June 24, 2013

View of the day-Al’s turn to drive on to the trailer as he lines up the tractor.

We were up early and not looking forward to loading and driving again, especially if it was going to be as hot as it was yesterday.  There were clouds in the sky, so we at least had that and it wasn’t really hot, but that south wind was as strong as ever.

We got the camper all closed up and ready for hookup while the Freightliner was airing up. We got out to the trailer and Al drove the tractor on the trailer, we chained it down, then got the Freight flanged in and that load was ready for moving.  Thankfully the clouds stayed for the better part of the day, keeping the heat down to the upper 80’s.

Al parked the Freight on the street and we went back to the farm to get the camper, then it was go time. We had a few sprinkles here and there along the way, but the wind and clouds made Al pretty happy…well, as happy as he can be driving the Freight in the summer. 

We got to Great Bend, left the Freight in a parking lot and went to get the camper set up at the RV park. There was only 30amp power at the usual spot we stay at, but Leo had 50amp along the east side of his shop a half a block away, so we decided that would be just fine. Once the camper was set up, we went for breakfast…at 2:30pm…we had no time to stop and eat this morning.

We got moved out to the bins, unloaded the tractor and cart, then found out where our first field was.  We had to drive about 10 miles, so Al drove the combine with the header and Marilyn followed in the tractor.  We got to the field as Ken and Kevin showed up with their semi and pickup, so Al went back with them to get the General and Ken drove our pickup back to the field.  Marilyn started combining and kept an eye on the sky…it was getting really dark to the SE and the wind was getting wilder all the time.

She was working on a 45 acre patch and Al was hauling to a bin back in Ken’s yard, but the wind got so crazy, it wasn’t save to have the auger set up, so unloading was out of the question for the night.  It tried to rain quite a few times and along with the blowing dust, the combine windows were a nasty mess…the squeegee will have it’s work cut out for it tomorrow.  Marilyn got the cart filled, then we quit for the night.

We got back to Great Bend and had to get some groceries and fuel for the combine, so Al left Marilyn at Walmart, while he went for fuel.  We were going to stop at Arby’s for a late snack but they were closed already, so it was a Sonic malt for supper.  We have to stockpile because once we leave southern Nebraska, we won’t see another Sonic.

Back at the camper, we checked the weather and it looked like we managed to miss the heavy stuff, it was all to the south of us.  Tomorrow will be an early start as we don’t have the luxury of walking out the door and being in the field…it’s about a 20 mile drive to the field.

At least we are back in the high speed internet zone…