A huge Thank You to everyone involved, with special thanks to Tim and
his crew! A massive project accomplished in such a short time, and
perfect timing before the rains predicted over the next several days.
Thanks for the report Arron.
Logan
lmcn...@austin.rr.com
On 3/8/2016 11:21 AM, A. Wertheim via Texascavers wrote:
-------- Original message --------
From: "A. Wertheim" <werthei...@hotmail.com>
Date: 03/07/2016 10:40 PM (GMT-06:00)
To: Victoria Sommers <sommer...@gmail.com>
Subject: It is done- a Honey Creek update.
Well friends, the Honey Creek road repair project is finished. The
road to the shaft entrance has never been better and will probably
never be as good again. Team “Go Big Or Go Home” brought their best
game in a road-working tour-de-force and not only repaired Joyce’s
damaged road but made it useable for many years to come. All the
stops were pulled out to make this project a success.
Here’s the rundown:
Volunteers:
Tim Ramon- Project Leader
8!, count-em, 8! of Tim’s employees volunteered to help on a Saturday.
Kim Freund- Food and drinks for a lot of
hungry, dusty men
Kurt Menking- Equipment operator, planning,
organization, landowner relations
Arron Wertheim- That’s me. I got to run some
equipment and swing a chainsaw.
Victoria Sommers- Photo documentation, lunch
Robert Bissett- Equipment operator,
fundraising, organization
Gregg “Breaks Thumbs” Williams Fundraising
Equipment:
(Courtesy of Ramon & Sons Demolition, Inc.)
Case Backhoe
Case Compact Track Loader
Takeuchi Compact Track Loader
68000lb Kenilworth roll-off truck with a 20 YARD dump box
500 gallon Water Buffalo
Trucks, Trailers
Replacement drain pipes
Replacement gate posts donated for future installation
(Courtesy of BCI & Bracken Bat Cave)
8000lb Tandem Dump Trailer
Funding:
Bexar Grotto
TCMA
TSA
Mr. Jerry Atkinson
Mr. Joe Ranzou
Mr. Greg Passmore
Greater Houston Grotto
TCR
Project Timeline:
Saturday and Sunday, March 5 & 6 2016 with good weather.
Project Plan and Action:
The original plan was to rent a couple skidsteers and borrow the dump
trailer from Bracken to patch the road. When Tim volunteered to help
out and review the project, it quickly became apparent that almost a
mile of damaged road would take a lot more time and effort than a
couple Bobcats would be able to handle. The heavy fall rains had made
the road damage more pronounced. Beers would be spilled trying to
drive it. Unacceptable. Several different repair options were
discussed and a final few were selected based on the value of this
work and on reasonable fundraising expectations. It’s a ranch road,
not paved access; and while it was damaged during a rainy caving trip,
it also had not been properly maintained since it was originally
built. Ultimately a backhoe, skidsteer, and bumper-pull dump trailer
were decided on with expected costs of up to $1400/1500.
When Kurt and I showed up Saturday morning there was A LOT more
equipment than expected, men in orange vests, traffic cones, a low-boy
trailer, and tons of things going on. Tim had taken a second look at
the project scope and confirmed his initial thoughts that to get the
work done in one weekend we needed to go big or go home. He asked one
of his crew to help out on a Saturday and that quickly grew to 8
hard-working men in steel-toe workboots, hardhats, and safety vests
doing what they do best.
Tim’s guys worked till 5:00 on Saturday and moved enough material to
re-pack the whole road. A 20-yard dump truck can load a ridiculous
amount of material. The box is 23ftx8ftx4.5ft. Caliche weighs
2430.57 lbs/cubic yard. That is 48611 pounds of material per load (as
an engineer I just had to know.) A Bobcat has a ½ yard bucket. The
dump trailer can load 4 yards. Anyways, watching the driver gently
back that loaded roll-on behemoth between oak trees without so much as
a nick to the bark or a snapped twig was amazing. Joyce had been
adamant about protecting her oak trees. Well, without the 20-yard
dump truck and experienced equipment operators this would probably
have been a 2 or 3 weekend project with additional rental and
transport costs.
Kurt and Rob ran the Bracken dump trailer loaded to the max until its
hydraulics whined in tired complaint. When the dumper decided to take
a dump from being overloaded, we grabbed shovels and unloaded it by
hand. Short loads only after that! When it had to be lifted by the
track loader to dump we knew it was finished.
Tim ran his track loader at redline all day long to keep up with the
dump truck and dump trailer. Some of you may not know this but a
9000lb skidsteer loader can do wheelies! With the Case loader and
Case Backhoe working the caliche pit, it didn’t take long to get more
loads of material up to the road. The water buffalo ran big loops
from the well, wetting the material so it would pack in nice and tight
and last a long time.
Kim and Victoria brought lunch for the whole crew. The guys ate
quickly and went back to work, determined to get their job done in one
day.
On Sunday, Kurt, Tim, and I returned to do some touch-up work on the
road, set the better culvert pipe at the gate, and fix an extra
section of rutted road on the main property. Victoria saved the day
with sandwiches, chips, and cold beer. We finished working around
5:00 and finished the beer around 6:00.
Big equipment isn’t cheap. Hauling costs are high and diesel burns
fast when working fast. Without the big equipment there is no doubt
this would have been a long-term project. All settled-up, the cost
was $2000. For 30% more money there was easily 500% more work done in
1/3 the time.
Special thanks to Tim and his guys for donating their time, equipment,
and expertise. Thank you to everyone who helped out and everyone that
pitched in to cover the costs. This project goes a long way to
keeping a good relationship with the landowner. Obviously such an
endeavor cannot be routine so let’s all remember to tread as lightly
on the surface as we would underground and to take care of the
wonderful properties we have been given access.
Happy Caving!
Arron
//
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