August 30, 2013

View of the day-Al coming down the winding road from the farm at Menoken, ND after the fog finally lifted.

We got up early, but when we saw the thick fog, figured we might as well fit another hour of sleep in...we wouldn't be able to move with a wide load in this pea soup.

After we got up, Al took a run into Bismarck to grab some "beverage" from the bottle shop that was closed when Marilyn finished her shopping marathon last night. While he was gone, she started packing up the camper, so it would be ready to go when he got back.

After Al's return, we went out to the General at the farm, where Al stayed to wait for the air system to fill before leaving the field.  Marilyn went back to the campground, got hooked up and waited for Al to show. We were ready to leave North Dakota.

We stopped in Wilton again to fuel up the trucks, then continued straight on to the border. Marilyn took a short break to drop off a six-pack of "beverage" to the guys at Mertes Implements who graciously let us park there yesterday. Then, it was on to the crapshoot at the border.

We don't have to stop on the USA side anymore, so the Canadian side was the only concern. We were through there in under 4 minutes, then we were Carlyle bound. We got to the farm around 3pm, local time, and while Marilyn got the camper parked, Al got the General unhooked from the load.

We had a quick chat with Kim, before heading back for the second load. We had originally thought we would go back on Saturday, but since we were closer to the border and it was still early, so we "turned and burned".

We had to cross the USA side and while Al was able to get into the "commercial lane"...and he was first in line...Marilyn had to wait behind 4 motorcycles and two vehicles. They were pretty thorough with the bikers, so Al had a pretty good head start back to Bowbells.

By the time Marilyn got to the lot, Al had already lined up the General and was in the tractor, lifting the trailer to get it hooked up. We got that done in no time at all, then hooked up the header trailer and started back north again.

This time the Canadian border had the lineup, so we had to wait about 5 minutes, then he sent us on our way again. Another trip over the pitiful Saskatchewan roads and we were back in the farmyard by 6pm. 

We had supper in the house with Kim, Marg and Gordie, then finished hooking up the camper. Everything present and accounted for in Canada.

Except the Freightliner...