Movin on Up

I haven't updated this in a while, the past week just flew by. Last Friday the 27th, we finished up combining in S. Oklahoma late that night. The next day we got everything loaded up and settled up with the farmers, fuel co-op, and RV park. It was over 100 degrees and humid so we were looking forward to heading north in search of cooler temps??

Sunday morning we were up by 5:30 and our procession of trucks and trailers were leaving town by 6:15am. It was only about 4.5 hours to where our next job was to be in Northern Oklahoma. But as we were going through El Reno, Jon told Andy to find the next best place to pull over, something was wrong. So on the outskirts of town we discovered there was a hole in Jon's radiator. A pin-sized hole that had already leaked out a lot of coolant. Great, Sunday morning, nothing is open. I said I thought it looked like there had been cars in the O'Reiley Auto parking lot. So Andy & I unhooked the truck from the header trailer and buzzed over there. We were very happy to see that they did indeed open at 9am! It was 8:53 and we were waiting outside the door like it was Black Friday or something. There were at least 5 other trucks waiting in the lot, but we were standing by the door. 1 of the workers took pity on us and opend up a few minutes early. We picked up sealants and more coolant and rushed back to the stranded truck. Within less than a 1/2 hour we were back on the road. When we checked it later it was still holding, phew! We pulled into the farmers yard around 11:30. After taking off the heads, Andy and Jon left with the yellow straight truck and header trailer for Kansas. They were going to drop that trailer off and take a combine trailer home. (The 3rd combine was still in MN to bring down yet) Jim & I took Andy's truck and headed home!! I was tired driving from S. OK to N. OK that morning, but after being outside for an hour I was wide awake and ready to head home, adrenaline full throttle! Jim and I switched off driving a couple times, and made it home around 11:30pm Sunday night. It was sure a long day. But once I got home I wasn't even that tired so I went through all the mail and didn't go to bed till 2am, it felt so good to sleep in my bed! Jon & Andy got home around 3am.

Monday & Tuesday Jon was busy dealing with getting the truck fixed (radiator), the combine trailer needed brakes, fieldwork on Tuesday and getting Danny's pickup ready to go. Then Wednesday morning Jon, Andy, and Jim left the farm to head back to N. OK with the combine. I was home Mon-Wed. The days were jam-packed with our yardwork, working at my parents farm, tilling and planting the garden (it was really too wet and clumpy, but I didn't have a lot of options),errands, visiting all of my grandparents, and all the other stuff that comes up at home to take care of. I still didn't get nearly everything done I had hoped while I was home, but I wasn't home for as long as I thought I would be. It was just a really nice break from 1 life to the other for a bit, now we are back to the wheat harvest / on the road life.

Dan and Danny were able to do fieldwork and plant Tuesday afternoon and all day Wednesday. Dan, Danny, & I didn't leave Morristown until a little before 10pm on Wednesday night. Danny's pickup was PACKED FULL. Fuel tank, welder/generator, tools, air conditioner, 4 extra tires, a couple 2x4's, 2 (5) gallon pails of oil, a cooler full of meat, our bags, the computer, more food.....there wasn't much room, but none of us had a problem falling asleep in pretty much any position, the trouble was staying awake. We had 11 hours of driving ahead of us after we had all been going all day. The first hour we were talking but after that the eyelids were getting heavy. Even Mt.Dew,Pepsi,and Dan's magic caffiene gum was not much help. We traded driving often cause the co-pilots couldn't stay awake to keep the pilot awake. It rained in part of Iowa, most of Missouri, and part of Kansas. Meanwhile Jon was having a heck of a time with the combine trailer pretty much since he left home. It wasn't heavy-duty enough for that big of combine, it blew 1 tire and was dragging at times. Anyway, they were having problems and getting held up a lot, so we beat the other guys to the camper and finished getting it set up. Dan & Danny went to get the combines ready and out to a field while I had to get back in the pickup (yeay) and drive over an hour and a half to meet Andy. He was driving the Volvo semi pulling the grain hopper with the header cart behind it. The hopper trailer hitch wasn't heavy duty enough to pull that big of header cart and was cracking. So I pulled the header cart the rest of the way back. We got to the farmers yard around 2pm, went to the field and unhooked the header cart. Jon was only 1/2 hour away but the combine trailer had a crack in the frame and was dragging really bad, it was done. So Andy, Jim & I drove there to help Jon who just drove the combine the rest of the way. Then there was some welding and monkeying to do on the head that they had just picked up. I ended up having to go to the Case dealer after 7pm, they are there late for harvest thankfully! It was only 10 miles away! So it was a day of a lot of running around for some of us, but Dan & Danny had at least been combining right along all afternoon, and all 3 combines were running by evening. By 8:30pm we didn't have any supper and not much for groceries in the camper. I drove to the grocery store, which was smaller than the Kwik Trip in Faribault, with doubts that it would be open. Surprise! open till 10pm! They even make pizzas and subs in the back. Jackpot. I went and got fuel in the truck and back tank while the pizza was baking. I'm not sure what time we got to the camper for the night, after 11pm sometime, and it was closer to 1 by the time everyone got showered and to bed. Everybody was beat. We were asleep before our heads hit the pillows, I didn't even hear the train, the tracks are a couple hundred feet from the camper. We slept like bricks.