July 12, 2009

View of the day-Boat races on the Missouri River at Oacoma, SD...fast and noisy.

We woke up to rain again...just some sprinkles, but still rain and decided to finish watching the rest of the Blazing Saddles DVD that we had borrowed from Gordie. That was a classic.

We left for Oacoma just after 12pm and grabbed a quick lunch before going to meet the kin at the races. It had started out rainy in the morning, so the races were going to be accelerated so they could get them in before the forecasted storms showed up. Something was going right for them...the sun came out and they ended up with a beautiful day for the races. Not as hot as last year, but we were looking for the breezes most of the day...an umbrella wouldn't have hurt either.

We watched the first part of the races then toured around a bit, looking at the classic cars that were on display...very impressive, then found a new cooler spot to watch the finals. There is quite a wait as the boats are loaded and unloaded for each heat, but they did manage to get things completed by 5pm and the crowd had thinned enough that traffic wasn't an issue.

We went for supper then we all checked out the two antique shops in the tourist trap area...talk about STUFF! All sorts of cubby holes and corners, hallways to other buildings...one could get lost. The only one to come out with anything was Al...he procured two items...a JD 820 tractor and a JD 12A pull type combine. Yes, we are fans of the red paint, but Al claims the green lovers will buy anything and it was for resale that he made the purchase.

After a cruise around town we said our goodbyes, as the Johnstones will be heading back for Canada tomorrow and made our way back to Hamill.

More hurry up and wait...

July 11, 2007

View of the day-The Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota. It is decorated with a different theme every year with grain that is grown in SD.

We were up early to the sound of rain...again...but the worst of it seemed to be to the south and since we weren't going to be combining anytime soon, it didn't hurt too bad.

Kim, Marg and Gordie came out from Chamberlain for the two minute tour of Hamill and after visiting for a while, we all left for lunch in Chamberlain. After a discussion on where to go shopping, we decided to drive the 80 miles to Mitchell...the closest Walmart and motorcycle accessories site. Marilyn rode in with Marg and the guys travelled together...neither meeting up with the other during the days shopping...who can account for taste? Write this down somewhere...Marilyn came out of the Walmart with one item under $10...it's true. Al on the other hand came out of the CaseIH dealership with one item just under 3 digits.

After meeting up for coffee after shopping, we drove up to the Corn Palace, but it was a mad house with no parking...darn tourists...so we carried on to do a bit more shopping then headed back to Chamberlain to check out the Interstate tourist traps there. It was late so we had supper then Al and Marilyn left to go back to Hamill.

Tomorrow we will take in the Unlimited Light Hydroplane races back at Chamberlain and it's supposed to be a nice day.

Won't rule out the umbrella...

July 10, 2009

View of the day-More wildlife, this time it is the local wild turkey gang with their leader...a peacock.

We got a lot of wiring work done...again. It must be the rough roads that shake and rub things loose when they are loaded on the trailers. This time it was the tractor. Al had no lights the last time he moved down the road and it didn't work too good out in the field after dark. With the bundles of wires in the harnessess and the winding way they are wrapped under the dash, it was a wonder we could find the right wires.

The cab had rubbed through a couple of the major wires and after getting them cleaned up and spliced back together we had everything but the A/C working...and we do need to buy a 'plentypack' of fuses to replace the burnt/missing ones that caused most of the problems.

It was a decent day for working outside, a nice breeze and temps only in the 80's...perfect weather for those biting flies to come out and do their peskiest worst...we've all got a job to do.

Marilyn got a call from her sister, Marg, that they were coming down for a visit and to see the boat races at Chamberlain...the same ones we had gone to see last year. She wanted Marilyn to see if she could book rooms somewhere in Chamberlain for herself, husband Kim and son Gordie. Marilyn went online...what a treat...immediately and checked on Travelocity and it showed rooms at the Holiday Inn Express, so she booked it for two nights.

After going online later to get the address, it showed there were no vacancies and being concerned that her reservation didn't go through, Marilyn called directly to the hotel to confirm it. Talk about perfect timing, they said that room must have just come up from a cancellation as she was trying to book because all the hotels there have been booked solid for quite sometime...they were amazed she managed to find anything...but she was in.

We finished working on the tractor and after a quick swish, drove the 30 odd miles up to Chamberlain to meet the Johnstones for supper. We drove around town checking out the festivities going on for the weekend then after dropping them off at the hotel, we headed back home.

There could be shopping on the horizon...

July 9, 2009

View of the day-Buffalo roaming at will near Bassett, Nebraska. They just crossed the road nice and orderly then watched the traffic go by.

What a stormy night we had...over an inch of rain but no tornadoes, thankfully.

We were up bright and early anticipating the drive back to Ansley for the last load. We had a short detour to Winner to grab a snack and pick up the modem for the internet from the phone company. We were going to be gone all day and didn't want to miss them...dial up is just to painful to endure.

We got to Ansley, fueled up, aired up, hooked up the header and started off for Hamill. It was cloudy and overcast most of the way, even misting at times which made for a comfortable drive...and no unnecessary stops this time. We were back in Hamill around 4pm with everything parked where it belonged or at least where it would sit for the next week.

Al noticed an air leak on the General and discovered the pressure valve was the problem, so we went back into Winner to get a replacement and do a bit of grocery shopping, since we wouldn't be making it to town as often as we did in Great Bend.

When we got back to the camper, Marilyn got the internet hooked up and did some cable rearranging for the TV and dish...most of it a waste of time...wrong cables, so we are back to square one with the monitor we are using for a TV. Al did a bit of surfing...a nice change from the front seat of the truck...and even though we have internet in the camper, the blog still doesn't get up until after midnight.

Tomorrow we fix...

July 8, 2009

View of the day-One of the young riders at the Hamill play day.

As you probably figured out, there wasn't any internet service at our campground last night and since the truck stayed hooked up to the camper there was no joyriding to find any access...so no entry to the blog. And we have to deal with dial up until tomorrow so it is even more painful...

We woke up to raindrops around 3am and after listening to the weather band, discovered that we were in a severe storm watch until 4am. It's bad with no weather channel or internet to see where the radar is to find out what we are in for. High winds and heavy rain were predicted, but we weren't moving anywhere...we just waited to see what would happen. It's bad to be so exhausted and wanting just to sleep but the train horns and thunder keep you from dropping off. It absolutely poured for a couple of hours, probably more than an inch fell but we never did get hit with any of the high winds.

We folded up our shell and headed back to Ansley to get the shop trailer hooked up and the Freight ready for the second leg of the trip. After a quick snack at the station, we started off for Hamill. It was uneventful until Al called on the radio to say the DOT was pulling him over...thankfully we were still in Nebraska and after a warning and lecture on the proper use of the log book he was able to continue on. It was a pleasant day for driving, but as usual by the time we got to Hamill to unload the humidity was pretty high making it a bit uncomfortable to work.

Fortunately we had decided to wait until tomorrow to go back for the other load, so we set the camper up first so it could cool down for us while we unloaded. There were people mowing the grass in the lot where we park and they asked us to park over to the side as it was their play day for the kids and their horses. We found a corner, unloaded then went back to the camper to finish setting up. They had the phone activated to the pillar and after running the camper cable, we were able to use the phone to go online with...gads...dialup. The bad part was the DSL was hooked up as well, but we had returned their modem last year and they thought we still had it so they didn't leave us one...and they were closed for the day. Marilyn is sure part of the reason it is so slow is that the laptop doesn't know what the heck dial up is. Thank goodness we still keep the $10 dialup package from home for our email...at least we can get online...sort of.

While Marilyn was on the phone with Dishnetwork and Sasktel, Al was over watching the little tykes barrel racing. After Marilyn finished in the camper she walked over to watch them as well...a nice bit of entertainment...the goat undressing was hilarious to watch. Once again we are in a weather watch...this time for tornado...hopefully it goes south. Tomorrow we will leave early to go back and get the combine and header.

But for tonight, Al watches game 8 of the '72 Canada-Russia Summit series...

July 7, 2009

View of the day-The overnight campground where the trains were running all night.

It was another late start to the day since we knew we wouldn't be leaving the bins until 3pm. We got things organized at the camper then went for lunch to Pizza Hut. After paying the fuel bill...not as bad as anticipated...we got the camper hooked up and left Great Bend for the bins. A great day for driving with a SE wind, clouds and mid 80's for the temp.

When we pulled into the bins, we were surprised to see a pickup truck hooked onto a flatbed trailer carrying some type of pipe trusses...and they were working a jackall to change a tire that looked pretty much like the camper tire did a month ago. Al offered them the shop to use the compressor and tools but they said they were getting paid by the hour, so they didn't mind doing it the slow way.

We got the shop trailer hooked up behind the camper, then decided to take a quick look at the ignition switch in the General. It had been giving Al fits by losing connection on the rough roads we travel and would just shut the truck down. We had this problem before and had gotten a spare ignition switch just in case of a calamity...now was that time because the blade that the battery wire hooks onto on the old one had melted the plastic housing and was pretty much falling out. We got the wires cleaned up and were hooking up the new switch when Marilyn got a bit exuberant with the wrench and twisted off the bolt stem...no amount of 'Mickey-Mousing' would get the thing to work...so we unhooked the camper and drove back into Great Bend to get a new one...make that two new ones...just in case.

We were a lot more careful putting this one together and by the time it was mounted back in the dash it was better than it had ever been...and this one didn't have any cheap plastic housing. We hooked the camper back up and left the bins for the last time this year...only two hours later than yesterday. We tried to figure out where we would stay the night...if we would make it all the way to Ansley, or stay in Elm Creek...but decided to shut up and drive until it got dark and let the chips fall where they may.

We got to Elm Creek and thought we would stay there, but the parking lot was packed with semis and fortunately Marilyn went in ahead to check out the lot because if Al had tried to find a spot, he would have been backing out a long way...it was a tight enough fit for Marilyn to get around all those rigs after scoping things out. We decided to forge onward even though Marilyn was getting as low on fuel as the sun was getting in the sky...and we still had 4o miles to go. The Lord hates a coward so the hammer was down.

Clouds were looming in the west which meant the sun was going down prematurely, but still we kept driving. Thankfully the pickup has one of those computers that tells you how many miles you have until empty...it looked like we might have 20 to spare, but this was mighty hilly country so the pickup really had to work. It was a good thing we didn't meet too many vehicles on the last 10 mile stretch because it was pretty much dark by the time we made Ansley...except for the beautiful harvest moon that was coming up. We got into the lot, got the General parked beside the Freight, unhooked the shop trailer from the camper and went to fuel up.

While Al fueled, Marilyn went into the station to see if there was someplace to park in town...didn't that give the locals something to talk about. We had stayed there a few times over the years and had always parked at the motel next to the station...which was now closed. Someone suggested the town park but the only thing we needed was not available there...power...that's all, since we had filled up the holding tank with water before we left, anticipating such an event. Our next option was to drive to Mason City, the next town...only 5 miles away and use their town park...which is exactly what we did.

We found the town, then found the park and the power pole, backed into place, dropped the back jacks, put out a couple of slides and left everything else hooked up. We had to cross the train tracks to get to the park and the camper is parked, maybe 75 feet from two tracks...two very busy tracks...and right next to an intersection which means the horn gets blown plenty and the ground shakes...nice lullaby...and no internet until tomorrow sometime...sorry.

You gotta love new experiences...

July 6, 2009

View of the day-A pit stop for repairs in Nebraska...the main battery cable had rubbed through and was touching the frame of the Freight which left Al powerless...literaly.

We had a leisurely morning, getting some things prepared for the move north. After the Chinese buffet for lunch Al took the pickup over to the Quick Lube to get a much needed oil change and interior detailing which only took 20 minutes. We got the landlord paid up for camping fees then headed out to the bins to get things aired up for the trip to Ansley, Nebraska, which would be the mid-point for our trip.

We left the bins around 3:30pm and started north...a lot of traffic going both ways, but really uneventful...most of the way. Marilyn called Al on the radio and when he didn't answer, she thought he was on his cell phone, so she continued driving, but just puddling along until he could catch up. It was at this point we had reached a pocket of decent cell service and the message alarm went off on Marilyn's phone. She noticed that there was a voice message and it ended up being a blank message, then Al called on his cell but couldn't seem to hear Marilyn. After checking the other voicemail left on the phone, she learned that the power had just quit on the Freightliner so he pulled over to see what was the matter...it turned out to be that one of the cables was shorting out on the frame because it had worn through.

Marilyn was about 6 miles ahead but found a place to turn the rig around and head back to help out. There was already a hose over the cable for protection and it just needed to be slid down to cover the wear spot and we were back on the road again. We made Ansley around 8:30pm, got the stuff parked and then started back for Great Bend. We stopped at the big truck stop at Elm Creek for a sub and a break, then continued on our way.

Tomorrow we do it all again...