Here's a very bad picture (I can't figure out how to save a pic for download from Google Maps) of the whole plot (the rectangle in the middle of the picture). Our property & house is in the lower left. The red line shows the route down the dirt road & across BPC's field. The yellow line shows coming in from my Dad's gate & across the pond dam. And the green line shows the new driveway, pretty much a straight shot in. Note: This will be a good reference to determine how often Google snaps pictures from space. This shot has the deck & dock we put in just last year (2012).
After we agreed w/the family friend, we walked the property & they decided on what equipment would be needed & an approximate timeline (2-3 weeks at the most).
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| Tractor w/grappling hook |
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| Backhoe for small stuff along the fence line |
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| Excavator for the serious stuff |
Here are the before pictures from each end:
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| Before - from the road |
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| Before - from the house |
They started clearing. And, as stated before, it then rained for 40 day & 40 nights (well, it was actually about 10 days & nights, but it felt like 40). It got real muddy & they had to stop for awhile. It rained over 9.5 inches in just a few days. The pond, even though it has a drain & a pretty high damn, overflowed. Normally the drain carries water to the branch but the overflow went through there as well.
Slowly, but surely they cleared away the trees & brush.
They made great progress the first couple of days, before it was time to grade. It started raining the week after the initial clearing & work pretty much stopped until March & then it was off & on through April.
Here it is, finally graded, leveled & dirt added, lots & lots of dirt.
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| Through the branch looking from house side. |
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| From road, those ruts are just from a golf cart. |
They finally finished clearing & grading & adding dirt but it was very soft & squishy in places. In that last picture above, it had not rained for several days & it was still too soft. So, we kept spending money like we actually had it & decided to put rock on top..
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| Through the branch looking towards the house. |
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| Through the branch looking back towards road. |
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| From near the road looking down towards the branch/house. |
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| From the road. That stick is there to tie caution tape across until we can get a gate put in. |
I guess we were kind of lucky in that we were able to see it at it's worst & the guys building the drive knew just how high & how much dirt to haul in. We wound up with one culvert at the road to get over the ditch but they put in 2 in the branch area just to be safe.
In the end, we love it! Even though we didn't want to spend the money, the peace of mind in knowing that we aren't dependent on some control freak to allow or block access, is priceless! Plus:
- We get to turn into the driveway off the hard (paved) road. No more getting vehicles covered in clay!
- We have more of a defined area to landscape & fence off.
- We get to drive through a wooded area! It's beautiful & cool in that section. I hope to be able to cultivate some mushrooms in that cool dark area in the future.
- It's a lot smoother than either way we were coming in.
- We don't have to be uber nice to someone we didn't really care for in the first place. We'll wave when going down the road but there will be no invites for dinner or otherwise.
- MIL & FIL don't have to put up with weird people. Well not that one, at least.
Next, we have to put up a gate & eventually a new, matching fence across the front of the property to my Dad's gate to coordinate it all. You know, I have to have it neat.
Note: We started on February 8 & it was finished May 10th. A 2-3 week job that took 3 months!
