After Joe met Brendan at camp they drove back to where Brendan had left the dead quad. Brendan wrapped a chain around the hitch on Joe's quad and then hooked the front frame of Brendan's quad. Brendan gave the quad a push as Joe started towing. Brendan rode with his left foot on the peg and his right knee on the seat. Whenever Joe's quad began to slip too much, Brendan jumped off and pushed until Joe had traction again.
Once they got out to the road, Joe lined both quads up with the ramps that leaned against the tailgate of the truck. He stopped his quad a couple of feet behind the ramps to leave himself room to drive out of the way. Brendan let his quad roll forward enough to give the chain some slack. He jumped off and unhooked the chain from both quads. Joe drove his quad around to the back of the other quad.
"Should I try to push it?" he asked.
Brendan looked at the ramps. There were two of them about a foot wide. They were made of perforated metal to provide traction. It was still raining. It hadn't let up for more than a few minutes in the last two days. The ramps were slick with rain. The quad weighed six hundred pounds. He walked up to the ramps and checked that they were braced as well as could be on the tailgate.
"Might as well give it a shot," he said. He climbed back on the dead quad and stood on the pegs. "Don't smack me too hard."
"I'll be as gentle as a kitten," said Joe. He drove up to the back of the quad. There was a clunk as the two bikes met. He drove forward. Brendan's quad moved smoothly up the ramp. Brendan leaned forward over the handlebars. Once Joe's front wheels were on the ramps they skittered slightly. Joe lifted off on the throttle slightly and the wheels straightened up again. Both quads stayed on the ramp. Joe gave it a bit more gas and both quads kept moving up the ramp. The front tires of Brendan's quad were now on the tail gate. Once all four of Joe's wheels were on the ramps he didn't have enough traction to push Brendan's quad any further. Both Joe and Brendan locked their respective parking brakes. They climbed carefully off of their quads and jumped to the ground.
"Should we pull her?" asked Joe.
"That's probably the best plan," said Brendan.
They walked around to the side of the truck and climbed into the back. They each braced one foot sideways in the crease where the tailgate was hinged and grabbed hold of the front rack. Brendan released the parking brake and they both leaned with all their weight to get the dead quad the rest of the way into the truck. It was nearly all the way in when Joe slipped on the wet truck bed. The quad started to roll back but Joe managed to jam his leg under the right front tire and it stopped. Brendan reached over and put the parking brake on.
"You okay," he asked.
"Never better," said Joe. He climbed to his feet and they braced themselves again, this time against the wheel wells inside the truck bed. Brendan released the brake and they pulled the quad the rest of the way into the truck. Brendan put the brake back on and strapped the front of the quad down. Joe climbed around the back. He backed his quad off the ramps and slid them in underneath Brendan's quad. He closed the tail gate.
Joe went to his quad and rode it up beside where Brendan was strapping down the back of his quad. "Now what?" he said. "What do you want to do about this block? What should we do about tomorrow?"
Brendan sat down on the back rack of the quad and propped his feet on the railing of the truck bed. "Well, it's 3 o'clock now. There are six people in there. Two more runs should set them up for the rest of the day. I can do it, or you can do it. I don't mind. I don't know how your blocks are doing? I think tomorrow might be stretching it with one quad. We're four days in. Maybe we should have an impromptu day off."
"In town or in camp?" asked Joe.
"Well, the crew will be pissed off, but I was thinking in camp. I just did a grocery run and I get the feeling that everyone's got enough booze squirreled away to make it a good party. The day off tomorrow will give us a chance to set the blocks up for the day after. Hopefully Gord can get us another quad up her by then and we'll be back on track."
"Fine with me. It's crap weather for planting anyway," said Joe. "But I think the crew would rather be in a nice warm hotel room with a shower tonight."
Brendan shook his head. "I don't think we can do it." He ticked off the points on his fingers. "One, we've got no cash to give them. Two, we'd have to drive them in which means one of us wouldn't be here to help set up the blocks. Three, with this rain the roads will be absolute crap and I'm not keen on taking the bus on them if I don't have to."
"Well, I guess it would give us a chance to work on access," said Joe. "Maybe we can hire some keeners to help out. The rain is definitely causing some problems."
"It's a plan then. Do you mind if I take the quad? I'll finish off this block. We'll let everyone know at dinner," said Brendan. "Can you let Cassandra and Amber know the plan?"
"No problem." Joe got off his quad. Brendan jumped down from the truck. He wiped the rain out of his face and got on Joe's quad. "I'll try not to break this one," he said.
"If you do, then we're going in to town, right?"
"I promise," said Brendan. He slewed the quad around on the muddy road and headed for the tree cache. Joe climbed into the truck and headed back to camp.
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