Fun in the Mud

2015 started off with a bang for the first set of guests at the Painted Pony Resort.  Thirty five guests for a weekend retreat and it rained.  While the estate receives over 300 days/yr of sun shine, it does sometimes rain here in the boot heel of New Mexico and everyone is thankful for the rain.  The high desert receives on average about 12"/yr, enough to keep the desert alive and well, but it can make things more difficult for short periods of time.  Unfortunately the weather and guests coincided for this retreat and I received a phone call late Friday afternoon that some guests had gotten stuck.  So I hopped on the tractor and headed over to find out the problem.  I found a vehicle with a trailer off the side of the road in the mud surrounded by guests.  After hooking up a tow strap to the rear trailer hitch, the vehicle was pulled out of the mud and back onto the road.  While I hooked the trailer to the tractor the guests piled back into their vehicle and headed on to the estate.  The tractor easily pulled the trailer back and the first problem was solved.  Several hours later I received word of another problem with guests over in the air park so I got back out with the tractor and found another trailer and vehicle in the mud.  After making a wrong turn a whicle pulling a dual axle trailer was having problems.  After unhooking the trailer the vehicle was able to navigate the mud and I turned the trailer around and loaded the trailer tongue into the bucket and pulled it about 1/2 mile back to the turnoff.  Driving in reverse on the tractor pulling a large dual axle trailer in the mud was slow and eventually I had to stop and reorganize.  On more stable ground I reversed the tractor and was able to pull the trailer in rain.  Getting back to the estate the trailer was quickly unloaded and the fun began.  Even with the rain the guests had a good time and I look forward to more retreats.  Fortunately the weather started to clear Sunday and the guests were able to enjoy some of the views from the estate. 

I should note that I have not looked at the road to the estate yet but suspect there is some road work to do after an inch of winter rain and lots of vehicles.

A muddy tractor after pulling vehicles and trailers out of the mud.