the machine takes a licking...

Hi all,

From Charlies tone this morning I could tell something was wrong...when he said that he must have had the day wrong for his volunteer project on the Eastern Prom - because there was noone there, I breathed a sigh of relief....oh well.... But he was just easing me in. Or else he wanted me to know that there weren't 20 people there to witness the real reason he was calling....apparently he had just watched our skid-steer trail machine do a somersault down the steep grassy hill below the trail on Eastern Prom. Luckily he stepped off the machine as it was beginning its descent, or else it might have been an entirely different type of phone call...shudder to think. I'll let Charlie fill in the details on the event, and our subsequent recovery effort, but suffice it to say I'm glad it's something I can blog about, rather than something you'd read in the newspaper tomorrow morning!

Would it surprise you to know that this is not the first time we've flipped the machine over? No, I didn't think so. And I'm sure Charlie was glad that he wasn't the first to abuse our small, but very expensive machine in this manner. That honor belongs to me. At Fort Allen park this spring I managed to get just a little too far down the hill, and then a little too tilted sideways...and watched in horror as this very heavy machine tilted over and fell towards the precipice below the trail. In my minds eye I saw it continue its momentous trajectory towards the edge of the cliff, and continue over, a silent few seconds of agony followed by a gut-wrenching crunch and (please no...) a continued roll towards the heavily populated Eastern Prom Trail - again headlines would have ensued. But no; this dense little beast just thudded to the ground, and lie there, still running, seemingly waiting for its next hydraulically enabled task.

Hooking up a cable and putting the truck in 4-wheel drive I thought; "this will never work!" But sure enough, with a little pull she stood right up like nothing ever happened! And just like todays' adventure; not a bit of damage was done. Just another exciting day on the trail.