How to transport .31 cubic yards of river rocks

Surely you have a nursery or rock plant that sells and delivers. I don't think it would be at all good for your car to haul something that heavy.

Are you friends with someone who has a pickup? Bribery might work..take them out to eat, and fill thier gas tank.

I have a 2005 Honda civic with 492,000 miles on it and I purchased new and am the one that racked up all the miles on that baby. You would be surprised how much you can stuff into a Honda. I know, I have done it more times than I can even fathom to count. But rocks are a different story, it will take several trips and ruin your suspension. What is the delivery fee? Your next option is to rent a Home Depot truck, around $20 for the first hour. See how long you would have to rent it, go pick up the rocks, deliver to your house, (hopefully you have a wheelbarrow at home), unload the rocks, then return the truck. Weigh the cost of the delivery fee versus the truck rental fee. Go with the less expensive option. I would shovel the rocks into potato sacks or gunny sacks, but use more bags and only partially fill them. Be very careful of your back. Better to have more bags than you can easily lift yourself than jumbo bags that will put you into the nearest ER and wait for a back surgery.

You can rent a pickup truck from Home Depot for around $20 I believe.

You could rent a truck, but that might cost more than a delivery charge.

Would really discourage you from hauling them in your car, especially one that new. That is way too much weight for those rear tires.

I just thought I'd follow-up on this question as the rock hauling is complete. First off, let's get some facts straight to cut through some of this fear-based answering. Even though this is a hybrid Civic which strictly forbids towing of any kind. The vehicle is easily strong enough to carry 4 -100lb persons in the 4 seats it was created with. I'm about 165lbs. Since there's no one else, that leftover weight can be used for rocks. I figured the weight was right around 200 lbs and later even came up with a 800lb weight capacity for the hybrid by searching the weight capacity of this vehicle. So, what's so scary about rocks people? It's weight on the car and nothing more. I'm a bit of a science guy, so I know hauling extra weight is best closest to the engine. That said, one sudden braking and I could have rocks in my windshield. So I chose the back seat as opposed to the trunk (less emphasis on the rear suspension and closer to the engine). To carry the rocks I shelled out $10 bucks at Walmart for the appropriate sized "Tupperware-ish" plastic bin with locking handles.

Lastly, I did concede a bit in my plans in that I made 2 trips to and from the yard; separate days.

I did notice the difference in drivebility in the car, but chose a route with as little braking as possible and as much control over my speed as possible (this is not a race, but transport of goods after all). The weight was too to heavy to lift out of the car, but I assumed that before hand and placed the bin on top of a moving blanket to pull on a bit for relocation. I unfortunately didn't have a tarp at the time, but wanted one to pour the rocks onto ( a wagon would have been even better). I ended-up pouring them straight on the ground (which I regretted later) in order to shovel them into the gutter material next to the house; then I switched to using a bucket. Most of the rocks found their way to their new home, however some the rocks were quite small and hid in the grass. Since I was doing all this on my wife's house I knew it would be murder if she found lots of rocks hitting her mower blade. So, as crazy as it sounds, I used a shop vac to suck up the rocks and chunks of clay in the grass and dumped them in to the trench also. Had I gotten that tarp this step wouldn't be necessary, but some lessons are harder than others.

Just pay for delivery. You will be glad you did

Well I didn't and I'm happy that I didn't. This was supposed to be an economical upgrade. The minute you add a delivery fee, you start adding the bulk price of a much bigger load than you need + a mileage fee. In other words you may as well go to Lowes or whatever big box hardware store is closest and buy bags of rocks for anywhere from 10-$20 a bag and bring them home gradually over time. I calculated it would take me about 19 bags from Lowes to accomplish what I needed. This way is both more expensive and gives you fewer options over the actual look of the rocks you're putting down. I paid approximately $80 for this whole project because of careful planning and calculated purchasing. How are you going to get rocks and truck tire indentions out of your yard if you pay for a delivery truck to dump this pile of rocks nearby so you aren't wheel-barrowing all day? The amount of rocks I needed was too small to warrant a dump truck anyway.

As I stated, the only thing I'd of done different is have that tarp available (many times it's a free item at Harbor Freight with any purchase) and I also would have duck taped the bin I purchased closed once full because one of my sudden stops spilled a few of the rocks under the seats. I'm only writing for those that have the constitution (and lack of arthritis) to do the work required to achieve the same results for substantially less money. More power to you if you have either more cash to throw at the problem or a friend with a truck. I had no such luck even living in SC.

Way to go Jon. Isn't it so satisfying to use the ole' peanut to solve a DIY dilemma? I enjoy DIY projects because of the opportunity to strategize and think it through.