August 19

View of the day-The valley walls on the way to Kenmare, ND. The "Class of"'s put their year on the side of the hills, they start at the late 50's and go right through to the present year.

When we got up this morning, it was cloudy, misty and windy...and from the SE to help push us along. Once we got the camper all battened down and the shop trailer hooked up behind it, we went down town to get the Freightliner aired up. We stopped to dump our trash at the town dumpster and the mechanic that had fixed our tractor came across the street with a five gallon pail of "slicers" from his garden. He gave us a huge bag full of the cucumbers and then went home and dug up some big onions for us as well...more yum.

Another uneventful drive, it quit misting but the low clouds never did clear off. Once we got to Bowbells, Al parked the Freight at the bulk station and we went to park the camper. After getting it all flanged in, we went searching for a lot in town to unload the tractor, then decided to just go out to the field where the combine was parked. Al was concerned that we might have trouble getting out of the field once we were loaded back up, but he found another entrance that didn't have such a severe drop.

We unloaded the tractor and cart, then moved it a mile to the canola field we would be starting in. We got everything set on the combine, then cut about 50 bushels just to make sure all the setting were right. We also wanted the engine oil to warm up a bit so we could change it and the oil in the feeder gear box that we had been concerned about when the pulley went the other day. After getting the oil changed we went back to the camper to get the dish set up...after all, it is the big finale of the Ice Road Truckers! Of course we will have to DVR it to watch later because we have to go to Kenmare to check out the laundromat, visit with some of the other harvesters and send off the blog, since we didn't find any signal in town.

So now we are a stones throw away from Canada and Al can actually get his favorite radio station, CJGX in Yorkton, so he won't miss a thing. He has plans to call in and win "supper in the field".

We'll invite you down when he wins...