In 2005, we bought 20 acres of land in the mountains of West Virginia with the dream of building a small, remote cabin and turning redneck a few weekends every month. The land is genuine backcountry: steep and wooded with large rock outcroppings, wild blueberries and bears. Getting there is not easy. You drive west from DC for about an hour and half, passing through the metropolises of Frederick and Hagerstown, MD. About the time you make the left and cross the West Virginia state line, pickup trucks outnumber minivans and the population centers are at the Sheetz gas station and the Bowlerama. There are two used car dealers with a combined inventory of ten vehicles. You pass a used tire shop, trailer and backhoe dealer, and a twelve room motel with an adult video shop out front. When you smell the hickory smoke of the WV barbeque, you are almost there. You just have to climb a steep gravel road for about three miles. Back in 2005 we had to park on the shoulder because you couldn’t get so much as a wheelbarrow on the land.
The first thing we did in 2005 was to take out some trees, do some leveling and put in a short gravel driveway. With no experience, armed with a chainsaw and a Case backhoe from Rentals Unlimted (great place), I spent a week cutting, digging, and leveling the land so a 20 ton dump truck could deliver about 100 tons of gravel. By the end of the week I had a 200 foot gravel road. The entire project cost $3200. Soon after this we parked a 24-foot Four Winds Lite camper on the land. We were getting places.
And then Austria called. The opportunity of a lifetime fell in our laps and we did a fire-sale, everything must go: camper, chainsaw, generator. The dream of turning redneck was put on hold.
By 2008 I was gettin' hungry for some backwoods. I asked my dad if he wanted to go to WV and tear some shit up. A few weeks later were doing dozers and Bobcats. Over a three week period, we extended the gravel road by 500 feet and roughed in another 1000 feet of trail. We also took down a few trees to expand our valley view. It was good to get back out there. But at the time I was living in Austria and the cabin had to wait.
Well, now we're back for good and Project Two-Teeth (named after the nice fellow at the local lumber yard) is up and running. We've started penciling plans on napkins. My theory is this: anybody can build a cabin with a vault of cash, an armada of contractors, and a fleet of the best equipment. We're doing this on our own. It's going to be a learning experience, sure to offer plenty of blog fodder.
I already bought a new chainsaw. I'm happy with my Stihl MS290 rancher bought at Rentals Unlimited. Our second buy was a camper. It's a 1997 Sunliner 19.5 footer in great shape. We parked it on the land last weekend. Sweet.
Double-gulping it for the drive to WV.
The new camper in position.
Inside the camper.
Here is the diplomat chopping wood. Hooyah!
Stay tuned for periodic updates on the cabin project. Going be fun!
Greg
Are you sure you want to go for the red neck, that would mean a significant haircut. You might want to start with a mullet and go from there.
Posted by: mark from nrc | 01 March 2011 at 08:50 AM
I just sent this post to a bunch of my friends as I agree with most of what you’re saying here and the way you’ve presented it is awesome.
Posted by: mulberry outlet | 25 November 2011 at 07:48 AM