August 7

View of the day-A group of "supervisors" unloading a semi at the elevator in Sterling, ND.

We got to sleep in a bit, which was a good thing for Marilyn anyway. The internet connection at the rest stop is just slightly better than dial-up so it took a while to upload. That, and a finicky laptop battery that just seems to last long enough to get the basics done, but not any extra curricular surfing. Laundry also took until 2am again, but when you're a night person, it doesn't hit you til the morning.

We went over to the trailers and started to change the engine fan blade out with the new one we purchased yesterday. It went surprisingly well, we didn't have to remove any extra pieces to get the old one out, or the new one in. Bolting it into place was a bit of a task, since you needed to have four hands to get things lined up, but there was only room for two and a half. After a bit of cursing, we got it together, tested it out and it worked like new. We wanted to change the strut that broke and caused all the problems, but we apparently had lost the extra ball and socket bolt we had purchased, so that didn't get done.

Once the fixing was done, we got the combine cleaned up a bit and then loaded it on the trailer, got it hooked up and ready to roll. We just had to hook the Freight up to the tractor and cart trailer, since we hadn't needed it and never unloaded it. We took the Freight and straight header to the truck stop at Sterling and dropped them off, and returned for the combine and shop trailer. Marilyn dropped the shop off at the campground so it would be ready to hook to the camper when we leave, and then went back to Sterling to hook the header back up and take it to Tuttle. Al headed right down the interstate to Sterling to meet Marilyn, then started north to Tuttle, about 35 miles.

We parked the combine load and header in a farm yard and went into town to confirm our camping reservation. There is a gravel crushing outfit just out of town, so there are extra campers pulling in and out all the time, so it is a crap shoot whether we will get our usual spot. We went back to Menoken via Bismarck which was a bit out of the way, but we had to get at least one steak buffet in before we moved out to the petunias. While we were having our dessert, Al's phone rang and it was someone looking for a harvester for 90 acres of standing wheat. We might be able to get to it after we finish the barley, but it will mean moving the combine back to Sterling, but then, it's what we do.

The sky is lit up with lightning to the north and it is starting to sprinkle and rumble, so we could be in for something before the night is out.

Best get to the internet connection before the road gets to wet...