On the Road with Melchert Harvesting: Moving on to the next stop

On Friday June 11th, we loaded up the machinery, met with the farmers to settle up, and packed up the camper. It was time to move on to the next stop. Funny as it sounds we were starting to call that place home, even after being there for a week. We knew our way around better and recognized a few faces. The farmers seemed happy with the job we had done and hope that we will come back next year. They were all great to work with, really nice people that we got the pleasure to know and work with for a week.

We headed on our way up 81, all the way to the top of OK. By the time we were closer to Enid, OK there were harvest crews everywhere. In the fields and on the move like us. Outside of town, the majority of traffic on the roads were harvest crews moving. At an intersection we witnessed a semi pulling a trailer with a tractor and grain cart on it roll-over. The driver was going way too fast and couldn't hold the corner. He skidded right over the median, tipped over, and slid a ways. A sight that made my heart stop, but could have been soooo much worse if there would have been another vehicle sitting at the intersection. The driver's convoy of vehicles stopped of course, so we did not, there was enough help and we would have just been gawking and in the way.

We were just about to shut off the trucks after we got into town and parked them at a co-op for the night when we heard a distant voice over the CB. "Jon, is that you?" It was Ben, he had been making trips back and forth bringing machinery up here, and was headed here with the Danny's semi. "Ben, where are you?" asked Jon. "I'm at the Wal-mart in Alva, I'm running on fumes, my phone is broke, and I don't have any money" Ben said. It was so fuzzy we could barely make it out. Alva was over 30 miles away from us, it was a miracle the CB was even in range that far out. Ben's gaurdian angel was with him that night! It was getting late and Kiowa is a small town, so we wouldn't be able to get into a campground that night anymore. We took the pickup and camper to Alva and camped in the Wal-mart parking lot for the night. We weren't the only ones with that idea, there was 1/3 a parking lot full of harvesters. I honestly don't think I've ever been so happy to see a Walmart! We went in and washed up in those clean bathrooms, then grabbed sandwiches for supper (it was midnight and we were very hungry) waited in the checkout line for 15 minutes I bet though. We were falling asleep standing up. Stroke of midnight and we wished Andy a Happy Birthday! Then we fell asleep.

Glad we were able to start where we did, it was a lot quieter. This area is big-time wheat country and kind of intimidating. Even the small towns have huge elevators, sometimes 2 of them. Some of the truck drivers drive so fast, and we can see what results of that. There are also trains zipping by at mach 1 every 1/2 hour at least if not more.