August 6, 2011

View of the day-The spring wheat is still a 'bit' green near Bismarck, ND.

We ended up getting about an inch of rain out of the weather that hit last night, which put the kibosh on any fieldwork today. We discussed what to do with the day and finally decided we might as well take a road trip up to Menoken, ND with the pickup head.

We figured we would take the regular detour up to Herried to see how things were progressing with the repairs...they are estimating November for the finish date, so we tried to map out a different route on the way back that wasn't quite as rough.

We got out to the farmers yard at Menoken, just east of Bismarck and it looked like it had seen some rain over the past week. We were able to find some high ground to back in the header trailer. After getting it parked and checking things out, we took a drive over to the campground to see if there was a spot for us to park...nope, full, because of all the flooding in the area. They told us to give them a call next week to see if there were any spots open...a lot of them were there on the monthly rate.

We headed back to Gettysburg but took the mapped out route that we had decided to try. It was one that went along the Missouri and although it had rolling hills that looked like they would be a workout for the big trucks, the road was a lot smoother and the traffic was low...it had possibilities. Then we hit the last six miles, and there was a sign saying there was a 6 ton axle limit...well, that just sucked...back to plan A and the old way.

We took as 7 mile side trip into Mobridge and had a drive around town, but didn't take the bridge tour because it had one way traffic and we didn't feel like waiting around for the lineups to cross, so we stopped for a quick snack and headed for home.

There was not one combine running all the way up to Menoken, lots sitting in the fields where they had been stopped by the rain. There is still LOTS of wheat standing on both of our routes and there are plenty of fields that are still mighty green...our schedule could have a wrench thrown into it.

At least the rain should stay away...and the temps will be a lot cooler...