May 14, 2012

View of the day-Unloading at the final destination, the tractor and Freight will be awaiting our return next week.

Another early start to the day...we were hoping to make up for lost time yesterday. We left Broken Bow after grabbing a quick breakfast at McDonalds, got back to Ansley, hooked up and headed south.

The rest of the trip through Nebraska was uneventful...Sunday is a slow traffic day, even on Mother's day. We were mildly concerned about the construction we had read about that was north of Pratt, Kansas. Marilyn emailed a couple of harvesters to see if they knew of anything, but they had already gone through before the construction had started. Al called Taff, from Great Bend...since he lives interest area and had probably seen what the situation was...he had no problem getting through on Thursday. We figured we had gone through some wicked detours in the past, so we just bit the bullet and forged.

It was overcast most of the day, which meant a cool drive for Al in the Freight...a rare occurrence in May...and the South wind was so light it didn't slow us down at all. The construction turned out to be a lot of road milling and no one was working on Sunday so we sailed right through.

The crops were all over the map...some looking like it would be a month and others looked a week away. We were thrilled to see, as we got close to Cherokee, that they were finally building a new bridge to replace the half mile, one-laner that we have had to cross forever. But we finally pulled into Cherokee at 5:30pm.

We parked on the street in town and took a drive out to see where we could park.  We were hoping that we could squeeze in where we had been parking for the past several years...NOT A CHANCE!! That town has gone crazy with the oil boom.  Any spot where a camper or crew trailer could park has been filled...even the town park looks like a permanent mobile home park.  Time for plan B.

We drove out to John's farm and he had done a lot of clearing of old buildings and trees which meant there was enough room for us to snuggle in.  After finding a suitable spot, we unhooked the header trailer and went back to town to get the Freight. It took no time at all to get unloaded and parked out of the way...time to turn and burn...after a quick visit with Mike, our campground landlord. Thankfully, he saved our spot.

We took detour to stop and visit with a farmer at the field where they were just swathing some canola that we will be picking up...it was looking not too bad. The wheat that the cows had gotten into down the road was a different matter.  After we were done gabbing, we started north to make Great Bend, Kansas for the night...and made it there at 11pm.

We slept in this morning...til 7am...we knew we would make good time not pulling anything and being able to go after dark. First stop of the day?  Nope...not Great Wall China Buffet...the next best thing. We went to check on our combine which was sitting out at Straub's International, where it had been taken to get the pre-delivery inspection done. After checking in with Elwin, the service manager, we were on our way...at least out of Great Bend.

We stopped out to see Ken and Kevin, but no one was home. After touring a few of the fields, we got a call from Mandy, Kevin's wife, who told us Ken was on his way back to the farm, so we doubled back for a visit. After a chat to get caught up, we left and just as we were heading down the road, we met Kevin, so we stopped to bend his ear before taking off.


Al pulled the first shift driving, then Marilyn took over through Nebraska. It was bit warmer out and we had a south wind, although it was so light it didn't make much difference.  Just wait until we bring the high profile loads...you can pretty much count on a brisk south wind. No jinx.

We stopped in Bassett to drop off the bottle jack at the tire shop, then went out to Sandhill Equipment to pay our tab for the service call...very reasonable. After that we were Selby, South Dakota bound.

Marilyn was able to get online off and on with the MiFi...sketchy service in a lot of places.  While checking in on Facebook, she came across some pictures that a friend of hers had posted from her recent trip to New York City.  Teresa was celebrating her 50th birthday this year and had planned last fall to take this trip with her girlfriends.  Marilyn was really excited to be able to go, even though it was precariously close to harvest time...this is someplace that she has dreamed of going forever, it seems. As time drew closer, it was apparent that she would not be able to go...even though it would only be from Thursday to Monday. So now she has to make due with Teresa's pictures and stories...until next year, at least.  Plans are in the works to go early in April...this time,for sure.

So now we have gone 2035 miles and have driven for 44 hours...apparently New York is only 1953 miles from Yorkton...hmmm...