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View of the day-A group of "supervisors" unloading a semi at the elevator in Sterling, ND.
We got to sleep in a bit, which was a good thing for Marilyn anyway. The internet connection at the rest stop is just slightly better than dial-up so it took a while to upload. That, and a finicky laptop battery that just seems to last long enough to get the basics done, but not any extra curricular surfing. Laundry also took until 2am again, but when you're a night person, it doesn't hit you til the morning.
We went over to the trailers and started to change the engine fan blade out with the new one we purchased yesterday. It went surprisingly well, we didn't have to remove any extra pieces to get the old one out, or the new one in. Bolting it into place was a bit of a task, since you needed to have four hands to get things lined up, but there was only room for two and a half. After a bit of cursing, we got it together, tested it out and it worked like new. We wanted to change the strut that broke and caused all the problems, but we apparently had lost the extra ball and socket bolt we had purchased, so that didn't get done.
Once the fixing was done, we got the combine cleaned up a bit and then loaded it on the trailer, got it hooked up and ready to roll. We just had to hook the Freight up to the tractor and cart trailer, since we hadn't needed it and never unloaded it. We took the Freight and straight header to the truck stop at Sterling and dropped them off, and returned for the combine and shop trailer. Marilyn dropped the shop off at the campground so it would be ready to hook to the camper when we leave, and then went back to Sterling to hook the header back up and take it to Tuttle. Al headed right down the interstate to Sterling to meet Marilyn, then started north to Tuttle, about 35 miles.
We parked the combine load and header in a farm yard and went into town to confirm our camping reservation. There is a gravel crushing outfit just out of town, so there are extra campers pulling in and out all the time, so it is a crap shoot whether we will get our usual spot. We went back to Menoken via Bismarck which was a bit out of the way, but we had to get at least one steak buffet in before we moved out to the petunias. While we were having our dessert, Al's phone rang and it was someone looking for a harvester for 90 acres of standing wheat. We might be able to get to it after we finish the barley, but it will mean moving the combine back to Sterling, but then, it's what we do.
The sky is lit up with lightning to the north and it is starting to sprinkle and rumble, so we could be in for something before the night is out.
Best get to the internet connection before the road gets to wet...
View of the day-A couple named Al & Marilyn found in a flower bed at Pingree, ND. Honestly named that in honor(?) of Al's impression on the owner.
Marilyn's shopping excursion lasted until 2:30am so when the alarm went off at 8am, getting the eyes open was a bit tough. The sound of rain and thunder was also a wake up call, one that seemed to be coming a regular event.
We went to Sterling to meet fellow harvesters Lynn and Gerry Prevost for breakfast and get caught up on the happenings throughout the season so far. All the while we were there the rain came down, so we made short work of a few pots of coffee.
We left Sterling to go to Pingree, which should have been about 90 miles, but we had to make a couple of slight detours, to see the farmer at our next stop, and pick up some parts at two different CaseIH dealers. We checked things out at Tuttle, which was 25 miles north of Sterling. There we have150 acres of barley to cut straight, but it had rained so we had a bit of grace to get a few things fixed on the combine.
We headed north from Tuttle to the Case IH dealer in Harvey, about 45 miles, to pick up the replacement strut from the engine hood, that had fallen into the engine fan. We carried on from there to Fessenden, another 18 miles, to the CaseIH dealer to pick up the engine fan and some filters. From there we continued on to Pingree another 55 miles, making the trip about 30 miles longer than if we had gone straight from Tuttle.
We did get to see what the rain had done around the Fessenden area, where they had gotten over six inches of rain on Friday night...get the canoe out. We got to have a good visit with friends there, and got the heads up on what our fall harvest there would be like. We have sunflowers to combine in October, so this blog will be going on for a while yet!
After stopping for supper at the 281 Stop, and talking to another harvester from Canada, we started back to Menoken. After checking out our namesakes in the flower garden and getting a few veggies out of the garden (with permission, of course).
The day had one interesting coincidence...Lynn and Marilyn were discussing a history book they were trying to put together, and Marilyn had taken out a book from the library several years ago Custom Combining on the Great Plains. The book had been published by the Western Producer in Canada, and was about 30 years old. Marilyn had searched the internet to get a copy for her own library, without any luck, even doing a search of the author to try and get some more information. She did have the library copy of the book and gave it to Lynn at breakfast, to use to get some information for the book.
We stopped at Carrington to purchase some much needed sunglasses, and after Marilyn came out of the Dollar store with a bag of them(we won't be squinting again), Al said there was a message at home from someone who was doing a story on custom combining. The message said he was working on the Canadian harvester chapter he was planning to include, and wanted to speak with us. Marilyn listened to the message and when the gentleman spelled his name...
...it was the author of the original book!!!!!!!
What a rush!! He is planning on coming out to talk to some of the Canadian harvesters in the area in the next week. There will be more in the blog later. For now, it's back out to the rest stop to upload this entry.
Then back to finish the laundry...
View of the day-The combine waits along sunflowers for the wheat to get dry.
Once again we were roused to the sound of thunder, rain and very dense fog. Just what we didn't need with only 35 acres left to go. We talked to a couple of other harvesters who were over at Sterling, and made plans to meet for coffee after church.
Al and the farmer took the loads from the night before into the elevator, while Marilyn fueled and serviced the combine, then cut a sample to see how long the wait would be. The sun was trying to break out, but the wind was pretty much non-existent, which really doesn't help the drying down. It was testing 14.5% moisture, so it was surprisingly close, but the elevator wouldn't take it that wet.
We tried it again around 2:00 and it was close enough to start and with only 35 acres left to go, everyone was getting antsy. The last swath was cut by 6:30 and that field was a wrap. While Al was hauling his last load in, Marilyn loaded the straight header on the trailer and got the pickup head back on and hooked up to the combine.
The farmers wife brought out a fried chicken feed to celebrate their wheat harvest conclusion, and after supper we headed back over the interstate to the campground. We never did see our company from Sterling, but we hope to maybe meet there for breakfast tomorrow.
Al got the evening off to watch his "Ice Road Truckers" on the History channel, and Marilyn finally got to go into Bismarck to get a hit of Walmart air.
Tomorrow we do a parts run north to Fessenden and Pingree...
View of the day-Al says "Same S**T Different Pile"! Pile of spring wheat at the elevator in Sterling, ND.
Al got up early and went to Sterling to get fuel for the combine, then we went over to the field. We didn't get the forecasted rain during the nigh but it was still overcast so we couldn't start early. Marilyn serviced the combine while Al hauled the load into Sterling, then the plan was to go into Bismarck for more fuel and a few parts at the Case dealer.
We did a test before heading in to town and it was low enough to combine, so Al combined while Marilyn went into Bismarck. Once Marilyn got back with the parts and lunch, she took over and combined for the rest of the day.
The elevator stopped letting the guys back up to the pile to dump which meant they were going to have to sit in the long line ups. The farmer decided to fill one of his bins in the yard, so that helped keep the combine rolling. We combined until after dark, filling two of the trucks after the elevator closed and logged acres then headed back to the campground.
After a shower, a couple of load of laundry and a trip to the "internet", it was lights out.
Tomorrow we finish the field and decide where to go next...
View of the day-The grain cart hides behind the bins in the farmers yard.
We actually got up early enough to go have eggs for breakfast at the Medicine Rock before anything else in town opened up to pay our bills. After that was done, we left town at 9:30am and aimed north to Menoken.
We were about 10 miles south of Sterling, when Marilyn had another tire blow on the camper, it was pretty much shredded by the time we found someplace reasonably safe to pull over to change it. It goes pretty quick with the compressor and impact handy in the shop trailer that's pulled behind the camper, and in 30 minutes we were on our way again.
We stopped at the campground to get the camper parked and then took the combine out to the field. We had to make the short backhaul to Sterling to get the tractor/grain cart and header and take them the 15 miles to the field. Once the combine was unloaded and the pickup head traded for the straight head, Marilyn started combining. The wheat was standing perfectly, the field was flat and a mile long, so there wasn't a lot of turning...or rather there shouldn't have been. Al was driving one truck and the farmer had his own truck so they took turns hauling into Sterling.
The wheat was yielding around 50 bu/ac, so Marilyn couldn't make it down the field and back without being full. There wasn't time to get the tractor/grain cart unloaded, so we were just making due with the two trucks for the rest of the day. They were able to back up to the pile and dump at the elevator, so it went fairly fast, but tomorrow could be a different story.
Marilyn had the farmer's wife ride along for the last round of the night, a first ride in the combine for her. We covered 66 acres, even with moving between states...what a far cry from doing 30 acres in a field a block and a half from the camper.
The only internet access is at the rest stop on the interstate going into Bismarck. Fortunately the rest stop is in the corner of the field we are working on and we can just park along the fence to get hooked up. Otherwise, we have to go into the stop from the interstate highway and the only exit to get turned around and back to the campground is in Bismarck.
Wouldn't that be terrible...
View of the day-The farmer's truck waits for a load of spring wheat for seed.
It's official, we are finished the harvest in South Dakota!
Al got to do the majority of the combining on the last day. Once he had the truck full, Marilyn went out to spell him off and fill the farmers truck with seed.
Once the field was finished, Al took the last load to the elevator and Marilyn blew all the dust and chaff off the combine, before Al moved it back into town. After getting it loaded on the trailer, strapping it down and getting the trailer hooked up to the truck, Marilyn got the pressure washer out and gave the combine a new shine.
Once all the machinery was clean, we got cleaned up and went out for supper. Tomorrow will be an early one and once the bills are paid and the camper is ready to roll, we will be off to Menoken, ND.
We are ready for a change of venue...
View of the day-All that's left in the campground on laundry day.
A new month and we woke up to the sound of thunder at 7:00am, just what we didn't want to hear. It started to rain shortly after and we ended up getting .55 inches of rain-just enough to screw up combining for the day.
We thought we might as well do laundry, apparently the same idea that the remaining harvesters in town had. Our campground has a washer and dryer in the shower house, but since the wind was huffing, we passed on the dryer (it doesn't heat anyway). When you are used to using 5 washers and getting done in a couple of hours, one machine takes a lot longer...just like home.
We did a couple of small jobs on the combine. Putting a new belt on the pickup head, which required bolting all the pickup teeth on to it. We made a couple of brackets to keep the dust caps on the back wheel hubs and changed out a couple of worn bushings on one of the shaker arms.
With the wind blowing and the temperatures in the high 80's we actually decided to try a test around 4:30pm. It tested 15% moisture, so combining was out...hey, we can dream, can't we? The elevator wasn't getting any wheat in from anywhere else that was dry either, so it wasn't just us. With only 60 acres to go, the end seems so close, yet so far, especially when you can't get rolling.
And, they are looking for us up the road...
