Today was the day we made the trip with the first load to our new “home” – Shattuck, OK. We were in this area last year but stayed in Arnett. The fields are closer to Shattuck and it’s easier to get diesel fuel in Shattuck so we decided that’s where we’ll hang our hat for a while. When I mentioned to Taylor that we’d be staying there this year, she was disappointed. Even though there wasn’t much in the town of Arnett for them to do, it was a memory and had been “home” to them.
The trip was fairly uneventful except for the tire that blew on the header trailer. I heard it right away and was able to get my outfit pulled onto the shoulder without any trouble and it didn’t ruin the fender or rim. We didn’t have the service truck with us this time but Jim had packed all the necessary tools we’d need to make the change. We were back on the road within a half hour. Jim was on a mission today. We were up against daylight and dry wheat. We stopped for the flat tire and a couple “necessary” breaks and that was it. We didn’t stop to eat until we were in Altus on our way back to Burkburnett (8:30 p.m.). We were back to the farm to exchange the Pete for the dually about 10:30.
As I was driving today, I felt that feeling I get when harvest is over. The countryside and the towns take on a whole different look. The excitement of getting there and doing the job has come and gone. The combines and the “cutter camps” have pulled out of town and it’s back to being normal – for them. It didn’t take long, though, before we were going through the small towns further north which were just beginning to take on that pre-harvest feel. The cutter camps were forming, the trucks were in town and once in a awhile we’d see a combine running here and there. In my last posting, I mentioned rain. Most of the combines were sitting when we went through early afternoon. We saw a couple along the highway sampling and only two that were really working. One of them was just south of Shattuck. If the rain hadn’t stopped them, the harvesters and farmers would have been in full swing the whole way north. Gosh…there’s a lot of wheat to cut between here and there! The forecast shows some very warm temps for the next several days. The wheat will be stubble in no time flat and the harvesters will be on the move again. We saw several crews heading north today. This one was pulled over for a quick break. When we stopped for a break, they passed us.
One other thing that really stuck out in my thoughts today was the clothes I would see on the clotheslines. By looking at the clothes, you can generally get an idea of the family living in the house. Most lines I saw had large-sized clothes, towels, sheets, etc. The one I saw, though, that made me smile was a line FULL of little clothes. That house has little guys still running around in it. This made me think about the small clothes I used to hang on my clothesline and how quickly it seems they’ve all turned into big clothes. I’m anxious for Taylor & Callie to get here!
Headed back north again in the Pete.
One of the many oil wells being drilled. Western Oklahoma is full of businesses supporting the oil industry. And the trucks…oh, the trucks!
The rugged Western Oklahoma countryside.
Every time I see these huge windmills, I think about a picture I remember seeing in my best buddy’s, Robin, house as a kid. Her mom had a picture of Don Quixote trying to fight with a windmill.
It sort of looks like a creature but it’s a cotton plant. We happened to see this when we stopped for supper in Altus. There’s a cotton field growing right behind the Applebees.
I best take my shower and go to bed. We’re hoping to get the trailer house moved, parked, set up and back in the field before bed tomorrow night.
