It seems like there should be some sort of dramatic ending to this adventure, some moment where the sun bursts through the clouds, people cheer, a tear rolls down my cheek. In the end, though, I sat on the tractor, fired it up and just sort of stared as the PTO drive began spinning the pulley, which spun the tire, which drove the rope up 275' of Yoshi Mountain. And it kept going, no rope jumping off the rails, and none of the other three dozen little problems solved along the way reared up again to send me back to the garage with my tail tucked.
It looks ridiculously simple (and perhaps a bit ridiculous as well). And you stare at it and go 'duh', anyone could have figured it out. I'll have to politely disagree, and the people I used as sounding boards (my dad especially, and one stellar guy on a rope tow forum) would back me up. Let's just say that after 20 trips to Tractor Supply, they know me by name.
Yoshi Mountain is open for business (and by business I mean my family and whatever friends promise not to sue me...everyone else can just bring a camcorder to collect evidence). Oh, I have some more tinkering to do, and a few nagging problems to work out. But when the first snow flies, it'll be ready to fire up. Let it snow!
Next project: Yoshi Mountain trail map.
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