September 11

View of the day-Al rolling through the Qu'Appelle Valley on the way to Esterhazy.

Well today we really did get up bright and early so we could say good bye to Gordie before he went off to school. We also wanted to give Kim a hand pulling his sieve out of his 2388 so he could repair the system for the third time in his short season. Once we figured out what the problem was and he had sent his father for parts to repair it, we figured he had everything under control and we decided to head north once more.

Al left the farm and waited at the junction for Marilyn who had gone to say goodbye to Marg at work, and to get her to make a copy of the service manual section on the cleaning system to give to Kim. Marilyn noticed red flashing lights a mile north of the Ag Services where Marg works, and the discussion in the office was that the DOT had some kind of check point set up and they were stopping everybody that passed. A comment was made that they would probably give Marilyn a ticket for only having one running light, but she fixed that by turning on her headlights because she knew they both worked on dim. There was a bit of concern on her part that they might stop her because the shop trailer didn't have the lights wired, even though it was narrow enough that the camper lights were clearly visible. But why tempt fate? She drove back out to the farm and came around the back way, after letting Al know on the radio that "the restaurants were open all over the place"(our code in case the bad guys were rubbering in) and he should leave without waiting for her.

We got to the farm just west of Esterhazy, unhooked the shop trailer and unloaded the combine. No one was around, so we just headed up to Yorkton with the camper, the coast was still clear. Although at this time it didn't matter because we were 'legal'(not that we weren't before, but the rules change all the time depending who stops you), and to prove it...at the tourist booth just south of town, there was a checkpoint set up. They were channeling cars into the tourist booth parking area and they had the big rigs in another lane, all marked off with pylons. They waved us through! AND we left all the pylons standing.

We got out to the farm, the gardener had mowed the lawn so it looked nice and neat. Al was a bit disappointed that he wouldn't get to use his weed eater right away. Marilyn started getting the camper unpacked, while Al got "Frank" into running order and took it for a test drive. Marilyn had made arrangements to go into town to have coffee at Tim Hortons with a couple of fellow thespians from the local theatre group. Al went next door to visit with the gardener and drop off the "beverage" that he had brought back from the US.

After we both got caught up with the latest gossip it was time to call it a day...and the rain and wind came. Not to worry, we get to stay in our house for the next few days while the crops dry down at Esterhazy. That can't happen too soon since the "campground" there has wireless high speed access and here we only have dial-up, until we move back in permanently in a couple of months. Speaking of months...it was four months ago tomorrow that we left the yard to start the season.

Where did the time go...