Saturday September 20th - Left at daybreak for Hydro Oklahoma. One of Duane's trucks had trouble so it was just 3 house trailers and one semi, so we made good time. Arrived at about 6 pm, total miles from Hamer Idaho was 1300. It was fun coming back through alot of the towns we spent time working in.

Sunday September 21st - Daune's guys wanted to wait till he got back, so we didn't leave for Nebraska till about 830 that night. Kurk drove all night up to Seward NE which was about 500 miles. The other two of us slept so we could drive in the morning.

Monday September 22nd - Left Seward NE at daybreak and ran hard all day to some town, that I can't remember how to spell, just east of Chicago IL. I was driving the 53 ft with the tractor and grain cart. the only other truck left to go home was one with a combine. They were both 12 ft wide. It was interesting coming through Chicago with a wide load.

Tuesday September 23rd - Left at daybreak again. Hoped to make it home but got about an hour away when it got dark on us, so we parked the trucks and drove the pickup home. It was really fun coming back into PA and starting to reconize places and seeing the tomato trucks rolling on 11-15. The corn also got just a bit bigger since I last saw it peaking through the ground. The smells of hogs, cows, and chickens also remined us that we really were back home. I got back on the Charles Farm around 9 pm.

Well now that my journey has come to an end I want to thank all of you for following along as I ran around in the huge western part of our country. It was a great expirence seeing how farmers farm in the different areas we worked in. Hopfully I provided a little window for you all to look through to see what life is like on the wheat harvest.

Monday September 15th - Split up the combines to finish up by Tuesday night. I ran cart all day. The truck I had been driving all summer left for home with one of the combines.

Tuesday September 16th - Finished cutting today!!!! No more wheat, hard to believe.

Wednesday September 17th - Loaded up what we could. The local case dealer has some interest in the combines so we can’t load them up till we hear from them.

Thursday September 18th - They didn’t want the combines so we loaded them up, which consisted in taking all the tires off the combines so they would be under 12 ft wide. Got everything loaded up and left by 3 pm. I was driving the Duramax w/the 45 ft house trailer which is going to Hydro Oklahoma. I am them comeing back up to Nebraska to drive a truck in to Pa. Got about 180 miles to the town of Pinedale WY.

Friday September 19th - Left at day break. Spilt midway through the day at Kimball NE. I went with Salgells to Holyoke CO. Drove about 550 miles today.

Tuesday September 9th - Well I got two more tractors to ad to the list which is now up to 12. A 2008 John Deere 8530 with the front suspension, IVT tranny, leather seat that was all automatic and rode really nice. It was like cadilac in the tractor world. All said and done it cost the farmer 240,000 dollars to buy. I must say that was the best tractor I ran, JD has Case beat this time. The other one was another MX 285. So I ran cart all day and then at about 9 at night us trucker got to go load our trucks for the Falls, so its back to trucking for me. We have two machines back on Larsens wheat so that is why we get to truck again.


I put a bunch more pics up, check em out.

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=28749&l=104d1&id=618059555

Tuesday August 26th - Hauled loads to the Falls and spent the night there to be the first in line. 3 loads=2,453 bu. Total=56 loads=51,367 bu.

Wednesday August 27th - Finished up with Larson’s winter wheat and moved the combines to several different farms. 3 loads=1995 bu. Total=56 loads=53,362 bu.

Thursday August 28th - Ran grain cart all day. Got too drive a MX285, pretty nice tractor.

Friday August 29th - Ran cart again all day.

Saturday August 30th - Ran cart again.

Sunday August 31st - Went to church and had a fellowship meal there. Came back, relaxed and then went back into town for the evening.

Monday September 1st - Rained overnight so we puttzed around the trailers all day. Watched movies and played card games. Actually had off on Labor Day, imagine that.

Tuesday September 2nd - Still didn’t dry out enough to cut so got the combines ready to roll and that’s about it.

Wednesday September 3rd - The two combines I was with got to cutting by 10, the rest didn’t really get going at all. Ran cart for most of the day and then got to run combine for about an hour and half. Actually running the 7010 is pretty easy just knowing all the small adjustments is what takes a little longer to figure out.

Thursday September 4th - Blew out the radiator on my truck and ran some grain cart.

Friday September 5th - Moved to another farmer and then ran grain cart the rest of the day. Was running a John Deere 8420 with tracks on it. That was interesting.

Saturday September 6th - Let the other guys run cart so I just hung around the trailers and went to town for some stuff.

Sunday September 7th - Went to church, Chilies, the mall, Wal-Mart, the trailer, the movie theater, McDonalds, and back to the trailer.

Monday September 8th - Brought the cart back from Rexburg to Hamer and then ran it the rest of the day. The list of tractors I ran this year is up to ten. Case IH 7140, 8950, MX 230, MX 270, 3 different MX 285s, John Deere 8130 w/IVT tranny, 8420 with tracks, and an 8400.

here is a video for ya.

Try these links to some photos. I am having trouble uploading pics on blogger so see if this works. Not sure if its going to work or not so don't get your hopes up.

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=19486&l=aa49c&id=618059555

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=24685&l=b819b&id=618059555

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=28749&l=104d1&id=618059555

Tuesday August 19th - Today was not the best. Started the morning at 7 and left for Idaho Falls, came back and Clarks combine broke so Eric went to fix that so I drove the grain cart he was running. The cart has an John Deere tractor hooked to it. I got that all figured out and went to unload and sheared the shear bolt on the auger. Fixed that and tried again and sheared another one, so I cracked the auger, made a mess, fixed it again and then it worked. About two hours later I was still running cart and the pin broke and I no longer had a cart behind me. Clark was there by then to run it so I could take another load so we fixed that up and I hit he road for the Falls. I knew I was about a 1,000 pds over weight so I wasn’t really surprised when the red light came on and I had to stop. Turns out he thought that my max weight was 76,500 and I was 80,000. I was told I was legal to 79,000 so I’m not sure were the mix up was. He didn’t fine me though so I didn’t argue to much about it. Got 2 loads=1,685 bu. Total=36 loads=34,795 bu.

Wednesday August 20th - Left at six for the falls and hauled two loads till ten. On my third load I had a tire blow out on my way back. The cap came off and wrapped up around my bumper taking my mud flap off, two tail lights, and half my license plate. Took a little while to fix everything but we finally got it going again. Hauled two more loads in and then went back down and spent the night in my truck so I could get an early start. 5 loads=4,103 bu. Total= 41 loads=38,898 bu.

Thursday August 21st - Fueled up and was at the elevator by seven. Hauled four loads and took another down for an early start. A few of the combines had trouble so that is why I didn’t have as many loads today. Was waiting to get loads in lines of seven trucks sometimes. 4 loads= 3,350 bu. Total=45 loads=42,248 bu.

Friday August 22nd - For today I really know of anything of any interest which happens when I what till Monday to write about Friday. Got 3 loads=2,468 bu. Total=48 loads=44,716 bu.

Saturday August 23rd - Hauled one load in the morning and then jumped in the grain cart because I was last in line out of our trucks. We it turned out I ran the cart for about 4 hours till someone was available to run the cart. So I only got 2 loads today=1,717 bu. Total=50 loads=46,433 bu.

Sunday August 24th - Went to a different church today, Christ Community Church. Stayed in Idaho Falls till early evening. Went to the mall and caught a movie and then went back to the trailer houses and did basically nothing.

Monday August 25th - Hauled three loads to Idaho Falls. Waited in long lines all day.
3 loads=2,481 bu. Total=53 loads=48,914