Thursday, July 15, 2010

July 15, 2010


View of the day-It would appear you can go a long way on a rim.

We were up at the usual time and got the combine loaded after several tries…we just can’t seem to find the sweet spot the first time…or even the second or third time. After we got it flanged in and had everything road ready we went into Winner to pay the fuel bill and return the phone company’s modem.

We stopped for lunch at McDonalds…a safer bet than Pizza Hut, then went out to Runnings so Marilyn could pick up another 4 solar flowers that she had found there the other day. We paid off our fuel bill then went looking for the phone guys, hoping they were back from lunch.

We got to the phone service office to drop off the modem and Marilyn talked to the guy who had installed the DSL last year. He asked if she remembered him telling her last year to keep the modem until next year, then she wouldn’t have to wait for them to come out to hook it up. Marilyn did remember, but thought the modem she had kept was for Gettysburg…old age is creeping up.

We went back to Hamill and finished getting the camper sealed up for the trip and after hooking up the shop trailer behind the camper, we were on our way. We had a slow crawl under the interstate while we made sure the new combine was low enough on the trailer to make it underneath the bridge…it was. After crossing the dam at Fort Thompson and getting out of the valley, we decided to drive extra slow on the rough road so the contents of the camper didn’t end up everywhere. A lot of people were passing us…none of them good Samaritans apparently.

We had just pulled into Highmore when Al was a few blocks behind Marilyn and said “either the road is really slanted or the shop trailer has a flat.” Marilyn can only occasionally see the tires behind the camper and didn’t notice anything…and Al never noticed any “shrapnel” from a blown tire…and not one person who passed us tried to wave us down. Luckily we were only a few blocks from the CaseIH dealership right at 5pm and there was a tire shop in the building, so Marilyn limped the trailer in to see if we could get it fixed.

As you can see by the picture, by this time we also needed a new rim…fortunately they had everything we needed. We ended up using the contents of the shop to jack up, remove and install the new tire by ourselves…but at least we were able to carry on our way.

We got to Gettysburg in better time than yesterday, probably due to the change in direction of the wind to the SW …or lack of wind altogether. After getting the General parked by the Freightliner and the shop unhooked, we proceeded over to the campground to get settled in. Marilyn tried to get the dish aimed but for some reason Gettysburg has always been a nightmare to get signal. After about 45 minutes, we bailed…partly due to the hungry flies that were removing flesh in great amounts.

The Firehouse restaurant has closed…can’t find employees, a strange thing in this economy…and the Rock is only open until 2:30pm for the same reason. At least the VFW is open every night so we don’t have to live on pizza…and they make great burgers and steaks…so that is where we dined and had a good chat with the wife of one of our farmers, who works there.

Al talked to her husband before we left for supper and he is in the thick of combining so we will be unloading and getting right to work tomorrow. Gettysburg is supposed to be the carrot that dangles in front of us throughout Oklahoma and Kansas as the place where we end up sitting for days on end waiting for crops to ripen and getting a well needed rest. Oh well…shut up and drive.

Down to the library for internet…

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