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Our group at the North Pole

Everyone's perfect day... Well at least mine

update! Thanks to a heads up from @raspadoo, Chad and I picked up a couple of these around Christmas time on a 4 day only sale for under $300 with a 3 year warranty and tax. Score! I ran it last trip and it worked great. It is just as quiet as the Honda.

The weather is a major factor in my plans to go. I am ready for some warm weather and dry sand!

I have an idea. I'd like opinions please. I've been a road worker for most of my life. Because of that, I'm disgusted by the entrance road nine times out of ten that I drive on it. It seems to me, the entrance fees we pay do not (mostly) go back to Dumont. I can't see bathroom maintenance costing that much. I have a couple ideas on how to improve the entrance road. Paving will cost millions, so that's probably not realistic. Chip sealing is MUCH cheaper than paving and might be an alternative. Even cheaper than that would be lignosulfonates. Lignosulfonates are basically tree sap, a waste product of the paper industry. Can't have tree sap in paper! The lignosulfonates are suspended in a water solution and sprayed directly on a well graded prepared road. The water evaporates and leaves the "tree sap" behind. The sap binds the soil particles together stabilizing them. This mostly eliminates dust and prevents wash boards. The application lasts a few years and can be re-done with a grader using a special blade (button-bits) The re-application a few years down the road uses much less lignosulfonate since the original application mostly still remains. The second application lasts much longer. From my experience, the EPA LOVES this stuff! It's water soluable and non-toxic and almost eliminates fugitive dust from dirt roads. WE might even be able to get a partial grant from the EPA. Being in the industry, I have some connections. I need some fairly accurate measurements for an estimate. Does this appeal to anyone? Do you not like this idea and want the road to remain as-is? I do understand roads act as filters. A poor road filters people out. Comments are welcome.