October 10

View of the day-Some of the fleet safe in it's winter "garage". The Freightliner will not be able to escape.

We were up early to finally get packed and on our way to Carlyle. Al had set his "AIS" time as usual...that's "A** in seat"...when he expects Marilyn to be strapping on the seat belt as the pickup is rolling out of the yard. With the unpacking still not completely done, he did allow an hour leeway so as not to get Marilyn's "FIA"...that's "foot in -...well, you get it.

We left the yard at 10:30 and after doing a few last minute errands in town, started off for Stockholm. We got to the yard and Al got the General started and then fueled it up from the slip tank on the pickup. Once the header was strapped down and hooked up to the pickup, it was finally time to head south for the last time of the year (we think).

We had an uneventful drive to Carlyle...except for the strong SE wind...it was tough to get into the tall one at times. After we made it out to Kim and Marg's farm, we unloaded the combine and took the pickup head off. We wouldn't be needing it until the next season, so Kim graciously allowed us to park it out by his bins.

Al noticed there was antifreeze leaking out and blowing all over one side of the engine. After checking everything out he discovered it was a 6 inch piece of hose right at the rad that had a small hole in it. We went to town and managed to get another hose...it couldn't have just been a normal size hose...tapered if you could imagine. Once we got back we decided to load the combine back up on the trailer and then get the truck back together...oh, wouldn't it be nice if it was that easy? The hose clamps weren't strong enough and Al didn't want to take the chance of stripping them, so he and Kim went into town to get beefier clamps. The first ones they got were just a touch small, but they could have worked...no sir, it was back to town to swap them for bigger ones...and bigger they were...too big. They called it quits after that and tomorrow they will go back and trade the big ones in on the first ones they had. After supper and some visiting, it was time to get the blog done...at a decent hour for a change.

Tomorrow we reach our destination and hopefully get some combining done...