My Journey

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

tgil.....obviously I've misled you if you think I have any type of celebrity staus here (although I'll assume you're joking around).....I'm just another guy trying to navigate his way through life.....

Arjan.....you would not believe the homes that are being built here (and that have been built here). An average house here sells for over $700,000. If you want a bigger piece of ground (such as my lot), you're easily over a million(s) dollars.....Montana has become a refuge for the rich and some are celebrities (unlike me).....



May 3, 2021 (continued).....At this point in the house moving story I want to make it perfectly clear that I've never moved a house before.....





As a matter of fact I thought the house would somehow slide from front to rear but the reality is that it loads from side to side.....



The house moving crew initially consisted of 3 guys. Then one guy left with a twisted ankle.....that left 2 standing.....



Now that concrete foundation had 30 bolts embedded in it.....and that house had 30 holes that had to line up with those bolts.....



So the key was to success (initially) was to line up the front & rear house walls with the concrete foundation walls.....



And then somehow (I swear I barely remember anymore) we slid that house onto the concrete foundation.....



At some point as the move progressed, employee number 2 left for an appointment.....



So by the time it became necessary to line up those 30 bolts with the 30 holes.....well, it was left up to me to climb in that hole and instruct the forklift operator (company owner) which way to move things around.....



Things got a bit tense as the forklift operator expected me to perform at the level of experienced house movers (man.....were his expectations ever so unrealistic).....but eventually I came through and that little house sat happily on its new foundation.....

 

[Arjan]

Interesting method....
But it has arrived, is bolted in place and you can now start to connect things like power, water, InterNet ?
Or does some official need to have a look at it first....

Those $$$ are just crazy.. We have 3 Ha. here with an old - 15th century on wards - farmhouse and paid less than you paid for your truck.. And the Allier is considered expensive.. Oh well..

Hope you have a dog proof fence soon - dogs and traffic don't mix really.

Thanks !

 

[Foy]

Up on the bench above the valley floor. Cross section of the excavation shows the pediment / alluvial fan perch. Faceted spurs on the opposite side of the valley. What a fine place to rest a while and soak it all in. In many ways, there's no need to move around to find new scenery. With long views like that, one can look for hours, days, weeks, and months, and never see the same view twice.

Rest up and enjoy!

Foy

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Arjan.....its an extremely expensive area and housing costs are out of control. Retail businesses and restaurants can't find help as workers at that pay level are unable to find housing. The local government has the same issue and have nearly 100 job openings right now. The community swimmimg pool has cut back hours as there are no lifeguards. It goes on and on and on. Also, there's no traffic in this particular area.....there's barely any people.....

Foy.....the views are what sold me on this endeavor.....often I stop in my tracks and marvel at those mountains.....seriously. Rest ? Nope.....I've not had a day off since the start of this project.....ugh.....



May 3, 2021 (continued).....Before I move on from House Moving Day, I want to share ten more pictures which should help you to understand how this whole process unfolded.....





It's a little odd for me as I revisit these photographs.....it seems as though events I remembered aren't quite so.....





Anyhow, it is what it is.....the next photograph is Nick who relocated here from New Zealand. Prior to his move here to the United States, he spent nine years in South America as a mountain guide in the Andes Mountains.....needless to say we got along great.....



Lining things up.....soon enough I was alone in that hole.....getting my butt chewed out (slight exaggeration here).....Nick had appointments to attend to and away he went.....







So there you go.....the move was completed.....now the real work begins.....

 

[tgil]

The ingenuity in such endeavors fascinates me!

 

[Ace Brown]

Hard to imagine 30 holes lining up with 30 bolts! What’s going on with that area above the porch? Somethings missing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Arjan]

Eventually those "rich ones" will have to get down to do their own lower paid jobs - totally get where you're coming from. Holland has many areas where it is right as you describe. We moved to France to get out of that totally insane rat race.

Love the pics and the story - very well done this house move !

Thanks

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Remembering Yukon on her birthday.....



I've carried Montanas ashes in the truck camper for nearly 4 years.....I've carried Yukons ashes in the truck camper for more than 2 years.....soon enough they'll finally be put to rest.....each morning they'll wake to this.....

 

[Arjan]

Awesome pictures.
Just no words.

And they are never forgotten - we will cherish the memories of those dogs we all have had.
They never leave you.

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

tgil.....I agree completely.....there's a method to the madness and when it's done properly it works out just fine. That house mover has great stories to tell.....

Alan.....yes something is going on there but I'm reluctant to say what it is now. It's really going to be the centerpiece of this entire build and I'm excited with what I've chose to fill that void. Soon enough you'll see what's up so hang in there.....

Arjan.....if go to page 1 of My Journey it begins with those 2 pups....."never forgotten".....well said.....



May 3, 2021 (continued).....with the house on the foundation, my friend returned with a wire fence stretcher as we had lots of fence to restore and time was of the essence. People here have horses and they wanted to let them back out of their barns and into the fields.....



My buddy.....he's damn good at this stuff.....



May 6,2021.....I drove to the sod farm to buy a huge bag of grass seed and came home with 2 pallets of sod.....you see, the people that own the sod farm are good friends with friends of mine and they loaded me up free of charge.....oh my poor back.....



I think the neighbors goat was just about as excited about that sod as I was.....



.....eventually the neighbor came and got his goat.....which of course was stuck in that wire fence.....



Now I had mentioned previously that May is the wettest month in southwest Montana.....well, after we got that house moved and the fences restored, the weather turned for the worse.....

May 9, 2021.....we got rain and we got snow.....



.....temperatures dropped down into the 20's and man did that ever suck.....



And then it cleared up again and I was back to work.....



I needed to demo that lower roof section first.....I had (and have) big plans for this wall.....



With the nicer weather here, a friend stopped by with some garden plants which I left in the camper with my plant hating dogs.....

.....the prayer flags remind me to take a deep breath.....it'll be OK.....

.....and yes, that black soil was wet.....

 

[Riversdad]

What do the dogs think about this change in their life style? Are you still taking them out exploring near you?

 

[billum v2.0]

Hangin’ fence, laying sod and chasing goats on your slice of Montana.

Life is good. congratulations.

 

[Arjan]

We have a video somewhere of my wife planting some beautiful new flowers with 3 Goldens sitting around her in half a circle watching very intensely what she was planting where. She promised some serious bodily harm to those that were to excavate her flowers she so lovingly had put in the ground... The Goldens were clearly impressed and all looked at each other expressing their understanding...

When she was finished, I served her lunch.

Looking out through the kitchen window some very un Lady like words were spoken


Bump, the cat had decided he did not agree with her planting the flowers where shehad and dug them all out...


Please keep them coming..

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Riversdad.....it's hard to say with the dogs. My guess would be.....no, they are not enjoying it. They spend way too much time within the confines of a 20'x20' chain link dog pen. And when not "stored" in there, they're "stored" within the walls of the truck camper. I hate it and am doing my best to get the property fenced in (I'll finish that task today God willing). And no adventures for us since arriving back in Montana. I generally start work by 7:00 a.m. and a typical day is minimum 10 hours and can be as many as 14 hours. I've worked everyday since beginning the project.....

billum v2.0.....thank you.....it feels good.....it feels right.....

Arjan.....I'm enjoying documenting the build so yea I'll keep posting.....so long as XP doesn't kick me off.....and I do still live in a truck camper.....



May 13, 2021.....Now removing that lower roof section appeared to be a simple task.....it wasn't. This house must be one of the most solid houses that stands in America. Every board seems to be nailed, screwed and glued. Nothing comes apart easily but eventually everything does come apart.....



Gravity tells me that that section would fall straight down when finally released but that's not what happened here. I reached in to yank on a stuck board and right then that damn thing fell directly at me and smashed my left hand.....skin was ripped off three fingers.....about 5 minutes before the next picture was taken I was heard saying....."at least they're not broken".....



I spent hours.....a few days actually trying to dismantle that pile of debris.....with the sky rocketing price of lumber I'm attempting to reuse whatever is salvageable.....



The dogs of course find great interest (well, maybe not great) in my progress (or lack there of).....





The next step was to extend additional floor joists across that opening.....



The new floor joists had to span the entire width of the house (24' 8"). I placed my order at the lumber yard and after a few days I hauled them to the "jobsite".....





An interesting find was the time date stamp on the existing floor joists.....this house was originally constructed in 2004 (I'm guessing).....



One thing that I'm learning is that you need to stay ahead of the game when ordering some supplies.....roof trusses were required as well.....the lumber yard said sometime in July.....I needed them almost now.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Simultaneous to the house demolition / construction is the on-going site work. I have not written too much on that subject so far (at least that's what my brain tells me).....so this next post is all about site work (and I'll need to address at some point some of the other site work tasks that have been completed as well).....

May 13, 2021 (continued).....late that evening I'd say it was maybe 6:00 p.m. when the surveyor showed up to stakeout the proposed drainfield corners.....



It's absolutely amazing the way that the engineering field has changed over the past two decades.....the thought that one guy can come out here and do the work that previously took at least two people.....and often three.....



May 17,2021.....a few days later the "whiney baby" drainfield guy arrived.....that guy could barely get one foot out of his truck before he started complaining.....it took them two days to complete the installation.....he was still complaining when he put that last foot back into his truck and drove off into the beautiful Montana sunset.....



The drainfield installation process is really a simple one.....first you dig a trench from the house foundation to the proposed location of the septic tanks.....



For this particular build there were two tanks that needed to be installed.....each having a 1,000 gallon capacity.....the reason for such large storage is that the drainfield was designed for a 3 bedroom house.....not the 1 bedroom that we are actually building.....





Once the tanks were installed, the guys dug a trench to the actual drainfield which was maybe 100' feet away.....then three trenches were dug at a depth of ONLY 2' as the soil here is so rocky that it's not recommended to go any deeper.....



Once the drainfield pipes are in the ground, everything is backfilled.....and since that drainfield is so shallow in the ground, a two foot high mound of dirt covered it.....hopefully keeping it from freezing during those long, dark, cold winter months of Montana (which I don't plan to see).....





The total cost of that installation was $14,600 and if you add the surveyor, the preliminary design work, permits, and what not.....I'm guessing (& only guessing) that there's $20,000 in that drainfield.....I couldn't help but think composting toilet.....but then that's just how us Overlanders think.....