That tip about mud season from a guy at the transfer station was dead on

So I moved up here from Connecticut back in February and everyone warned me about winter, nobody warned me about April. Last week I tried to drive my little Honda Civic up my buddy's dirt road in Weare to check out some land he's selling, and I got stuck axle deep in the soft stuff. A guy unloading brush at the transfer station told me not to go on any unpaved roads after the frost comes out until June, said the ground turns to chocolate pudding. I laughed it off, figured he was being dramatic, and now my car's at the shop with a bent tie rod and a nasty mud crust I'll be scraping off for a month. Cost me about $400 with the tow and the fix. So now I'm asking you locals, how do you tell when a road is actually solid again, or do you just play it safe until Memorial Day? Has anyone else learned this the hard way or am I the only flatlander who didn't listen?

2 comments

2 Comments

clairer7927d ago

Are you honestly telling me a guy unloading brush at the dump knows more about New Hampshire roads than you do after living here for two whole months? I mean, sure, he's probably lived here his whole life and driven those roads in every season, but you had a GPS and a Honda Civic, what could go wrong? The real trick is just sending it and hoping for the best, if you hit solid ground you're fine, if you sink you learn something. I've been here fifteen years and I still take my truck down muddy roads in March, worst case I winch out and call it an adventure. Maybe the problem isn't the road, it's that you didn't have a buddy with a tractor on speed dial like the rest of us. You'll be fine, just buy a cheap beater with high clearance and stop trusting pavement princesses.

rosek4426d ago

Don't feel bad, I did the exact same thing my first spring up here and my Subaru almost ended up in a ditch. That chocolate pudding description is spot on, trust the locals on this one, they've earned it.