Wheat Harvest: The Crew

Here are some of my co-harvesters. I dont have the best pictures for everyone, sorry. I also included what they do and where they are from.

Mel (Boss), Laura (Chef), Tanisha, Ok.

Andy (Co-owner), Combine, OK
Ben (Co-ower), Combine, OK

Kyda (boss's daughter)
Breanna, Combine, Ks.

Me, truck, PA

Jeremy, Combine, Pa

Riley, Combine, Ok.

James, truck, Ky.

Ned, truck, Va.

Adam, Combine, Ne.
Dave, truck, Pa.

Allen, Truck, Pa.

Chad, truck, Pa.

Nate 'fuzzy', Combine, Va.

Junior, truck, Pa.

Matt, Combine, Pa.

Linford, Combine, Pa.

Wheat Harvest: Montana

It is touted as one of Wyoming’s finest resort destinations. Nestled quietly in the beautiful foot hills of the Bighorn mountains this metropolis not only has the wild open west feel too it but also a relaxed everyone-knows-everyone atmosphere. The city of Lost Springs boasts beautiful golf courses, a lovely lake, and close to 1000 hotel suites with verandas that look out onto the lovely Bighorn mountains. The finest restaurants coupled with the hot springs draw close to a million visitors a year, anyone from newlyweds to corporate execs to retires come and enjoy this truly exotic area.

While moving north into Montana we got to drive through this beautiful municipality and enjoy the amazing décor. Apparently the mayor is a very prominent public figure and is engaged in daily life. Here is a picture of the expensive sign that greeted us as we entered the town.

Of course this is all tongue-in-cheek, but I thought it would provide some entertainment.

We are finally in Montana. Enjoy.

When the truckers can't get to the chuckwagon, we deliver.

Chppewa-Cree indian reservation. This is one of the dozens of cattle guards that we cross every day.
"Truck 106 leaving the field and heading down the mountain" is a common phrase used on the radio. It is also a safety feature when on roads like this the passing spots are scarse. Imagine having a 30+ ton truck heading down these roads meeting an empty truck coming up. It might be 100 feet till we stop if we did go off the mountain.

In case you couldn't tell that's an atelope on the sign. Probably in 16 miles there will be another sign. We also see many burned spots like this. Some bigger, some smaller.

Post office of a town similar to Lost Springs. I think the other buildings in this town included a cattle corral and a stock watering tank.

In Hemingford NE, we made the local paper.

Look at the pretty clouds. Well actually it is smoke from a fire. We could see the smoke at least 30 miles away.

Montana, or maybe Wyoming.

Montana.

Wheat Harvest: One Day, Minute-by-Minute

Saturday July 8, 2006

This is a Minute-By-Minute account of a randomly selected day. This was a normal day in many respects but abnormal in others. See the notes (*) for clarification.

All the pictures shown were taken on the aforementioned day so they correspond directly with the description.

740-Climbed out of bed, Got dressed and got my water jug ready (Filled, for those of you in Rio Linda)

750-Checked my truck. Tires, oil, air, and such.

800-Waited at the in the trailer. while waiting, I watched the bonus features on Ice Age and Bourne Supremacy.

901-Dave let us know that we are leaving in an hour and fifteen minutes.

948-Called home and talked to my brother cause no one else was home.

954-Went back in the trailer and got side tracked discussing “needs”. What is a need and what isn’t. e.g. is having a vehicle a need?

957-Brushed my teeth

959-Worked on lap top

1015-Leave trailer yard and drive to field*

1107-Arrive at field and wait, I often read, nap or do devotions while I wait.

1154-Get info on who this field gets credited to and which elevator we take it to

1200-Decided to grease my truck, Started Greasing**

1236-Chuck wagon shows up, I eat lunch

1252-Done with lunch, back to greasing

149-Finished greasing after fighting with a grease gun that didn’t pump, move truck to different part of the field. We will usually use the edge of the field as a staging area, and only have 2 or 3 trucks in the field ready to load at once.

157-I rode in the combine with Andy, If nothing else it is air conditioned in a combine and it helps break up the monotony.

236-Borrowed the phone again and called home

248-Moved my truck into the field so they can load me

254-Finally get wheat dumped on me

306-Truck gets full, Tarp the load and leave field

341-Stop for construction

347-Moving again

410-Arrive at elevator and sit in line***

441-Get to probe shack and they take my sample

446-Done at probe shack, head to Pit #1

517-Pull onto pit/scales to dump

522-Finished dumping and head to trailer

528-Arrive back at trailer. This is free time.

601-Told to go to the combines/Leave for the combines

619-Arrived at combines and waited for Mel to arrive with the escort/service truck

634-Follow combines to the new field

655-Arrive at field, Chuck wagon caught up to us on the way so we parked to eat. Normally the combines and any trucks at the field stop to eat meals.

728-Finished with supper. They wanted to get a sample of the wheat to make sure it was dry enough to send to the mill. With 9 combines in a field it doesn’t take long to get a lot of wasted wheat if it is not dry enough to send to the elevator. Usually one combine will drive through the field to test it before everyone else goes crazy. So the rest of us waited. They decided it was too wet to cut.

830-The other service truck (the one that came originally had to go and help fix a combine that broke down in route) arrives and begins to fuel the combines.

850-Since it doesn’t take 12 guys to fuel, and it was Saturday evening, I called Sarah.****

907-We left the field and headed back to the trailers, leaving the trucks and combines there

928-Arrive back at the trailers.

932-I called Sarah back. We took a brief time-out while I was riding home.

1238-Back in the trailer, I took a shower and got ready for bed.

1257-Climb into Bed

1257.5-Fall asleep

NOTES:

*Normally the field is not 45 minutes away. It took the combines 2 hours to drive, they left earlier.

**I only grease my truck about once every month.

***Normally the line is not very long, but this is the only elevator for about 40 miles or so, and this one is known for being slow, and not being very customer friendly. Today the line was shorter than yesterday. I talked to one local guy that said last year he sat for 16 hours in line at this elevator.

****Saturday evenings is the only time that we really get to talk, (Besides early Wednesday mornings) and that is only if I don’t have to work too late, Remember mountain time is 2 hours behind eastern.

Wheat Harvest: NE panhandle

Welcome to Nebraska. Some of it looks like Kansas and some looks like this. It is much more exciting (and dangerous) driving truck here than the plains.

To move 9 combines with only 8 trailers is quite a feat The first convoy (which included me) left at about 5 am and then returned. The rest of the equipment and vehicles left about 1 pm. The temperature that day was in the upper 90's. That means overheated trucks and blown tires. When a tire does blow the combine needs to be unloaded, and the service truck is essential for tools. With 15 energetic young men a tire can be changed fairly quickly,the combine re-loaded and we can be back on the road with efficiently that rivals some pit crews.

When we come to town, sometimes the elevators look like this. One truck at the pit, Two in line and another pulling onto the scales. They are all ours.

Thanks to mother nature, this is what we did on independance day. Good ole' BBQ, with Mel at the grill. Note the homemade propane grill made from 3/8" well casing, mounted on the trailer so it swings out of the way for quick packing when we move.

Special thanks to the town, there is a 'walk-on' golf course that we played at one evening. I have nerver seen a course with pasture style fairways and sand "greens".

Our current home-Hemingord NE. There are about 6 other crews in town , I think about 2 are staying in our "park".
One last story:
We were told of this and reminded to keep our distance. Another harvest crew had an accident recently. Apparently one trucker was following too close to another one and didn't stop in time when the first one did. 65 mph was the number I heard, and the way I inderstand it the dash was crunched in and the driver had to be 'medi-vac'ed (sp?) to the hospital. I believe he is still alive, but certainly not 100%.