Chapter 20: Beware - Extreme Cross Winds

I stared at the track in wonder. Admittedly it was only a dirt oval, and it was shorter than most dirt track ovals I’d seen, but it was banked. Besides it looked smooth, just like a real dirt track and it even looked like the surface was hard packed.

“How the dickens did you do this in a week?” I demanded as I turned toward Tom and George.

“Actually my Dad was over visiting your dad to talk about the new machine shed on Monday morning. They went for a walk and found the track we tried to lay out in the stubble field before Wil got a chance to turn it under. They started to give us heck, then after a while the two of them put their heads together. Dad offered us the use of this slough if we’d dig a drain to the ditch along the road,” Tom grinned.

“Why? I don’t get it,” I looked up at Uncle Tom who had come walking up.

“Oh, it’s simple enough,” he chuckled. “This whole corner is low, so it’s gotten loaded with alkali because the knoll between here and the road block the drainage. Even if it is drained now, it’ll be still unusable for a while because it’ll take years to leach out the alkali, but in a couple of years we’ll be able to grow salt tolerant grass here. In a couple years Tom wants to Calgary to take training as a mechanic, and by the time he’s done that, this will probably be usable farm land again.”

Dad rested his hand on my shoulder and smiled. “The point of this was to see how much drainage would help return alkali land to productivity and how fast it would work. As hard as the boys have worked on that car, we thought we’d give them a week or so and see what they could do. When they had a chance to build up a track for you to test and practise on, they worked even harder. In fact, I’ve never seen them accomplish so much in such a short time.”

“How did you do it?” I turned back to Tom and George.

It took them several minutes to show me what they’d done. Tom had started with our old caterpillar tractor and had used it to dig a trench through the knoll and out to the ditch along the road. He’d started by peeling off the top few inches of topsoil and pushing it into piles so he could restore it later. Then he’d simply lowered the rest of the knoll’s surface in a long strip from the roadside ditch to the middle of the alkali area after our Dads had decided on the lowest spot of the whole area.

Meanwhile George and his dad, Bob, had taken a truck to see Bob’s brother and had borrowed a double sided trenching plow. It was sitting off to the side and I wandered over to look at it since I’d never seen one like it before. It was laid out like a ‘Y’ with a long, relatively flat forward pointing share and an exceptionally shallow angled, mouldboard that curled high to each side. Instead of throwing the soil off to one side like a normal mouldboard plow would do, this plow threw the soil off on both sides.

“Wow, that must have made the cat grunt if you went down very far,” I grinned.

“Actually, I used the subsoil ripper behind the cat first,” Tom laughed. “That gave me a chance to get down under the surface and do something. Of course even then I could only take a few inches on each pass.”

“What’s a subsoil ripper? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that,” Carissa asked.

“It’s a tool they use to break up hardpan soil,” Beth offered, surprising me by answering at all. “It’s like a single cultivator shank with a chisel point. It fits on the back of the cat and rips deep down under the surface, that’s why it’s called a ripper. Come on, I’ll show you.”

It seemed that after Tom had dug out the trench, George, Beth, the McAdam twins and even Tom’s sister, Jasmine had helped lay drain tiles. They’d started by laying the line under the area that the track would cross first since Tom was going to be pushing soil into that area as soon as they were done. Then they’d carried on all the way out to the ditch at the road. As the tiles were laid, they covered them with a layer of drainage rock to keep the soil they used as backfill from filling the tiles.

Meanwhile Tom had used the dozer blade of the cat to dig a big depression in the middle of the area that was going to be turned into a track. He’d pushed the soil from that depression out onto the area that was going to become the track, roughly grading into a banked oval. As soon as George and the girls were finished laying tiles, they had begun to run over the track with two smaller tractors. One of the tractors was pulling discs and harrows, the other one pulling a set of packers and a flat drag, that way they graded the track at the same time they packed it. Even while they were grading and packing, Tom had carried on excavating more soil from the hole and adding it to the new track area. Then George and the girls would grade and pack that as well. That meant the whole track was packed quite deeply because it had been built up in layers that were each packed solidly.

Since the whole area had been an undrained slough, it was a good thing that it had been a dry spring. Even then Tom had been shoving soil that was almost mud with the dozer blade toward the last of his excavation. In fact he’d been forced to give up going any deeper after he got about four feet down or he might have gotten the cat stuck.

When they’d finished, the dip in the area that had been the wettest part of the alkali slough had been replaced by a smaller, but much deeper pool which was surrounded by an oval track. Of course the pool also had a drain, so it would never become too full of water. By some miracle when they got the track done and had pushed the topsoil back into place, they’d managed to work out the levels so that the top edge of the banked track was just below the surrounding area. It looked really good.

While Tom, George and the girls were doing all the work on the track, Wil, Dad and Uncle Tom had put skids under my old shed and had dragged it across the fields, then set it up close by and now it sat off to one side of the track. After that Wil had helped George’s dad, Bob, run power down from the back of Uncle Tom’s barn and had connected it to the shed. That meant we could work there at night if we needed to. Just this morning Tom had driven the car down from home. It was parked inside the shed and ready to go.

After seeing all the work that they had done, it didn’t take much encouragement to talk me into giving the new track a test run.

The only discouraging point for me was having to be helped into the car by the guys because of my cast, then seeing the frown on Mom’s face as she watched. I saw Carissa standing next to Mom and Aunt Alice. To my surprise she winked at me, then turned to Mom and said something that brought a smile to Mom’s face.

Instead of worrying about what she’d said or what Mom was thinking, I settled myself in my seat and did up my safety gear. Then I started the engine. It sounded different somehow and I looked at Tom with a frown that he met with a grin. As I let the car idle to warm the engine, he leaned in and shouted at me.

“I drove this thing a bit last week. Too noisy! Extended the exhaust further,” he explained shortly.

“Ah! Thanks,” I gave him a thumbs up, then tapped the throttle a couple of times.

It was still noisy, but nothing like it had been. Remembering how I’d spun out when I’d started before, I slipped the beast into second gear, let the engine drop in revs and eased out onto the track. It felt good and I took the car around the track slowly for the first lap, leaving it in second gear.

What a difference a smooth surface and a banked track made on how that car handled! Even on the first lap, I could feel that the car seemed to want to go faster. On the second lap, I mashed the throttle to the floor going into the first corner, then eased up somewhat as the rear end of the car swung out on me. I could feel the rear wheels churning and counter steered to maintain my line. I was going around that sweeping corner in a full-fledged power slide.

Damn that felt good!

As I came toward 3-4 corner, I was travelling much faster and it took more throttle to break the wheels free, then hold them in a power slide. I lost the power slide as I eased up too much and frowned to myself. That wasn’t good because I had to steer like mad to even stay on the track. I quickly decided that I’d have to watch that closely as I hit the short straight section of the track.

By the third lap I was able to hold my power into the curves and judge a little better just how much gas to feed the engine of that monster. Now I was power sliding on both ends of the oval, throwing up a rooster tail of dust and dirt. It was on the fourth lap that I started to get a real feeling for the car.

Suddenly I realised that the car wasn’t a monster. It felt more like a race horse, only I was more in control than on any horse I’d ever ridden. It also seemed as if the car had a personality, a driving, needful personality that I was going to have to tame. For some reason it suddenly felt female, yet like a wild beast in some way, heady and teasing, but strong and in need of a firm guiding hand to reach her full potential. This ride would do exactly what I wanted, precisely what I asked of her as long as I stayed inside her potential. She was becoming an extension of me and I began to grin as I felt her stretch and leap into the corners, clawing for traction and driving for speed.

During the next lap I could sense a level to this car that I’d never felt before. I accelerated into the corner slightly sooner, eased back just enough to hold the car lower on my slide than I’d gone through the corner before, then blasted out onto the short straight sweeping out wide to the outside of the track as I cruised the length of short straight track in a gradual curve. It felt as if I was almost instantly into the next corner and I was able to repeat the same course in that corner, use almost the same line to gain speed. Now though, I could feel the car digging in, working less, yet seemingly racing even harder on the tighter sections of the corners. Only ... it felt as if she was being defeated by the track itself.

In fact the next lap was the one when I truly noticed something different. That’s when I realized that the track wasn’t packed hard enough; I was tearing it up quite badly every time I put the car into a power slide. Either I was using too much power or else I wasn’t able to hold to the line because of steering. It wasn’t only the car though; there was a problem with the track itself. The surface wasn’t packed well enough and I was peeling the surface away in layers.

After easing off a bit for eight or ten more laps, I pulled back to the shed and idled the car for a moment or two before I shut it off. When I got out of the car I was grinning from ear to ear and I wasn’t even the happiest person there. I thought Tom and George were going to go nuts as they ran over to help me out of the car. Both of them were yammering away at the top of their voices and even Beth and the other girls were bouncing with excitement. Both Carissa and Mom were grinning at each other and talking quietly with Aunt Alice. Wil, Dad and Uncle Tom were just grinning and laughing at the bunch of us as if we were all nuts.

Before we parked the car and left to go back home, all of the guys went for a walk around the track and I showed them what I was talking about when I’d told them about tearing up the track. Tom and George had an answer for me. They planned on temporarily plugging the drain so the pool would fill a bit, then pumping water out of it so they could wet down the surface of the track. Once the track was moistened, they planned on running around with the packers and the drag to pack the surface harder than it was now.

“Won’t that take a while?” I asked.

“Chris, in a week or two, that alkali water out of the pool and constant packing will have three or four inches of solid hardpan all the way around this little track,” Dad chuckled. “Don’t you think so, Tom?”

“Yep,” Uncle Tom chuckled. “It’s a good thing that the drainage is as deep as it is, or this idea would still leave me with an alkali flat even after several years.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t want that to happen, not after all the work that’s been poured into it,” I frowned.

“Don’t worry about it, Chris. The whole area is a lot drier now than it was before these young bucks started on the drain and that was only a few days ago,” Uncle Tom grinned and clapped me on the shoulder. “Somehow knowing you and seeing the way you drive that car, I think inside of a few weeks you aren’t going to need any more practise anyway.”

“Besides, if you look at the way Wil and I did the final grading of the topsoil, most of the runoff will head for the drainage line, not the pool,” Tom grinned. “This dip around the pool has to stay here in the future anyway even if we plow up the track, but the pool and the track area around it is only about two or three acres anyway. We’ll still gain about ten or fifteen acres of arable land that will leach out and be useable in the long run.”

“Well, I’m glad that it’s going to work out for your farm,” I grinned. “You guys did a great job on the track, even if I did tear it all to heck on my first trial.”

“Well, it really wasn’t quite ready,” Wil laughed. “Besides, I think we let it dry too much between packing trips yesterday.”

“And Wil might have set the discs too deep too,” Beth teased him. “I tried to tell him, but he just wouldn’t listen.”

“Hey, I didn’t touch the darn discs,” Wil laughed at her. “That was your job and you were just supposed to skim the surface, not chew it into dust.”

“Okay you guys, cut it out,” Mom laughed loudly as she and Carissa came up. “It’s time to get home now anyway. We need to eat, then we should let Chris and Carissa get away so they can get their chores done before dark.”

That was it, the mention of food got everyone moving. As Carissa and I hopped into my car, Wil joined us in the front seat. Then Beth and the two McAdam twins hopped in the back. Wil looked back, then glanced at me with a frown.

“I hear you two had quite a run in with Sid and Ray. Watch those two, huh? They’re mean and they play dirty,” he warned.

“Well, the cops seem to have their number,” I answered as I pulled out carefully.

“Not really, they’re out on bail,” he snapped.

“Oh shit! And, we have to go to town tomorrow,” Carissa snarled.

“Yeah well, I’d like to ride along with you two tomorrow, if I can,” Wil glanced at me again. “I want to be there when Dad and Uncle Tom talk to Hydro anyway. I think Tom wants to go along as well.”

“It makes sense for you two to be there at that meeting,” I said shortly, still thinking about Sid and Ray, but not really worrying. “However, I don’t think that even those two idiots would be dumb enough to try anything. Nobody could possibly be that stupid, not with the RCMP obviously on guard and watching their activities.”

“Oh I wouldn’t count on that,” Beth piped up from the back seat. “Anyone who is foolish enough to tackle you and Carissa right in front of the cops is dense enough to do anything.”

That got a laugh, and we were chuckling as we pulled into the yard at home. Then we had a great meal with my family and for once all of us were relaxed and happy. That was a real bonus. I was really surprised at how well the two McAdam girls fit in with everything and yet remained in the background. Instead of paying much attention to the girls, even if they were visitors, Mom, Dad, Wil and Beth all seemed set to tease Carissa and me during the meal. Since both of us took it in good spirits and knew it was all in fun, it was a great way to end a thoroughly satisfying Sunday.

When Carissa and I were driving back toward the ranch later that night she was very quiet for a while, then she chuckled.

“They made lemonade from a bunch of lemons,” she barked a short laugh.

“Pardon?” I glanced over at her.

“Well, that’s what your dad and Tom’s dad said they did. They let the kids make lemonade out of a couple of lemons,” she explained. “Your dad wanted the shed moved. Tom’s dad wanted to get rid of the alkali flats on his land. Tom and George wanted a practise track for the stock car. All it cost was a few gallons of fuel, some tiles, a few yards of drain rock and a couple of hundred feet of electric wire to make everyone happy.”

“Everyone but Mom and Frank Dolens,” I snorted.

“Oh I think your mom was getting into the mood toward the last few laps of your run and the rest of your family sure was, even your dad. Everyone was fascinated by the way you handled that car. Uncle Frank won’t mind the guys having the car here where you can practise and the guys can work on it, not the way you drive.”

“So you think I did okay?”

“Hell yeah!” she laughed. “Talk about exciting, every time I saw you skidding through one of those corners my heart was in my mouth. How the heck do you do that?”

“I don’t really know,” I laughed. “I just drive the car. I can’t really describe what I’m doing except to say that I can feel the way the car shifts and moves, then use that to drive as fast as it will go, but still feel safe. Everything changes as you go around the track, so I was constantly adjusting the steering or the throttle, but it’s all done by the way the car feels.”

“Well, it was fun to watch you do it, but I’m not so sure a race would be the same. I think I might worry about accidents.”

“Well, there are bound to be some bumps and bangs. That’s why they insist on the complete roll cage in the cars, along with all the rest of the safety equipment,” I smiled slightly. “I’m actually looking forward to the idea of competition.”

“I suppose you would,” she sighed.

Then, for some reason, we both fell silent for the rest of the drive back to the ranch.

That evening, I looked after the farm animals while Carissa went down to the creek in order to look after the Collie and her pup. Since old Duke was helping me get the young cattle into the barn, Carissa was undisturbed. It seemed that the Collie was coming to trust Carissa on her own. She had actually eaten her food while Carissa sat only a few feet away and the pup had come out of the den, but it hadn’t approached Carissa. Even at that, she felt she was making great progress.

We talked for a while over a coffee after we were done our chores, but we went to bed early because we were expecting the next day to be a bit hectic. After we were in bed, the two of us began to talk about my family as well as the track and the car. That seemed to bring back the excitement of the racing trial and our love making was quite energetic. In fact it was energetic enough that we both fell asleep easily, cuddled closely and comfortably.

It wasn’t really surprising that we awakened early the next morning, but the weather did surprise us. It was raining, just a light drizzle, but that was enough to make life a bit miserable when we had to go outside. After doing the morning chores and having breakfast, we decided to drive down home, agreeing that it was better to be there early rather than late.

The road was a touch slippery in places, but I didn’t have any great problem getting through. We pulled into the yard just after nine in the morning. Dad met us on the front porch with a huge grin on his face.

“Hi Guys. It looks like the weather man decided to give us some moisture for our crops since we weren’t going to work today,” he laughed as Carissa raced up the steps of the front porch.

“Hi Mr. Crawford. You look like you enjoy this kind of weather,” Carissa paused to hug him for a second.

“I love it. The crops will too,” Dad chortled. “Besides, it’s perfect weather to get business done in town.”

“Dad hates to have to go to town when the sun is shining,” I explained to Carissa. “He figures that’s a waste of time that could be spent working.”

“Well, it is,” Dad laughed. “Come on into the kitchen, you two. I just had Beth put on a pot of coffee. Both Toms and Wil are already here and we were just talking about what was going to be involved in getting the Hydro and phone lines down to the cabin.”

The next hour was spent with us five guys plotting and planning how we could do the job easiest and fastest. Meanwhile the half dozen women who were there talked about exactly what was needed in the cabin for lights and plugins. Just after ten in the morning we all hopped into cars and trucks to head to town.

Wil joined Carissa and me. Dad and Mom took Dad’s pickup and Tom took Aunt Alice and Uncle Tom in his car, while Jasmine, Tom’s sister, stayed behind with Beth and the McAdam twins. The rain was slightly heavier, but it didn’t really slow us down so we were early for the meeting with the Hydro people. All the men went inside while the women went off to the grocery store to do their shopping.

The meeting was completely boring. To the people who worked for Hydro, all of our concerns had been handled hundreds of times before. They knew just what we wanted to know and were generous with their advice. I was astounded that they offered to send out a surveyor at no additional cost to us so we could run the line in by a path that would suit us as well as them. Then I was completely amazed when they said that he was going to be available in three days time. All the arrangements had been made and the meeting was done in half an hour.

Because Mom and Aunt Alice had taken the pickup and Carissa had taken my car, Tom gave the rest of us a ride downtown to the grocery store. The women were surprised to see us so soon and we explained that everything had gone extremely well. Since they still had more shopping to do, we arranged to meet them at the Chinese cafe later. After that Tom, Wil and I drove down to see Frank Dolens and tell him about the new track. At the same time, Dad and Uncle Tom went to the telephone office to arrange for the phone line to be run to the cabin at the same time as the hydro was being done.