The Road Worrier: Beyond Thevictorian Home

Winter wreaks havoc on our gravel roads. The gravel gets sucked down in the mud with repeated freezing and thawing, and potholes multiply. Neither state nor county road departments maintain them. We are on our own. Well, Hick and I, plus another 48 families who live up in here.

A couple times a year, some of the men decided it's time to work on the roads. All it takes to be on the unofficial road committee is a tractor, and communication with other tractor-owners. They used to go door to door and announce their plan, asking for contributions for gravel. Now they just put it on Facebook. As you might imagine, not everyone donates. I can understand if someone is on a tight budget and can't afford it. You'd think that over 20 years, twice a year, they would happen upon better times, and be able to kick in some cash. Gravel ain't free, you know. Even though the tractor labor of the unofficial road crew is. However, as with any microcosm of society, there are the ants breaking their backs, preparing for the future, and the freeloading grasshoppers waiting to benefit.

A load of gravel is currently $160 with the dump truck drivers Hick uses. His buddy will sometimes do it for cost, since he has a dump truck, but he's working out of town right now. A couple up the road from us called Hick, and said they were buying two loads of gravel, one for their driveway, and one for the road in front of their property. They asked if Hick knew who could haul it, and would Hick spread it out for them. Of course he did, and said he would. Even Neighbor Tommy bought a load of gravel (just for his driveway) and asked Hick to spread it. He did.

Another guy up the road by those people also bought two loads of gravel, and our neighbor next door, Copper Jack's human parents, bought a load. Other tractor guys spread them. Some of that gravel benefited the potholes in front of our BARn field, since there was enough to spread down this way. Hick felt like those people should have had their gravel dumped down by the mailboxes, since everybody uses that portion of the road, and it was in the worst shape. I disagreed.

"I don't blame them. If I was paying for two loads of gravel, you can bet that I'd put it in front of my house first, then where it was needed. Why should the deadbeats benefit?"

Little did I know that I WAS buying two loads of gravel, and that Hick put one down on a curve by the mailboxes, and the other on the road that runs past our other 10 acres where HOS is currently living. Though not right in front of that property, or its neighbor next to it. More in front of Crazy Stick Road Man's property. Don't even bother to ask if he contributed any money.

Hick had his reasons for that location. It's the road he takes out to the auction, and has really deep potholes, because nobody on that side has ever contributed any money for the roads. Gravel has been dumped there, though, and work done on that section, because it's the quickest road to the highway, for all the people who work in the city.

A couple of other families kicked in for a couple loads, and someone else gave Hick $60 towards a load of gravel. Any little bit helps. People who donate their money like that, and don't contact a gravel-hauler on their own, don't specify where the rock should go. They trust the unofficial road committee to make the decision on where rock is needed the most. It's been that way for 20 years, and the unofficial road committee members have not abused their power by having immaculate roads in front of their own properties. You can bet we'd have heard about it.

As you might imagine, the Never-Payers are the most vocal about where the gravel goes.

A couple days after the gravel was delivered and the potholes were filled in, the driving was much improved. No more dodging 20 potholes on the curve down by the creek, where items like a broken aquarium and an old refrigerator have been dumped in previous years. I even complimented Hick on his efforts. (!!!)

"That section is much better. Not even bumpy now."

"Yeah. I had a load of 2-inch-plus dumped there. I used it to fill in the potholes while the guy was gone getting me a load of inch-minus. Then I smoothed that over the top. It did turn out good."

Then a Never-Payer who lives closest to that section, who has to drive over it every day, got on the association's Facebook page and asked where the gravel was! Hick got on there and told her where all the loads had been put. I don't know his exact wording, or her response, other than she indignantly told him, "MY HUSBAND HAS A TRACTOR, AND HE WORKS ON THE ROADS!"

According to Hick, her husband does have a tractor. In fact, Hick encountered him on it, dragging gravel from the pothole area down towards the mailboxes (not towards their house). I figured Hick was just blowing off steam because his beautiful roadscaping had been disturbed. Then I drove over it the next day. It felt like my teeth were rattled loose, and several vertebrae compacted. Of course I called Hick.

"That road is a mess! It was better before it got fixed than it is now!"

"I know. That guy don't know what he's doing. Instead of letting the rock settle, and the 2-inch-plus filling in the holes and keeping the inch-minus in place, he drug that 2-inch-plus out in the middle, all the way down to the mailboxes."

"You want it in the middle, so the traffic on it lets it spread, instead of bouncing it off the edge of the road. But you don't want 2-inch-plus to drive on! You need one-inch minus for that. Not the big chunks. I can't believe the mess he's got it in now."

"Yeah, and you know who's going to get blamed for it. YOU!"

"I ain't payin' for no more rock to fix that mess!"

"I'm pretty sure nobody else is, either. They just paid!"

A few years ago, we had one old guy used to drive his 4-wheeler along, with a bucket and shovel, and get rocks out of the creek and patch potholes. Sadly, he sold his property and moved. I stopped to thank him a couple times, and he said he was just trying to help out.
I miss that guy.

Sometimes, it's better if some people don't help out.
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Other titles I contemplated:

You Can't Judge a Bum By His Shovel

The Road to the Mailboxes is Paved With Not-Heavenish Intentions
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