Darius...
Yep, sounds like the same story fer sure. The largest difference is the initiative to purchase the heavy equipment to develop. I seriously considered doing the same, but weighed it against the size of our task and the time I could give to it. Size and time won, so I hired in the pro's. Looking back, I cannot even imagine how many months/years it would have taken me on a used D-6. No regrets so far. That doesn't mean that I haven't been getting my hands dirty on all the peripheral details. My pals always ask everybody else what they're doing for the week-end....when they ask me, it's "what project are you gonna work on". I'm most happy when I'm building sumthin...always been that way. I do remember the high water table in Michigan....it was everywhere. Mound systems were fairly normal; some zones utilized 2 one thousand gallon tanks for a 4 br home.
David B...
I spent a large part of my youth in the Nicolet Natl forest near Three Lakes and Eagle River. I helped my folks build our vacation cabin just off of Seven Mile lake. It is by far my best nature-outdoors memories. It is truly God's country. My dream was to try to capture some of the wonderful memories of walking thru the forests and communing with nature without having to drive 7 hours from the Chgo 'burbs. It took us about 4 years of sometimes tireless looking, but I am still confident that we hit pay-dirt. I do envy you, tho, as you have mega timber at your back door....trees rule. Where we are, the trees kinda end at our property line, go for 80-100 acres across farmland, and then begin again in similar fashion at somebody elses property.
All in all, we share the excitement and challenges to come.