Hot Tub Story {Part 2}

.. Read part 1 if you didn't yesterday ..

We hurried back the next day after work to check if it was still there. It only took Greg five minutes to find it, now other people had all day. We came ready with supplies... tow straps, chain, a winch (that we bought), a sled Greg built out of wood, garden clippers for the brush, a chainsaw, gloves and a lot of Gatorade. Thankfully it was still there and to our surprise, the water had receded over 3 feet! We called two of Greg's co-workers to help.

We were able to get a closer look at the other hot tubs. Two of them were pretty damaged on the outside and had huge dents in them. There was a small round one that was upside down. Greg managed to flip it over to find no damage. That was going to be easy to get out. They would just need to strap chain and rope to a tree and roll it out. The big one that was lodged on the side of the creek was going to give us trouble. You can see in the picture below that the sides of the creek drop off, the hot tub is barely visible. Where the boys were standing was flooded the previous day. I also should note that the hot tub weighs 800 lb. Yes, we researched it. Who wouldn't? It was a $10,000 hot tub just hanging out in the creek.

The boys got to work strapping the chain and winch to a tree. They were going to wrap some rope around the hot tub and slowly hoist it up. In the meantime, I was going to cut down some branches that were in the way. We couldn't get the chainsaw we brought to work, so I ran to the closest store to buy a new one.

While I was away, they rolled the round hot tub out of the creek and put it in the back of a truck to get out of the way. We were going to need to load the big one into the truck next. I hurried back with the chainsaw and there was a lot of progress made. The hot tub was up on a flat surface. The plan was to take the wooden sled, shove it under one side of the hot tub (standing up), strap a lot of chain and rope together, then back Greg's Jeep up to the edge of the brush and pull it out.

I was the driver. The guys were standing all around it, guiding it through the path we created. They told me when to pull the hot tub, and then they would re-strap the chain tighter. It went EXACTLY how we planned. The hot tub was out in no time. We dragged it as far as we could on the grass. The three guys somehow lifted the hot tub up, and rolled it on to the flat bed of the truck.

We quickly gathered our supplies are we were off, just in time as the sun was setting.

...

Fast forward a year later. We moved into our new house and this was our first big project. We paid an extra $150 on our home warranty in case something didn't work. This way, we only had to pay the deductible and it would be covered. Greg insisted this get done first, since he had to stare at it for a whole year without it being used. Greg researched, read the manual, and went to Home Depot Friday night to gather the supplies he needed. I went to class Saturday morning and came home to this:

Greg had already drilled a hole into the foundation and was cutting conduit. He spent the remainder of the day outside, calling for me when he needed help. The wires were a mess! I helped him pull them through the conduit, but he was clearly in charge of hooking them up.

It was getting late so I made him come in. Sunday was spent leveling the hot tub, buying some salt and test strips and filling it with water.

Then came time to turn it on. We checked the breakers and crossed our fingers... AND IT TURNED ON! The screen worked, jets worked, lights worked, it was nothing short of a miracle.

And that's the story of how we ended up with a $10k hot tub for free. Would you go looking in a creek for free hot tubs? I'm pretty sure I would do it again :)

xo, Erin