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View of the day-A beautiful, peaceful morning at the Stockton City Park, as we get ready to hook up and move north...too bad it didn't last.
We got the camper hooked up and headed over to get the Freightliner started so it could air up. Al had to add some oil to the Freight...a daily job, since it tends to burn a lot...then we were on our way. We nicely climbed the hill out of Stockton and were just getting up to speed on the highway, when Marilyn got a call from Al..."hold on, I think we have a problem here...a BIG problem'. Marilyn thought a tire had blown, but once Al got pulled over and up behind the camper, it was pretty clear that it wasn't just a flat tire. The Freight was bleeding out.
Al got it shut down and we surveyed the situation and figured out our options. Al remembered seeing a big tow truck at the north end of Phillipsburg, which was only about 15 miles up the road, so the plan was to leave the Freight where it sat, take the camper in to Phillipsburg and park it, find the number for the tow truck, then head up to Ansley, NE to get the General. We put up the hazard markers on the highway around the Freight, and put the plan into action.
We found a spot for the camper at the RV park just as you get into town, and after getting it parked and the A/C running, we headed north. The tow truck...Big Buck...was parked just where Al remembered, and we were able to get the phone number off the side of it and give the guy a call. He said he was available, so we told him we were going to get the other truck to take over the tractor and cart load, and would call him when we were 20 minutes out of Phillipsburg and he could meet us out at the Freightliner.
We boogied up to Ansley, only 130 miles, unhooked the combine, fueled the Dodge and headed back to Phillipsburg with both trucks. You would think after all these trips it would feel shorter, but it was just the opposite...Al's favorite line is "Did they move this town??". We called the tow guy just as we were getting close to the KS/NE border and Marilyn just passed Big Buck as he was leaving the shop. We got out to the Freight and took another look at things.
Brandon, our savior for the day, checked things over and commenced to hooking up the Freight...and he got very dirty...as did we all. That truck is like "pigpen" from Peanuts, only it's the people that walk by that get dirty.
After getting it hooked up, he still had to take the drive shaft off, but he was able to move his load far enough ahead so that we could get the General hooked up to the trailer. We got that done, just as Brandon was finished with the Freightliner, so he went on his way back to the shop with it and we started back north again...this time only as far as Alma, NE...only 25 miles one way.
Al figured it would be a good idea to move at least across the border, to avoid...things, that might be open during the day...if you get the drift. It's been a while since the General pulled the grain cart...a while back, that was normal. We got to the truck stop at Alma, fueled up the General, got it parked with the rest of the big rigs, then started back to Phillipsburg for supper at the Pizza Hut.
Tomorrow we get the verdict...Brandon said those holes are too big to patch...
View of the day-The last load leaves the bins at Timken....but will he make the corner with the long load?
The plan was to be at the bins by 9am, but with no heavy schedule, it turned out to be, get out of bed by 9am. Al went and paid the camping bill...$9/night...that was a bonus! Marilyn got the dish ready to load under the camper...fits like a dream...then Al got all the outside stuff broken down and Marilyn tied down the innards.
We hit the bins and while we waited for the General and combine trailer to air up, Marilyn tried to "Mickey Mouse" together a monitor for the backup camera, with no luck. Al figured we could work on it another time and he would just go without it this trip...the roads were plenty wide.
We encountered a few wind turbine blades being moved down the highway. They aren't wide, but they are a really long load, which means lots of pilot cars, front and back. We were meeting them on the straight-a-way, but as we got to the overpass on the interstate, we could see that we weren't the only ones using the back road across from the 183 highway.
Marilyn let Al know that there were a couple more blades coming his way, so he pulled over about a half mile back of the bridge to wait. This picture is of the first one coming over the bridge and the next one is the second one pulling across the highway to somehow back around the corner and straighten out to follow the other truck...something to see, all right.
The heat was on us again, hitting 100ºF for part of the afternoon and we thought we would try to go as far as Ansley, NE. First, we stopped in Stockton, parking out by the Freightliner and header at the fair grounds...along with several other harvesters. We took the pickup and camper over to the town park to see if there was a spot for us to park for the night. There was, so we got the rig set up, plugged in and cooling, then went back to the fair ground.
Marilyn got hooked up to the header trailer and we headed north to Ansley. We were doing so well, until just south of Holdrege, NE. We were rounding the curve into town, when there was an explosion...Marilyn knew it was a tire on the header trailer...and Al could see the shrapnel flying, so we pulled over right away.
Al sent Marilyn into town while he got the trailer jacked up and, what was left of the tire, removed. He told her to go to the Cenex on the east end of town, which she did and when she went in...at 3:57pm, and asked for a tire, they said "sorry, there's no way, we just sent the guys home and have started on our paperwork"...Seriously?! After asking where else she could go, they gave her directions to Orscheln's on the other side of town.
She went over and they were only to happy to put a new tire on the rim. The tire that we were getting repaired was that "fine looking" spare that we had been hauling around in the back of the pickup. Al figured we might as well get that replaced and use it, after Marilyn called him to give him the news that there was a tire, he asked if they had another one and we would just get the shredded one replaced at the same time. They had another one, so Marilyn went back out to the header trailer and got the other tire. The man had her back out at the truck with both tires in under 30 minutes! This is the town we got the last tire for the header trailer on the way down...no jinx.
Once she got back there, Al was ready to put the new tire on, but discovered the jack was already as high as it would go...which wasn't high enough to to get the tire lined up to the lugs. Time to get the shovel and dig a trench. That did the job, and we were ready to roll once again.
We nicely got into town and had to wait at the stop lights as another part of a wind turbine was making the corner. We had no idea how he was going to do that without hitting any street signs, when someone came out and just pulled the sign out of the cement. Apparently they must have to do that a lot, but it was something else to see how the back pusher rig worked the end of that tower piece around the corner.
The rest of the trip was uneventful...thankfully...and we were in Ansley and parked well before dark. We fueled up, grabbed a drink and started back for Stockton. We stopped in Holdrege to have our one meal for the day at McDonald's, then stopped for dessert at...you guessed it...Sonic, for a shake.
We drove back to Stockton, got cleaned up and called it a day...a pretty productive day.
Didn't we tell you something's bound to happen...?
View of the day-Well, it isn't today, unless you want to see the inside of a Walmart. No, it's a picture of a self propelled grain cart. They are scans from photos, so the quality isn't that great, but you get the idea.
This rig was made by Bob Lemieux out of a airport pumper truck. Bob and his wife Janie(Marilyn's cousin) were on the harvest run in the 80's, then took 20 year's off before getting back into it after their kids were grown.
Bob likes to build things, so he went to work on this unit and it got the job done until they decided to lay off the harvesting and got rid of their Gleaners and the SP grain cart.
It's unfortunate that on a two blog day, one of them has to suffer, but tomorrow we move on.
Something is bound to happen...
View of the day-Al has a tight corner to make leaving the bins.
We woke up to a good south wind, so after grabbing a snack at McDonalds, we headed out to the bins to get ready for the first move. Al got the big trucks fueled up from the slip tank, then we hooked the straight head behind the pickup. Once the Freightliner was aired up,we were on our way.
The wind really helped and it almost felt like we should have gone further, but we went with our original plan and stopped when we got parked in Stockton...we got nowhere to be, so a two hour drive is far enough.
After taking a pit stop, we struck out on the road again, this time heading west of Stockton towards Col by, about 100 miles. We were hard pressed to see a field that hadn't been combined all the way from Great Bend...no work to be found here.
There were a lot of combines parked in the area and we were amazed at the width of the tires on this combine.
We got to Colby and stopped at the CaseIH dealer to chat with the ProHarvest guys about the camera issues. After about 30 minutes of working on the problem, Marilyn felt like she had enough things to try to get it working.
As we were leaving, we ran into Lynn and Gerry Prevost, harvesters from Rose Valley, Saskatchewan. Part of the reason for the road trip was to meet up with them for a mid harvest visit...and to take in the fireworks. Marilyn had a bit of shopping to do...pop was on sale for the 4th, so we needed to stock up. After shopping was completed, we went over to the campground to check out Lynn and Gerry's new motorhome...very nice.
We were invited to go out for a supper at Jim Diebert's farm, on the outskirts of Colby. Jim has been a custom harvester for several years and is one of the harvesters being highlighted in the Great American Wheat Harvest Movie documentary.
It was pot luck and, as they usually are, it was delicious. We got lots of visiting in and got to meet a lot of new friends.
Part of the promotion of the Great American Wheat Harvest Movie was a visit from Teresa Scanlon, Miss America 2011. She has been a big part of promoting the film and has made several appearances on behalf of the documentary as you can see from the promo.
A lot of the crews that were there had their pictures taken with Teresa...the guys seemed to really enjoy that! This is the Prevost crew.
We said our goodbyes and went back to Lynn and Gerry's camp spot to watch the fireworks, which were being set of right next to the campers in the fair ground.
It was a great display...always too short...and there were a lot of "side shows" with purchases from the various fireworks sales tents that were set up around the city.
Once all the action was over, it was time to head back to Great Bend...a 170 mile drive.
We stopped at Sonic for our usual nightcap. Big mistake...we waited forever...30 minutes for two shakes. So now we were really behind and Marilyn hadn't brought the laptop, so the blog didn't get uploaded...we didn't get home until 2am.
But the bonus is two blogs today...
View of the day-All units loaded and ready for action...well, to move, at least.
We had an early lunch, then Marilyn took the new camera that we had bought in to the CaseIH dealer to get tested. She had power up to the camera, but for some reason, the monitor in the combine was just coming up with a black screen where the picture should be. They hooked the camera up to their monitor to see if that was the problem in the situation...it worked fine, so at least we could eliminate that.
We went out to the bins to do a bit of cleaning and get the machines loaded. We had another perfect day...mid 80's and a brisk south wind at the top of the hill. Not brisk enough to keep the wasps away, but good enough to keep us cooled down.
First thing on the list was to get the header loaded on the high speed transport trailer. That went smoothly and while Al got it strapped down, Marilyn blew off the combine.
Then it was time to load the tractor and cart, but Al had a bit of fixing to do on the Freightliner before we could get going. One of the rubber straps that hold the battery box cover had broken, so he had to find another one to replace it. Once he got that repaired, we started loading.
After the Freight load was chained down and lights tested, we moved over to the combine. Marilyn drove it up on the trailer, with Al's guidance and we got it right the first time, so we got it chained down and hooked up to the General. Then we battened down the tools in the shop trailer and got it lined up to hook up behind the combine trailer...that was a one shot back-up deal, too. We were on a roll.
Marilyn tried to see if she could get the camera working...still nothing. Then she was going to get the old camera set up for Al to see behind the General, but the monitor wasn't working due to the cable end coming off. No problem, she thought, we will just borrow the monitor from the tractor's setup. Wrong. for some reason, every cable has to have a different end and none of them are interchangable. She will come up with another plan, since the General won't be moving until Saturday.
We came back to town, got cleaned up and went out for supper with Ken, Karen, Kevin, Mandy, Maitland, Maddy and Macy. We had a good visit and a delicious supper at Applebee's, then it was back to the camper for the night.
The wind had wreaked havoc with the awning over one of the slides and had pulled out about 18 inches of the cording that holds the awning in the channel. Marilyn had been trying to figure out a way to get it back in the channel, but it was kind of tough to do, since the awning was about a foot below the roof line and was under tension to keep it tight. Marilyn discovered if she stood on the awning about six inches from the start of where the cording had pulled out, it would give just enough slack to get the cord back in...with some "love taps" from a small hammer. It put her in a better position to do the tapping, too.
With that job done, it was time to call it a night. Tomorrow we will be moving the Freight and header up to Stockton and parking it there until we decide how far we are going with the second load. The we might take a side trip to Colby to celebrate July 4 with a bunch of our harvesting friends.
Should be a great time...
View of the day-The fleet is lined up and waiting to be cleaned and loaded...all in good time.
We had a list of things to get done today. First on the list was getting the new dish working..."I told you so" bragging rights were on the line. We got it unloaded off the pickup and set out for aiming. Once Marilyn got all the cables run, we turned it on and let it do it's thing. It took about 10 minutes and the satellites were locked in.
The receiver showed good signal, but only some of the channels were coming in. After spending a lot of time with tech support, it was discovered that the satellite company had to send down some programming to have the receiver recognize the new dish. Then we were in. Marilyn will hold off on the "I told you so" until the next set-up.
We went out to settle up with Ken and Kevin, then went out to the bins to do a bit of cleaning and get some fueling and fixing done. Marilyn is still working on the new camera...all kinds of power, but no picture. She will be taking it in to the dealer to see if it is functioning as it should, then it will be back to square one.
The weather has been absolutely gorgeous...in the 80's just the right amount of wind and it will be like that for the next few days. This will be a nice change from last week and will make the clean up, somewhat less painful.
We don't have to rush anywhere, but we would like to get moved before the heat turns on again. The discussion is on between moving a little at a time to break the move up, or taking the usual big moves to get it over with.
We'll see how it goes...
View of the day-The new dish is in transport, ready for moving.
Not a real heavy schedule today. We got to sleep in and after doing few things around the camper, went out for lunch before heading back to Cherokee, OK.
The day was perfect for driving...and pretty much anything else outdoors...mild temps and not much wind. We got to Cherokee and the first stop was out to Burlington Welding to get settled up for the job that R.L. did on the grain cart hoops.
Next stop was to head over to the Coop to get the fuel bill looked after. We had to leave in such a hurry on a Sundays, that we left a few ends untied.
The last stop was over at John and Peggy to get the new dish that Winegard had sent out to replace the old faulty one. After getting that, we went back out to the farm to swap it out on the mountain...and test it out.
We got the old one off and managed to get the new one bolted down and the dish mounted without to much discussion. Then it was time for the test. We rolled it to the south door of the shop, plugged it in and hit the start button.
In about Five minutes, tops, it had locked onto both satellites. Success! Then we tried the "stowing" function to put it away. Success!! Marilyn does not want to jinx anything so we have to wait until we get back to the camper to give it the "Al" test.
We wanted to have a final supper with Jay and Terri Leeper, to thank them for helping us get the canola acres, so we made a date for 7:30. Since it was later, we didn't rush getting the dish together.
We got the old dish repacked and labeled for return, then went back to John's to drop it off for UPS pickup. We had an ice tea break and a good visit before heading over to the SmokShak at Ingersoll.
John and Peggy joined us for supper, then while we were waiting,we got a call from the Leepers that they couldn't make it. We were sad that we wouldn't get to have a good gab with them, but work waits for no one...and we understood that completely. We had a delicious meal and more of a visit with John and Peggy, then started back for Great Bend...via Alva. We needed get our Sonic fix in.
Marilyn decided to go out on a limb and try a new flavor of shake...Peanut Butter & Bacon. Sounds bad, but it was deeelish...sweet, salty and crunchy...and you can't go wrong with bacon. Ever. And then we continued driving back to Great Bend.
Tomorrow we find out who has bragging rights...
