Well we also lucked out in doing this on probably one of the nicest weekends Anchorage will have this fall. Thankfully, today was sunny and in the low 50's. Can't beat that. Also, this was the only day we could get people to help us. Time was a definite issue.

Back to the project...

So the younger blood; Zach, "Muscles" (a.k.a. Dan) and Sean dug, hauled dirt, and a lot of gravel. The "Wise One" (a.k.a. Jerry the God) formulated the plan with his sidekick, Bill, to take all this lumber and build a 4 1/2" thick platform made of pressure treated wood and ply-wood.

(Dan & Zach hammering away)

Everyone lend a hand in hammering....

Once constructed, each platform had to be put in place where the trench was dug and where the gravel was laid. We estimate that each platform weighed close to 400-500 pounds. Even with 5 strong men helping, those suckers were HEAVY.

Once everything was in place it was time for Bill to maneuver the motor home back in its place. With Lee guiding him he did a great job! He was able to get all tires on the platform, which was the goal.

I have to admit, we were all a bit nervous watching as the motor home crept onto the platform; since it did shift slightly. But it is solid and will be perfect for this winter.

So again, one final and BIG Thank you to Jerry, Sean, Zach, Lee, Ty & Muscles (a.k.a. Dan), filled with tons of gratitude, hugs, kisses and a cherry on top. You guys are awesome!!!

(final resting spot for the "beast")

(good parking, babe:)