02x06 - Off Grid: The Raney Way

[bunniefuu]

♪♪

Marty: 50 homes are being
built right there.

Civilization has grown outside
the city limits,

Moved up towards the mountains.

Raneys are not gonna
live like that.

We have an option to say
goodbye to all this

And just move farther north
to the last piece of property

That you can buy
on the threshold of wilderness.

The last 40 acres
is owned by the raneys.

Keep out.

♪♪

Narrator: marty and matt raney
save failing homesteads

Across the country,

Using all
their off-grid expertise...

Marty: yeah!

...ingenuity
and sheer force of will.

Now, on this episode
of "homestead rescue,"

Father and son...
-Go. Go. Go.

...must use these vital skills
to save their family's future.

They are moving north to attempt
to build a new homestead.

-Watch yourself.
-Clear!

It's gonna be risky, gonna
be an incredible challenge,

But that's why people
come to alaska,

To live like that.

--Captions by vitac --
www.vitac.com

Captions paid for by
discovery communications

So to put this in perspective,
I can stand on the deck

Of our house
and throw a rock

And literally hit a house
in this development.

Misty: when I saw all
those houses, I was like,

"You've got
to be kidding me."

I was with mom.

-That was brutal, man.
-So to have...

That was just the biggest
smack in the face, was like,

"Hey. Guess what?
Reality. Whopsh."

We're basically starting over.

Getting on our
dream property, the 40,

Is the ultimate goal.

And it's being realized
right now.

And the only thing
we have

Is a beard, a mustache,

And our truck
and a chain saw to do it.

That sounds
like enough stuff.

Thank you, misty.

♪♪

Well, it's about time.

Instead of traveling
around the country,

Visiting other
people's homesteads,

After 15 years,

We're headed to the homestead
we've dreamed about.

Narrator:
the talkeetna mountain range

Is the gateway
to 1 billion acres

Of wild, untamed alaska.

When I look around here,
I think about the time

Melanee almost died
in the avalanche right there.

You almost died in that
avalanche right there.

Among these


There's no grid,
few roads and in winter,

The mercury drops
to minus 17 degrees.

When the spring thaw arrives,
dense forests and raging rivers

Teem with packs
of america's largest wolves

And 900-pound brown bears,

All feasting
on a bounty of salmon,

Caribou and elk.

The only thing that lives
over there are moose,

Chipmunks and ptarmigan.

Those are neighbors
that I can't wait to meet.

Those are neighbors
that I can't wait to eat.

[ Laughing ]
whoo!

Marty's refuge from civilization
is 40 acres of wilderness

On the far bank
of a class-iv river.

He plans to build a large cabin

For himself
and his wife, mollee,

Cabins for matt, misty
and his other son, miles,

Solar power,
water purification,

Food sources,
including caribou and buffalo,

And the ultimate homestead
will be finished off

With a sawmill and a gold mine.

But these future plans
won't happen if marty

Cannot solve
his immediate problem,

Building access
over this class-iv river

That no raney has ever crossed.

♪♪

Marty:
this is a king salmon river.

Bald eagles, they're snacking.

Matt:
well, I only see one way

We're gonna get
across this river

And that's by building
a bridge, you know?

A foot bridge.

What I'm thinking about
is a cable crossing.

What do you think?

Matt: so you're gonna have
a wire that goes across.

Marty: yep.
It's tree to tree,

And designed to carry
at least two people

And a bunch of gear.
-I think that's good.

I didn't know you had
a alaskan engineering degree.

I do.

Narrator: in 5 days, marty and
matt must head to the lower 48

To save their next
struggling homestead.

If they can't finish
the crossing before they leave,

Their new homestead will be
on hold until next year.

First, marty must fix a steel
line to trees on either bank.

Then, he'll build a platform
so that his family can climb

Into a tram car

And safely pull
themselves across,



But a dangerous tree
already threatens their plans.

Matt: when you're cutting
this tree down,

You're gonna be
in the worst possible position.

Dude, it's not
my first rodeo.

Where do you think
it's gonna go?

Well, I mean...

I'm back.

It's not gonna go
that way.

I think it's a lot more rotten
than we can see.

A rotten tree is
a logger's greatest foe,

But in the four decades
since he started logging

For alaskan legend
john schnabel...

Go!

...marty raney has written
the tree-felling playbook.

Yeah!

Back in 2016, bedford county,
pennsylvania,

Marty asks snowbound
homesteader herb russell

To fell a locust tree
for his cabin...

Shut the saw off.

...but herb created
a tree so infamous,

It has its own name
in logging folklore.

-You know what this is called?
-No.

The widow-maker.

At any second the tree can fall
and k*ll somebody

Or kick back and k*ll the guy
that cut it down.

This thing is a widow-maker.

We'll try to buck it up
as high as I can reach

And let the tree
fall down,

And maybe that's enough,
you know,

Jarring to get it detached
from the branches.

Narrator:


Allow marty
to read the danger signs,

But even with
all his experience,

Marty is on high alert
for the final cut...

All right.
Watch yourself!

...directly under
the widow-maker.

There she goes.
Watch out.

Watch out.
Watch out.

Yeah! Yeah!

Whoo!

Yeah!

Good job, man.

Thanks!

Not every day somebody
gets to see that trick.

Now you've seen it.

Boy, that's dangerous.

Narrator: now, back on
his 40 acres of wilderness,

Marty must open
the playbook once again.

Talking is over.
Let's do it.

Be really careful!

♪♪

Oh!

♪♪

This is what the inside
of that tree is.

It's literally waterlogged,
brittle...

Hey, buddy.
Chris, back up a little bit.

...it's through the entirety
of this tree center.

And that's
not very stable.

This thing could splinter
and roll

And come right for him
or go down this way.

I don't know.

I have no idea where
it's gonna go right now.

Marty has cut the tree
clean through.

Now it's rotten, a widow-maker
and completely unpredictable.

Oh!

Hey, dad!
That thing is about to go!

That tree
will catapult back.

Well, it could
snap right here.

It could snap and get me.

Look at that tree.

He's sawn completely
all the way through it.

There's no...

It's disconnected
completely from the base.

-[ Grunts ]
-[ screams ]

Dad!

Dad.
-You okay?

Cameraman all right?

You guys are...
Everyone is fine?

Whoo!

That was nasty.

-Brutal.
-That was brutal.

Are you okay?
-Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

That was dangerous.

-I mean, I've --
-it was actually hung up...

Look how many years
it grew,

Kind of grew into that
other guy up there.

Good job.

Let's buck some of this
out of the way.

What do you think?

I'm just glad
you're still alive.

Speechless.

Marty: these kind of trees
k*ll more people

Than trees this big around
that are green.

So, quite frankly, we might
have got a little lucky,

But we didn't get k*lled.

Marty: this notion of getting
across the river

And building a homestead
out of scratch with hand tools

Is gonna be serious

And it's gonna
have other dangers.

The river is the first one.

Matt: that could be 10 times
more dangerous

Than cutting
that tree down.

It has its risks.

That's a huge reason
why I'm going over there.

Down there is boredom.

Down there is redundancy.

Down there is a rut.

Down there is concrete
and pavement and rush hour.

We're headed upriver,
the future. Risk.

♪♪

Narrator: coming up,

Marty and matt
race to build the platform...

Marty: hang
that thing, please.

...and marty faces off
with the freezing river.

-Ah!
-Dad!

Damn it!

Later this year...

Misty, shut it down!

..."Homestead rescue" returns.

Get off of them!

We're gonna get struck
by lightning!

Stay tuned for
an epic sneak peek.

It's pretty scary
being out here.

Oh, my god.
This is crazy.

Stand back.
Look out!

♪♪

We have some important
homesteading questions

From our viewers.

Diana from tennessee asks,
"what's the best way to deal

With a toothache in the wild,
far away from a dentist?

I'm guessing you're going
to say pliers..."

Nope.

I wouldn't recommend a set
of pliers for your toothache.

I'd recommend vise-grips.

That way it clings on to
the tooth and you rip it out.

Your turn.

So instead of being
that drastic, diana,

You can actually
use cow's milk,

Fresh, raw cow's milk.

Swish it
around your mouth

And it can have reverse
effects on cavities.

I've seen a tooth go
from black to white,

A front tooth
on a little kid.

-Wow.
-Hmm.

Let's moo-ve on.

Narrator: civilization
is swallowing up land

Around marty raney's
alaskan home.

To preserve his way of life,

Marty is moving north
to his 40 acres of wilderness.

The only way to
access this virgin ground

Is by crossing
a dangerous river,

So marty and matt
are building a tram system.

The next stage
of the cable-car build

Is getting the steel line
to the far bank,

But no access means
there's just one option,

Physically carrying the cable
across the freezing river.

So what I'm thinking is,
the first thing

That's going across
there is me,

And I'll head all the way
to that tree, is my plan.

Marty:
what's more dangerous --

Cutting the tree
or crossing the river?

I think that remains
to be seen.

That's not the answer
I was looking for.

Matt: this river,
it cannot be any colder.

Your heart could stop.

And this river drops.

I mean, it drops about 30,


I don't want to see you
in this river at all.

Well, I'm crossing it.

Marty: when it comes down
to any task,

You're gonna have people
standing around and talk,

Then you're gonna have people
that just do it,

And that's the way
I'm gonna roll.

♪♪

Marty:
I'll tell you right now,

Even through these waders,
it's colder than heck.

Narrator: matt preps a safety
rope, but marty is long gone.

Hey!
Come on back.

I don't want to mess around
with an overkill safety.

I'm just gonna
cross this thing.

♪♪

When marty raney needs
to make a decision...

Light some more flares!

...he's got no time for talk.

Come on, it's getting dark!
Let's go!

Narrator: this season,
in bear creek, north carolina,

Marty had just 7 days to fix
a couple's broken-down cabin.

You're telling me this
is structurally safe?

Also, I smell mold.

The greatest way that we can
help you is tearing it down.

Sorry.

Dad, what you're saying
is totally insane.

I'd rather do something
than talk about it.

If you work with my dad
for one second,

You're gonna find out
he's a man of action.

It's really crazy to start off

By ripping somebody's
house completely down.

Matt:
he's like a grizzly bear.

Plan later, work now.

Go! Go!
Go! Go!

Yes!

Dad, is that kind of
what you were thinking?

That was exactly
what I was thinking.

Narrator:
now in the alaskan wilderness,

Marty has waded even deeper
into the freezing river

Without matt's safety rope.

Hey! You think you might
have forgot something?

From this point,
I can kind of see

A little bit better
where to cross.

I can see water
going into your wader.

Sorry, buddy.

I'm trying
to get across the river.

♪♪

Marty's waders
are weighing him down

As he heads into
the deepest part of the river.

♪♪

Matt: if he tips over,
and he doesn't have a rope,

I don't even want to think
about what's gonna happen.

Come on back.

-Ah! Ah!
-Hey!

Damn it!
Ah!

-Come on back.
-It's cold.

♪♪

Whoo!

It's going down
the crack of my...window.

Here we go.

You got the glacier
enema just then.

Oh, not so high.
Not so high.

Oh.

Narrator:
marty ditches the waders.

Determined to go again,
he's now agreed to a safety line

But his only alternative
footwear is cowboy boots.

-Okay.
-Let's go. Let's go.

Whoo!

♪♪

That looks deep.
How does it feel?

Whoo!

Slack!

♪♪

You've got it.
You're almost there.

♪♪

Whoo!

♪♪

Mwah!

[ Whistles ]

Tie it on.
Let's go.

I'm freezing.

Marty drags the safety rope
and cable

Around the spruce
on the far bank.

Yeah!

The next stage is
to build a high platform

For the tram to sit on.

Because of the tree on the other
side is so high, it forces us

To go higher up this tree
so that the tram is level.

As I plane across there
to the other tree,

I'm thinking that the cart
will come in here

And land on an 8-by-8 landing,
if you will.

Narrator: to safely carry
three generations of raneys,

A strong staircase

And a reinforced
wooden platform must be built.

I mean, this is for misty,
this is for melanee,

Their kids, for mollee.

I'll climb that tree
with a set of spurs.

I'm, right now, moonwalking
and I'm doing a really good job.

I wish I could see it.

It's really crazy, but right now
I'm doing riverdance.

Coming up...

Marty: watch your eyes.

Marty: talk to me!
Whoo!

Narrator: ...cable tensioning,
raney-style.

Hey. Stop.
Hey!

♪♪

Misty,
please hand me that.

It's heavy.

I built this with a ski
or two and a gas can.

And, of course,
this is the canjo.

Now, I'm not really sure
what's going on right now

With these producers

Because this has been
to at least 13

Or 14 homesteads

And yet it's never been allowed
to be shown on tv.

Why?
I don't know.

Why I'm getting this chance
right now, I don't know.

♪♪

You don't play the canjo.
The canjo plays you.

It's a fact.

I'm not convinced that you guys

Are actually going
to put this on tv.

Let's get that straight now.

This could be
some kind of a ploy.

I mean, come on.

It's a ski.

It's a gas can.

Come on.

You just make up little canjo
songs as you go away.

♪ They won't... ♪

[ Howling ]

Narrator:
back in the talkeetna mountains,

Marty and matt are trying
to access 40 acres of prime,

Off-grid land by
building a cable car

To prepare the ground

For the future raney homestead.

Hand me the strap, please.
Thank you.

Now marty must
tension the cable

That will support three
generations of his family

When they cross
this class-iv river.

Matt, I got an idea.

Let's just pull a bunch
of it out right now,

And let's hook it
onto the truck.

Marty will attempt to tension
the 300-pound cable

With his truck.

He must pull it 30 feet
to a loop of cable

Attached to a heavy rod

Buried in the ground
called a dead man.

The cable and dead man
terminate in eyelets.

These will allow marty
to connect a turnbuckle

To fine-tune the tension.

Let's go around this.

I don't even know if this is
the right thing to do,

But I'm doing it.

-All right.
-So what I'm gonna try to do

Is just pull some belly
out of this thing,

See how close I can
get this eye down here.

Basically, you're looking
at a desperate man.

What I envision here
is that our family,

All members of it,

End up across the river,
living fully off-grid.

Alaska has a slogan,
"north to the future."

It's never become more true
than it is for our family,

North to our future.

Do me a favor, yell if
something goes wrong please.

Matt: sounds like a plan.

Go slow.

Talk to me!
Whoo!

Go.

♪♪

Go. Go. Go.

Whoo!
Hey!

Did anything go wrong?

No.
We just raised that cable.

How tight is it?

That looks about as much as were
gonna get with the truck.

[Bleep] it.
It's short.

Narrator: there's a problem.

The end of the cable
and the end of the dead man

Are 20 feet apart,

A gap the 5-foot
turnbuckle cannot bridge.

[ Sighs ]

Stand by, we've got to come up
with some "macgyver."

I've got an idea.

We'll make our own


How we're gonna do it,
I'm not exactly sure.

Is it gonna work?
I'm not sure about that either.

Narrator: in his 40 years
building and saving homesteads,

Marty's proved
he's a past master

At finding solutions
with just the materials to hand.

It's not just for
cutting paper anymore.

That is a good hack.

Narrator: this season,
in british columbia,

The raneys decided

To build a watchtower
for a family terrorized

By a grizzly bear,

But the timber marty needed
was a quarter mile away

And the only tractor
was entombed in ice.

This thing is frozen in hard.

We need to get creative.

We're gonna use
a big log and a fulcrum

To try to pop this thing
out of the ice.

Everybody on the log.

Yes! Come on.
Don't give up.

Let's give it some more.

Misty: whoo!

Narrator: having freed
the tractor with just a log,

Nature then threw marty
another curveball.

I'm thinking that
gearbox is froze.

Grab that stovepipe.

Once again, marty got to work
with just a handful of tools

And a bucketload
of ingenuity.

You work in the oil fields
in the extreme arctic of canada

Or the u.s.
And equipment freezes up,

And it holds up
a $1 billion operation,

And the only thing
that will fix it

Is this exact tool.

We got a weed burner
and a stovepipe.

A lot of heat
is being radiated out.

The idea is to thaw
some gears out.

[ Dog barks ]

-Yeah.
-No way. They got it?

Narrator: the next day,
the gearbox was thawed...

Marty:
well, we got you some logs.

...and the timber delivered.

Now, marty's in
the wilderness once more.

This time, he must make a new
connecting cable strong enough

To hold his family
in a tram car.




Get me to the eyes,
please.






Raney math...



We need to make
a cable 177.

Let's do it now
and we may be done.

Please grab that axe
and the 4-pound hammer.

We'll make our own
length of cable.

We're gonna cut it
with an axe.

Come here.
I want to show you something.

How do you cut a cable?

Matt, show them
how to cut a cable.

You hold, I'll hammer.

You hold both sides
of the wire.

-All right.
-Right.

Watch your eyes.

♪♪

That's how
you cut a cable.

Narrator: now marty and matt
must make their own eyelets.

What about...

I mean,
we could make this work

With what we have.

Clamps every 12 inches
create strong eyelet-like loops

That should connect
to the river cable

And the turnbuckle.

Marty: got it?
Pinch.

-Long.
-You're there.

Okay.
All right.

Our math worked out.
Look at that.

Within a quarter inch,
huh?

Raney math prevails.

Okay. Right now we're officially
on the dead man...

Matt: it's good.

...and this is actually
the system.

Yeah. We did it.
This is it.

I mean, dude, we're out here
in the middle of nowhere

Doing this all by guesswork

And cowboy and seat
of the pants.

Let's look at the tension
on the river.

Well, let's put 500 pounds
on it right now.

Hang.
There's 500.

Dude.

Let's not insult
our cable.

This thing is gonna...
This is gonna do...

This is gonna do 99%
of our hauling for us.

Marty: yesterday,
I kissed a sapling tree

That I went with the river.

Today,
I'm kissing cables.

This place is romantic.

Wow.

Which is something I
want to talk to you about.

-All right.
-Let's go.



Narrator:
coming up, marty and matt

Get help from
a remote neighbor...

-You're losing it.
-Hold it!

Narrator: ...as they struggle
to conquer the river.

Matt: you're going off
the edge. Whoa, tipping.

Marty: let me have it!

♪♪

This is from hutch
from new mexico.

"Will you adopt me?

I'm an out-of-shape


With no practical homestead
experience and a bad back."

-Hutch...
-Yeah. The answer.

Let me take you out to dinner.
Let me see.

I'm gonna order you a
wahburger with a side of cries.

Quit your whining.

P.s., A lot of people
have a bad back.

I know what
you're thinking, hutch.

How did somebody like this
have such nice children?

We will adopt you.

A little, like,
a little work

Could whip you
right back into it.

Come on, hutch.

-Hutch...
-No.

...she's adopted.

So, yeah, I'm amenable
to this discussion.

Get ahold of me.

Hutch, hutch,
will you adopt me

So I can get out
of this relationship

That I am in?

Narrator: before traveling to
their next homesteading crisis,

Marty and matt
have just two days

To finish
the cable-car crossing.

They've built a platform

And hung a 300-pound
steel line across the river.

Now it's time
for the tram car itself...

-Look at that thing, buddy.
-That's awesome.

Narrator: ...built by one
of marty's neighbors.

This guy is like
a fourth-generation homesteader.

Matt: that's awesome.

So one name that came to mind
was dave newcomb to build this.

Look at this thing!
It's gold!

How much does it weigh?

Probably close
to 300 pounds.



I think we can
wrestle it in place.

Let's go.
Come on, buddy.

Right. Straight back.


Narrator: when marty raney

Is faced with moving
a heavy load...

Frick.

...he goes old school,
the ancient egyptian way.

Last year,
on a homestead in nevada,

Marty wanted to turn
a conex into a home...

I spotted this.

This thing weighs
over 5,000 pounds.

Narrator: ...but first,

He had to haul it


Man: here we go.

...with an ancient tractor.

Just like magic.

Man: this is a really big job,
you know, moving a conex.

It looks like it would be way
too much for that tractor.

Narrator: the trick to moving
something this heavy --

Log rollers,

Just like the master
pyramid builders.

Marty: lay them under here,
just like the egyptians.

Matt, get them on!

Misty: working with my dad
is always a crazy experience.

I'm used to one way,
the marty raney way.

Yeah!

♪♪

Narrator: when marty
finally got the conex moving,

It was up to everyone else
to keep up with his plans.

Matt:
we got kind of this leap frog,

People pulling log poles
from the back,

Throwing them in the front.

And this is a 5,000-pound conex.

Marty: yeah! You did it.
You did it.

You did it.



Narrator: now marty must drag
this tram car

To a height of over 20 feet.

It weighs 300 pounds and we got
to get it up the stairs,

Up on to that platform.



Stop everything.

Dave, hand me the two-by-four
back there, please.

Narrator: marty uses a variation
of his age-old, go-to trick.

Good?


About a foot at a time.




-Losing it.
-Hold it!

-Whoo!
-Get that side.

-Got it.
-Okay.

It's going off the edge.
Whoa, tipping.

Let me have it!
Go!

Tip. Tip.

-Whoo!
-A little more and you got it.

-Okay. Whoo!
-You got it.

-That's awesome, man.
-Okay.

I get the first seat.

We got room
for two in here.

One particular alaskan neighbor,
dave newcomb,

Put his stamp on this
homestead right here.

All aboard.
[ Laughs ]

Whoo!

Narrator:
if marty and matt succeed

With tomorrow's tram crossing,

This new land will be accessible
to the whole family.

As evening falls, the raney
clan meet at the riverside.

Matt's wife is here,
along with marty's wife,

Son miles, daughter melanee
and her children.

Mollee: it took so many years

Just to get to this point,
though, because, I mean,

How many times have we tired
to walk around

Or take a six-wheeler
and it got stuck in the marsh?

And we've tried so many years
just to get around the river

To get on the 40.

Everything has been a bit
of a challenge, a bit risky,

But it's at a point now
where the fun starts.

And what I really like about it
the most is that

There's three generations
represented at this campfire,

And that these kids
will have 1,000 adventures

Across that river
in their lifetime.

This property isn't ours,
it's ours.

This is a family project.

I have fallen in love
with this place.

This place is amazing.

Like, I can't
even believe it.

It's a dream come true.

I'm thinking, "that's where
we're gonna live."

Like, wood cabin,
two-bedroom.

We moved as far away
from the grid as we could,

And the grid came to us,

But this is the life
that we want to live.

I mean, this is...
We're in it.

Aww.

Marty: that cable car is
gonna go across the river.

That's a fact.
Okay?

I don't know who's going first,
but hopefully...

Are you going first?
Really?

Can I ride with you?

For real?
Nice.

Look at this adventure,
I love it.

This is an emotional time
for me, to see my family

Just totally 100% behind
this new venture,

Knowing the risk

And how much hard work
is ahead of us.

Tomorrow is the big day,
and I'm a little nervous

Because after 15 years
of dreams,

The future is
the river crossing.

♪♪

Narrator: coming up...

-Jump in this.
-All right.

Narrator: ...the cable car
makes its maiden voyage

As marty and matt attempt

A giant leap toward
a new raney future.

All right.
Here I go.

Narrator: five days ago, the
raneys decided to move north...

Can you hear this?

Civilization has moved up
towards the mountains.

The raneys are not gonna
live like this.

Narrator:
...to start a new homestead

In 40 acres
of virgin wilderness.

Marty and matt
have been struggling

To build a cable car...



Narrator: ...over a class-iv
whitewater river,

And now it's ready to test.

Do you feel comfortable
if I go over there now?

Well, I don't see why
you would go over there.

You weigh a lot
more than I do.

And honestly, I mean,
I think less weight

On that maiden voyage

Because it's going
to get really heavy.

You got to do
the river crossing.

I want to do the cable crossing.
-Oh.

So that's
your real reason?

I like that better
because that other story

Where I'm fatter than you,
I don't like at all.

-No. No.
-Hey, listen.

You never have commented
on the bicycle

You used to ride as a kid.

-That's my bike?
-Yep.

I didn't realize that.

I'd start getting emotional
if I wasn't...

-About to die?
-...so on edge.

I just hope that it works.

Marty: if you get an engineer
and an architect,

They're gonna look
at this thing

And they're gonna put a big,
red "x" on it.

Well, they're not here.

We're doing it the raney way.

Would I send my mother
across this thing today?

Maybe.

Jump in this.
-All right.

♪♪

We're hitting the deck.

Just let it gravity
out and stop.

All right.
Here I go.

♪♪

Matt: whoo!

Marty:
whoo! [ Laughs ]

♪♪

It's perfect!
-Yes.

Look at it!
-Awesome.

♪♪

That was awesome!

[ Yodels ]

Hey!
I'll come over!

All right.

Oh, I can't believe it.

It actually works.

This is bush engineering
at its finest.

♪♪

-You ready?!
-It's scary.

Come on.
Whoo!

[ Both cheering ]

♪♪

-There you go, man.
-Unbelievable!

Dude,
I can't believe it.

Hey,
is that a lot easier?

Is that a lot easier
than wading up

To your neck
across the river?

Marty: man, I can't believe it.
I can't believe it.

It's so cool.

Marty:
♪ I really caribou you ♪

♪ I'm a loon
when you're around ♪

♪ It's hard for me
to bear ♪

♪ Because I love you
so deer ♪

♪ I really caribou you ♪

♪ You're salmon special
to me ♪

It's kind of cool that you were
the first one over here

Because
I'm kind of old now,

And you guys will be
the future of this 40 acres.

And maybe someday there will
be another little matt, jr.,

With a little beard
running around on this 40 acres.

[ Laughs ]

♪ I've told you
time and ptarmigan ♪

♪ You mink me happy
when you smile ♪

Marty: everybody has
a story to tell,

And this is our story,

But it's just
the beginning.

After 40 plus years in alaska,
we're...

It's all right.

...i've never been happier

Because I'm getting back
to live

Like an alaskan should live --

Simply, off the land,

With your family.

♪♪

I won't believe this
until I see it on tv.

Narrator: "homestead rescue"
returns later this year.

Misty, shut it down!

We got
a flash flood warning.

Get out of here!

Watch out!

All new homesteads
on the brink of failure.

I can't let mother nature
beat me on this one.

I go to bed wondering if a bear
is gonna come in our house.

Marty: I just noticed
you're wearing a kilt.

Is that normal out here?

Narrator: the raneys
go to battle once more.

We're gonna make
your homestead a fortress.

Look out!

Oh, my gosh.

They're like
an unstoppable zombie army.

-Matt, move!
-Why can't we just be normal?

Marty:
because normal is boring.

This is totally unacceptable.

Narrator: for some,
the raneys bring salvation.

-Yeah!
-I'm really happy.

Narrator:
others are not so lucky.

Misty: holy crap.

Marty:
the homesteaders are stranded.

We can't get to them.
It's over.