Okay, so the morning needed an early start because in our last exciting episode we left Landlady in a fleabag motel in the town nearest the Gulch. This had to change -if only because she had a car full of care packages.
Before I could go get her at the county road I had to find a route to her house. Here’s where the morning got off to an exciting – I’ll go so far as terrifying – start.
Okay, these are just crappy phonecam pix so play along. Picture this: You’re barreling down a steep incline you’ve driven a million times before. At the bottom of the grade there’s a sharp left turn, a blind corner and be careful of that thick tree on the other side of the road. But no problem; you know the turn, you know the grade, you know the tree. The only hazard to watch out for is passing cows.
You weren’t expecting that giant sinkhole where the road used to be, though, were you? Here’s the hole from the other, clearer side…
The roadbed is gone. I’m happy to announce that the Jeep’s brakes have been thoroughly function tested.
The wash bed has been thoroughly scoured, too. So except for some quicksand patches and the fact that the crossings are all torn up, the wash is the quickest way to get anywhere. Getting back out of the wash can be a problem. Here’s my driveway…
Days like this are why a high-clearance Jeep is a good thing to have.
This morning even Landlady wanted to say, “Thanks for those new tires.” 🙂
Alas, poor shooting range…
I don’t know how I’m ever going to get that back on its legs. Haven’t had time to think about it, to be honest.
The last of those green plants are gone. Here’s the 200-yard range stake, which was once in a field of green…
Nobody admits to ever having seen a flood like this. The consensus says it’s the highest flood in at least 20 years. Here’s the scour line on the cliff nearest the Lair…
…and that’s about eight feet tall.
The good news is that except for the Landlady thing and a bit of anxiety about rising water and the Jeep’s parking spot, I mostly enjoyed the spectacle with a cup of tea. The Lair was never in the slightest danger and the new roof is nice and tight.
Didn’t really appreciate that sinkhole first thing in the morning, though. There shouldn’t be any other traffic on that road, the only other residents having been warned, but I went ahead and blocked the road anyway just to give any stray passerby notice that there’s something to worry about.
Now it’s noon and the afternoon clouds are gathering. Landlady has already left for the city. Big Brother sent snack food!
You did say “road”, I distinctly saw that word in the update. That looks more like a cattle watering hole to me and LB seems to be contemplating a dip. I hope your friend with a road grader can get a truckload of gravel to fill it in soon..
Meanwhile, after weeks of rain every other day and constant flood warnings for the St Joseph River valley and feeders, we here in SW Michigan now have day after day of sunshine in the 70’s and low 80’s which for late July is really nice.
Holy wow, Joel. Hope you can still get through to S&L’s to care for Ghost if you need to.
That was some serious rain up-stream from you. Going to need a whole new road-bed from the looks of things.
Gee the fun never stops at the gulch. Good thing you were not really screaming down that hill, I don’t think pics of the jeep upside down would have been a welcome sight on the blog. Looking at the range target stand I’m sure with a little help from the jeep and a tow rope it can be righted.
Stay dry…