3. The preparation...

Once we were all settled in at the campground...satellite dish aimed, phone hooked up, internet set up (dial-up...yeesh, talk about roughing it), it was time to get the fleet field-ready. Although the combine had been left spotless after the Canadian fall harvest, Al found it necessary to take it back to North Dakota for sunflower harvest, and not bother cleaning up after himself. Fortunately, we ran into some rain during the move which did soften up the crud, and it only took two hours of pressure washing to get it back into shape. A day was spent cleaning cabs, windows and truck boxes, then making sure all grease points were sufficiently lubed, it was then a waiting game. The crops in the area were still a bit on the green side, since the weather had been unseasonably cool through April.