How cool is this?

Now, that's hard-core. All of my wife's family but one work(ed) for Caterpillar, so I've gotten some nice rides. My sister-in-law thinks she's Mario Andretti on a front-end loader. d8-)

Maybe you & yours can meet us there for my party?

Ooh, down in the Pines. When is your party?

That place looks great, but I note that one must pay to use their equipment. If you visit me everything would be free. You can doze some smaller trees, cut down some big ones that make a mighty crash when they fall, doze around the stumps and then hoe them out, doze those over a ledge, doze topsoil into big piles, doze fill into monster piles, load that into a dump truck with a skidsteer, drive the dump truck (with poor brakes) up steep hills, and grade the fill into its new home. And you can do it for days if you like!

'tis all in the very nascent stage. I just found this place this morning. Sometime in June, I think.

Sounds great. Now all I need is passage across the continent. I'd have a hard time passing it off as a business trip.

-- Ed Huntress

Well, let me know. I have a commitment on June 18th, but I'm otherwise pretty clear.

It's only a 10 hour trip if you borrow Wieber's Ninja. :)

I pucture my cheeks being blown out like Louis Armstrong's and my tongue winding up in my stomach. d8-)

Lemme guess. You're Tom Sawyer, right? Or Mister "wax on, wax off, paint the fence" Miagi?

Way cool. But, New Jersey. I live in Michigan, so it's not like I'll be in the area anytime soon. Darn. I used to play with a D12 at Muskegon landfill in the early 70's. Not much but drive and push a little dirt. No heavy playing. I was only 16 at the time.

The earth moving equipment is more fun, but I've ridden in this tracked Cat ag tractor:

...and immatellayou, that's farming in class. Surround-sound, A/C, power everything, and a seat like a living-room lounge chair. I loved it.

My inlaws live near the Cat plant in Aurora, IL, which is where I got my rides on those machines.

(yawn) For 200 bucks I can rent a trackhoe for the WHOLE WEEKEND here . In fact I did just that to dig the hole for my cellar ... As far as the 'dozer , I can push dirt with my Little Rusty Tractor , just not as much at a time . Forklift ? I used one at the last 3 cabinet shops I worked at . I guess some folks just aren't as "lucky" as me .

Nope. I find my lumber jacking and dirt moving mostly boring, partly because at my low budget level it always requires equipment maintenance, which I hate. The closest I can remember to a Mr. Miagi moment was the day I'd planned to doze a couple dozen truckloads of fill, but ran into too much rock. Once I realized that the day's schedule was shot, running the hoe for a few hours was pretty zen.