Yesterday we had some much needed work done on our driveway. We’ve lived here almost 30 years and our driveway has always been an issue.
For one thing it’s steep like many mountain roads. Another reason is there’s never been enough gravel on it. Even when it was first built we couldn’t afford the amount it really needed.
Last summer Paul had his portion of the road paved. One of our good friends did the work for him.
In the process he went a little ways up our driveway with the roller packer. My what a difference that made! The next time I saw him I asked him if he could do our whole driveway like that. He said sure and then told me “You know your road ain’t never been done right.”
The tractor we bought a year or so ago has helped Matt keep the road in better shape than it’s ever been. He had a small scrape on his 4-wheeler that helped some, but the tractor has really made a huge difference.
Since we first had the road pushed in and graveled we might have added a load or two of gravel two or three times. Yesterday they put down five loads!
In the years we’ve lived here there’s been times the only way you could get to the top was with 4-wheel drive and the nerve to hit it hard and fast. I never minded coming up even in the worst mud, but sometimes got nervous about the drive down in the slippery mud.
What a blessing to finally be able to fix the driveway like it should be. We are so thankful! On the first trip down Matt said it was like driving on I-40 🙂
Last night’s video: Matt & Katie Build a Table for a Hydraulic Press.
Tipper
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Hey Matt and Tipper,
My wife and I watch your show quite often. We live near Siler City, NC and I was born and raised about 10 miles south of where I am now.
The main reason I like y’all’s show because y’all talk like I do. lol! Your video the other day mentioned Matt wanting a streak of lean. It brought back ole memories. I’m 73 years young and we grew up eating hogs we killed and crops we raised.
When you mentioned about the “ streak of lean” I thought about a time we were salting meat down that we killed that fall, and my brother and I made a rhyme about the meat.
Here it goes:
A streak of lean
And a streak of fat,
A streak of lean,
That’s where it’s at!
God Bless!
Frank, thank you for sharing that! Matt and I just love it 🙂 So glad you enjoy what we do. We appreciate you!!
so proud you got your driveway fixed. Hopefully it will last a long time an be maintenance free for Matt.
Having a good drive is a wonderful thing. Growing up we lived about a quarter of a mile, or more, off the road and the drive was a problem for years. So happy y’all have a good and safe drive now!
Tipper,
Amazing what gravel can do for a hill top driveway. We had the same problem. When we had the timber cut our loggers used large fist size gravel on the road. The heavy trucks packed the gravel in and wow we have a super highway for a driveway. Now we just use the tractor to push the gravel from the sides of the driveway every year and we have a new driveway again. This winter though the heavy gravel didn’t really help that much with the ice and snow. We are just happy that hopefully the bad part of winter is over.
Have a good one. Kathy Patterson
Wonderful !!!
Glad you got the road fixed. Where can we purchase your daughter’s jewelry at? Have a blessed day!
Diane, thank you! You can find it here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/StameyCreekCreations
Hi Tipper, How exciting to get your driveway freshly graveled. that will make all the difference in the world. My cousin in Arkansas has a steep driveway like y’all do and they had to do the same thing after the big snow they has a couple weeks back. The particular area where our family land is located got 12 inches of snow if you can believe it. when all that melted the dirt roads and everybody’s driveways were mud pits. But having said that nobody would change a thing. Living in the country is well worth the hassle. saw Matt and Katie’s video last night and I loved it. that press will be so helpful for her to do her work and Matt was so good to help her get it situated. still praying for y’all. Till tomorrow.
Congratulations! Happy Driveway-ing to you for many years to come!
So happy you got your driveway fixed. Gravel is awful high but well worth it. So funny what Matt said about it felt like driving on I-40. Have a blessed day everyone!
I’m happy for you Tipper getting your driveway done right! We have 12 kilometers of gravel road before we get to the paved road. Over the years we’ve had several men grading the county roads and the one we have now really is outstanding! With all the snow and freezing rain we’ve been getting this year he is out everyday maintaining the roads. For a week now you can barely drive or walk on the roads because of icy conditions, so dangerous. So I’m so grateful for all the hard work these graders do and the hours they put in maintaining our roads.
Wonderful to know your driveway has been improved to top notch. So happy for you! And my goodness, Matt is the best daddy to his daughters and family, he gets A++++ for patience with Katie as she studied where she wanted the press to set. He is a saint! I’m like Katie, I have to see something set different ways till I finally exhaust myself and the person that is doing the moving of something:)
I’m glad you got your road done. Me, I would have parked down lower and walked. I’m not that chicken but I have ended up in peoples driveways. My mountain house had black top or asphalt, not sure which. But you still had to go down then a quick turn onto your property. I usually stayed home in bad weather. I always hear how fast people get their repairs done. Buy a house and a year later totally remodeled. My son and me bought this old house 5 years ago in June. We still need new windows, kitchen cabinets, flooring, new pipes in the laundry room. When you got your windows replaced I was happy for you but I also didn’t feel so bad that it’s taking so long for us. This morning with my breakfast I enjoyed reading about your driveway. I was a weird kid, I loved watching my dad recoat our driveway. And I was a little happy to hear not everyone has a perfectly done home. Maybe they are taking out Bank loans. I’m not doing that. So each year we do one large repair and pay it off. Maybe this year the pipes. I don’t like going to the laundry. I hope everyone is well. Anna from Arkansas.
Wonderful on your driveway! Sometimes it is hard to get all the gravel needed because it can be expensive, especially if you have a long and steep driveway. I know as soon as all the snow and ice is gone here in Virginia (Fredericksburg Area, Stafford County) there will be a need for driveway touch ups that is for sure!
I am so glad you got the driveway feeling like driving on I-40. Mine usually feels like driving on marshmallows a few days after it gets gravelled. Friends and family have been so wonderful in helping maintain my gravel road, as I have always heard the haul bill is why a load of gravel is so expensive. It usually costs around $700-$800 if the quarry brings it and spreads it thin. They must be selling me disappearing gravel, as I often wonder where the tons and tons that have been spread on my lane have gone.
Shirl, a couple of years ago, independent haulers were getting around $1000 for delivering 20 tons of crusher run gravel in my area. This did not include spreading it out. I have heard it said as a joke you can almost put a ton of gravel in a wheelbarrow. Last year, many homes owners in my area had the same company spread gravel on their driveways, pack it down with a heavy roller/packing machine and then spray a glue like coating over it. It almost looks like cement, I don’t know how well it will hold up.
So exciting to be able to fix the driveway! A true blessing!
Yay to upgraded roads! Sure beats the slipping and sliding 🙂
Do you figure that now, it’s going to be SO easy getting up and going down that road, that you’re going to forget how to drive in the mud? 😉
I’m so happy you could get this done! What a wonderful improvement that will pay over and over! It will be such a relief to have a better driveway. We also had to have a lot of work done on our long gravel driveway a couple of years ago and had 8 loads put down. We had a really problematic area that was a big issue, especially during rainy times. We received widely varying quotes and it was hard to decide who to trust with the work. It seems harder and harder to find good contractors in my neck of the woods. We’ve had sole very disappointing experiences. I’m glad you found someone who could do it right! It is a blessing to be able to take care of these necessary things.
I’m glad you got it done, Tipper. Now I better get on the phone to get my driveway re-graveled too. It’s been 29 years and it’s held up pretty good but it’s time. We thought about paving but whenever one of those ice storms hit, all my neighbors with paved driveways can’t get out. We never had a problem because the gravel gave us traction.
Happy for you all. My Grandma would use “proud for” as a synonym for “happy for”. Have you ever heard “proud” used that way? I had not thought of that in years and years. And Oh! those gravel roads, they have to get a solid bed so they won’t rut. Back in my working days the USFS put down a bedding run of large gravel (something like #4’s if memory serves. Can’t run on them. They bust tires.) Then there was a top dress of “57’s” in washed gravel. Once well packed, “crusher run” (unwashed) can be used as maintenance. The fines in it make a smooth running surface. Enjoy your “I40” road. Knowing you all, I think you will be thankful each trip for quite some time to come. (As I am to have running water in the house having lived 15 months without it once!) PS: Daffodils blooming in some places here in north GA.
Ron, I’ve also heard, “Good on you!” as a way of saying happy for you. Also, we used to buy crusher run periodically for a long driveway. Then, two friends sent us a couple of loads of gravel one year as a gift, as a ‘thank you’ for helping them maintain miles of roads in their tree farm, which our club leased for hunting for many years.
What a blessing I’m so pleased for you guys!! I won’t worry about yall slippin and slidin anymore LoL Safe and happy travels up and down the driveway now !!
Oh, Tipper!!!! Maybe a 67 year old woman shouldn’t get so excited about reading your driveway post but I am absolutely giddy for you all!!! I have lived in my 100 (this year!) old bungalow, down a quarter mile rocked lane, since 1993. And since 2001, by myself. To say it’s been a challenge since 2001 would be an understatement (haha!!) I’ve bought gravel(twice) for portions of it and 2 years ago, managed to save $2k and get the culvert where the creek crosses under it, replaced. Up until that point it was an exercise in skill and fear to cross the culvert(oh the stories…for another day!) Now, throw in a foot or more of snow and it got really interesting. Like you described, once I committed to crossing that area, I simply floored it and held on. Thankfully, I was born and raised a country girl and possess a fiercely independent streak. With age comes the thought of “it would be nice if…” Crossing “the new culvert” fills me with pride and peace of mind that my grandkids and friends/family can visit me without white knuckles. When little Ira and Woody are able to safely navigate that stretch, you’ll look up and smile because you’ll know Granny and Pap are just pleased as punch that Wilson Holler only gets better with age. May those in need of prayers or encouragement feel a bit lighter in their loads today. I’m off to enjoy this beautiful, sunny day I was fortunate to wake up to. Thank you to Tami, Tricia, Jacqueline and you, Tipper for my prayers yesterday. Have a beautiful weekend, Acorns♡
Gravel and Crush and Run is high. But they are making good money on the YouTube channel because they work hard at it. So spend money to fix your home when it needs it! You have earned it and deserve it! Congratulations. ❤️. Life is short … live it! . I watch several YouTube channels concerning Appalachia, homesteading, Life in the Carpathian Mountains (Ukraine) and Alaska! Your channel is by far the best, genuine, high quality and produced dependably. I know if you are going to put out a video to look at 6pm est. You are always consistent. I’m not saying this to make you feel special. I’m saying it because I believe it. I think True Grit Appalachia is going to be a great channel too. But who set the groundwork for them? . Enjoy your life, spend money, eat the ice cream and popcorn when you want to!!!
I don’t think folks who have not lived with mud can appreciate gravel and being able to afford it. I have farmed with mud all my life, so now I keep 2 piles of gravel, 1 crusher run and 1 larger size and place it as needed with the tractor. When my grandson asked me a few years ago what I was getting for Christmas, I said I thought I would get a load of gravel.
I have a driveway much the same, we keep talking about concreting in the steep part. We’ve had a delivery truck go over the bank, and more buried to the axle than I can count.. despite a no trucks sign. I helped my dad put it in in the late 80s, we had to walk from an upper drive before it. I can’t wait til we can just fix it permanently. All that to say congratulations!!! I know what it means to you.
So glad for you. We were able to get ours done a couple years ago and it’s been a great blessing with the flooding we get, so I can relate.
There’s nothing like a smooth ride all the way up to your door and I’m tickled pink that you were able to get your driveway fixed up right! When Helene hit, there was a big hickory tree that uprooted the middle of my driveway making half of it unsafe and where I had to have gravel brought in after the stump got throwed over the hill-I mean where do you take root balls like that- to the local root ball disposal service that doesn’t exist? Anyway, it got built up and eventually cemented over so I could sell the trash heap. And the lovely stump I reckon will lay witness for decades as to the torricane that hit that day. Anyway, I’m delighted you won’t be four wheeling up to your house anymore or better yet four wheeling down the hill at break neck speed in mud and ruts. I’ve got cement needing poured here at my entry ways… last week I could’ve fished in the back off the porch. I moved into the MONEY PIT…
When we lived in Charlottesville our driveway was a little downhill and graveled. It was not a long one. There was a road across from the driveway going up a holler and every time there was a big rain it washed out a portion of the driveway leaving holes as big as my husband. After a couple of years of my husband using a wheel barrow and bringing up rocks from a creek out back and ordering more gravel we fixed it. We moved the entrance about ten feet to the left of the entrance of the other road and paved our driveway. Boy what a difference that made. The driveway we have now is probably twice the length of yours and graveled but pretty level. We noticed a couple of years ago that part of it was washing away when it rained hard. We’ve been mulling it over whether to pave it or not but for the time being were going to wait with prices being so high.
Having lived on a property with a steep driveway, I understand how slippery and full of grooves it can be . I still prefer it to a paved one, as well. I’m glad that y’all could get it graveled properly.
Katie and her dad work well together. Matt is a wonderful Girl Dad !
Have a blessed day
I’m so glad you got all that gravel on your driveway. It will make a world of difference on those wet, rainy days in the holler. You will be saying to each other, “Gosh, I wish we would have been able to do this years ago!”. I’m off to see how the table building turned out for the hydraulic press. I love seeing daddy & daughter working together! Have a blessed day! Prayers for the entire family. Hugs!
We have a gravel road in front of our house and it is a battle keeping it up. If we were the only ones using it, it would last a lot longer. But there are five families that drive past to their homes. It’s just about spring…mud season. We will probably get more gravel this year. Hubby uses the blade on his old ford tractor to keep it in shape. I am happy that you can now walk and drive up and down your driveway without the heavy weight of mud on your boots and your tires. I enjoyed watching Katie and Matt making her table last evening. Take care and Have a super day everyone!
That sure brings back memories. When we first bought our house, the driveway was graveled. We continued that for years. After almost 20 years, with the children grown and the house paid off we had concrete poured…..what a blessing. However, if gravel is laid on a well prepared ground it sure makes a difference.
I’m happy to hear that your road was graveled.
so happy for you Tipper, been praying for your family ❤️
Good morning Tipper, Matt, Paul and Acorns. I loved seeing Matt and Katie in the video last night. Matt had the “Patience of a Saint” with his baby girl. I’m thrilled about your driveway being properly fixed and hope it lasts 2 or 3 lifetimes now. The last couple of times I got ripped off getting mine done. Good help just does not exist up here any more. It is no big deal and my driveway is shorter than Carries, so if I need to I could just park at the Hollow and walk from there. I’ll probably end up in some welfare apartment complex somewhere anyway. The LORD has it all mapped out. I will go where h sends me. I keep everyone here and up Wilson Hollow in my prayers. I love y’all. -Barbara
how wonderful you have done this and what you have just on and lived with, as you mountain folk do, as Katie mentioned at the end of video yesterday on signing off with matt.
but more than this ! metaphysical- firm grounding under foot after the passing of granny – she knew you would need this and pointed in that direction, and guiding you when you don’t realise it – and what a difference it will make to the next generation, Ira & Woody
It sure makes a world of difference if your road is done by someone who knows what they are doing. I have a long gravel lane from the main road to my house. Ten years ago my neighbor offered to grade and gravel that dirt lane “so it will be done right”, and it as been perfect ever since. I believe he has fluffed it up with a landscape rake maybe two times in all those years. If all the outsiders moving into these small mountain towns would listen to and respect the generational knowledge, and not try to turn it into the place you moved from, you will be well taken care of and make the best friends ever. And maybe graduate, as my friend says, “from outsider to newcomer to one of us”. (lots of smiles and hearts)
CherylW, I think I have read my area (upstate South Carolina) is the fastest growing area in the state and might be making a good run for the nation. Many of these people want to change things to be like it was where they came from. Makes me mad and want to ask them “ if everything was so dad blame good where you were at, why did you move to my neck of the woods?” One thing that really gets my goat, they get an acre of land and before the ink dries on their deed, they will be putting up no trespassing signs and a privacy fence. I probably PO someone this morning by writing that, just remember P off is better than P on!
congratulations on the driveway fix, God bless you my friend, I’m waiting on test results from the doctor, thank you for praying and God bless you and your family
“Rock” is high! There aren’t any quarries within 25 miles of where I live, but down in the “valley” (Tennessee River Valley), Cedar trees and Limestone are nearly as plentiful as the red clay is down there. Despite the abundance, the cost of crushed Limestone in the form gravel is very high compared to what it cost ten years ago and has more than doubled from what a “load of rock” cost in the early 2000s as you well know. I’m proud for yall.
So nice to hear about the improved condition of the road!
Glad to see you get your driveway fixed. Around my neck of the woods even crusher run gravel is now “sky high.”
Robert Hutchins, it was too late to comment on your reply to me last night. Just like you said the rifles and shotguns in the vehicles at school were used by the boys for hunting, not to shoot someone because you didn’t like the way he had looked at you. I liked your expression of “how the cow ate the cabbage.” If someone like the boy you described tried to pull a knife on someone in a Honor fight at my school, those good ole boys “would have put something on him Ajax wouldn’t take off.”