Driveway

Early January

The driveway at Ahi is still too steep. The reason I say this is because I backed the truck down the driveway and then could not get out. The gravel was too loose and the rear wheels only dug in while the front tires just pushed the loose gravel into a pile in front of the tires. I could not get any traction. I used two heavy straps I had and tied them together. Then I attached them to one of the hooks at the front of the truck and trailed the straps up the driveway as far as possible. I had to enlist Brian, my neighbor to pull me out with his truck. Unfortunately, I took no pictures!

So, the next day, I had a load of 2 1/2 inch mixture of sand and gravel delivered. I had the driver dump about half in the driveway and half up on the road in a pile.

Last August, I had a load of sand and gravel delivered to Holowai. Both Scott and Brian saw me moving this pile with my shovel and wheelbarrow, and suggested that I use Bill’s “side by side” they called it. It is a 4 wheel drive gasoline powered cart with a scoop attached to the front. I was reluctant, as I did not want to be responsible for it!

I resisted their suggestions and moved the pile by hand with a shovel and wheelbarrow, just like I had all the previous loads. This time, I asked Bill for help.

He was able to push the pile that was dumped in the driveway further down the hill. Then he started moving the pile from the road by scooping it up and dumping it about halfway down the hill. When the cart was down the hill, it could not get traction in the loose gravel. Eventually, it slid off the side of the driveway and while trying to get it out, it began overheating and the fan belt broke. We had to pull it out like I had to do with my truck a few days earlier. (again, no pictures) Then we towed it back to Bill’s house on Holowai where he could work on it in his garage after ordering a new belt.

That left this pile in the road by the driveway.

So, it was back to the old tried and true method of the shovel and wheelbarrow!

As I moved the gravel to the bottom of the driveway, I concentrated on one side to create a raised path for my daughter and her kids to walk down.

February

After the grandkids left I ordered another load of sand and gravel.

This time, I had it all dumped in the driveway.

Then I started the process of scattering it down the driveway raising the height at the lower level to make the slope more gradual.

This meant a lot of shoveling and the use of the wheelbarrow to move it further down than I could throw it with the shovel.

After filling the wheelbarrow, I have to drag the back legs through the gravel as I descend the hill. I can lift the handles so that the legs are off the ground and allow the wheelbarrow to descend about four feet downhill, before lowering the handles to steady and stop the wheelbarrow. Then I can step closer to the wheelbarrow and repeat the process. With any weight in the wheelbarow, gravity forces it downhill faster than I can run to keep up with it! That’s why you see the drag marks in the photo below!

Each day, a little more is moved further down the hill to fill in over the other stuff I have dumped in the driveway.

By adding to the gravel at the lower sections, it reduces the slope of the driveway, making it easier to walk and to drive up and down . . . a little bit, anyway!

I stack limbs, branches, grass, empty cement bags, and other organic materials in a layer and then cover this with the sand and gravel. This adds bulk to the driveway, and the organic material helps the gravel stay in place. Engineers will tell me that all this organic material is unstable, will decompose and shrink requiring me to add more to maintain the same slope. Probably! But I figure that I have raised the level of the ground at the base of the driveway 16″ to two feet! The first two loads of sand/gravel cost me $450.00 each. The next four loads have cost me $500.00 each. Any subsequent loads will cost me $550.00 – costs keep going up! I figure that I have $3500.00 invested in material to fill the driveway, ans I have saved the cost of at least one load by using branches, grass, empty cement bags and other stuff!

More than once, I have lost control over the wheelbarrow and it has run down the driveway out of control and crashed. I figure, that it all neds to be moved downhill anyway! As long as the wheelbarrow does not get smashed, it is all good! And like they say, “What does not kill you, makes you stronger!”

Eventually, I have the pile gone from the top of the driveway, once again.

Now, the problem will be keeping the gravel from sluffing off the sides of the driveway.

So, I begin piling large rocks along the side of the driveway.

I have been able to line the lower section and shoe up a pathway from the driveway to the path that leads to the gazebo/ bungalow!

I will continue to stack rocks along the side of the driveway.

Fortunately, I have a source of large rocks not too far away.

I figure that after I have removed all the rocks that I need, I can fill this in with limbs and branches from the pile of debris back by the gazebo/bungalow, and let them decompose into dirt and mulch!

I have been removing branches from this pile of debris that was dumped here thirty or more years ago when they first built the roads in the subdivision. I have been piling these limbs/branches on the Hilo side of the driveway.

I have all the gravel moved to the driveway and rocks piled on one side to reinforce it, and large branches on the other. I still think that I will need more fill material to help make this driveway easier to use!

TTFN