Category Archives: On the road again

One more night in Jordan :)

by nebraskawheatie

We got started this morning in good time, after having McDonald’s coffee and a bite to eat. The truck lot we stayed in was right in their backyard so we just walked over.

The entire 1,000 miles back to Denton, I am a passenger. I did drive for a couple of hours yesterday but, all in all, Jim is the driver. I borrowed Jenna’s book, “Heaven is for Real” and finished it today. AWESOME book! For those of you who are believers, it’ll reinforce what you believe and give you an idea of what we have to look forward to. For those of you who are a little more of the “Doubting Thomas”, it’ll give you something to think about. One part of the book that most excited me was the part where Colton tells his mom and dad that he met his sister. He had no idea that his mom had miscarried the child she was pregnant with before he was born. This gives me the reassurance that one day I’ll meet the three babies I miscarried. I had two between Jenna and Taylor and one between Taylor and Callie. One thing is certain, there must be a good reason T and C are with us! I can’t imagine what our family would look like without them. I can guarantee one thing, had I carried the two babies to full term between Taylor and Jenna, there would be no Taylor and Callie.

The town of Jordan holds a pretty special place in my heart for another reason. I had the last miscarriage in 1996 while we were up here. Some of the townspeople brought food for my family and Dr. Dan made trailer house visits until I was back on my feet. Being 85 miles away from the nearest large hospital, I’m sure people have learned to take care of each other up here on a whole different level than back at home. I also learned one thing more, when someone is going through something like this, they don’t want to be told over and over that it probably happened for a good reason. I had fallen in love with that baby and all I really wanted to hear was, “I love you and I care about you”. Sometimes, even no words at all and just a hug will suffice.

Ok, enough of that. Back to the harvest story. We got to Denton about 2:30 mountain time. We each did the jobs we’re accustomed to doing and we were back on the road at 3:45. We arrived in Jordan at 7:15 p.m. Supper was next on the list since Mr. Slave Driver didn’t even stop for lunch. Thank you Rose (Edward’s Family Hilltop Cafe) for a lovely supper! Back to the Garfield Motel for the night.

Back in Ed’s yard

One of my jobs is to guide Jim on the trailer. He can do this himself, it just helps to watch that he stops where he needs to be. I also put on the window covering, the flags, the banners and help with whatever Jim needs help with. I guide him with hitching up but sometimes not so very good. 🙂

The “train” is ready to go one last time for the summer.

 Looks like Ed’s ready to start the 2012 seeding process!

Goodbye Square Butte and Central Montana. I hope to see you again one day!

 I’m driving the dually, pulling the car trailer with the service pickup on that.

Mission complete

by nebraskawheatie

Nebraska Countryside – green, green and more green!

We made it home about 5:00 this evening! The first load back was a success.

After a not so peaceful night of sleep, Jim woke me up at 7:30 to tell me we should probably get going.  The restaurant/bar next to the truck stop was blasting some sort of noise until after 2:00 a.m.. I honestly think I could become a rock star if that’s all the better I had to be. I wondered how anyone could make “music” like that and people listen to it – guess I’m just getting old!

At 4:30 a.m., it started to rain and the north wind began to blow. I reached for one of the blankets that I had folded up earlier in the evening. It went from hot and muggy to cool and rainy. The cold front just continued to follow us south.  So, when Jim woke me up by calling me (he sleeps in the cab of the Pete when we’re on the road – I in my bed in the trailer) to tell me he thought we should probably get going, I wasn’t a happy camper. “You look grouchy”, he says. “I AM grouchy!”, I say back.  On top of all the happenings during the night, my body’s used to it being 6:30 NOT 7:30 and all I wanted to do was stay in bed where it was warm. McDonald’s coffee sure tasted good this morning 🙂

We had one minor event during the day and that was all. When we stopped in Schuyler for fuel, Jim noticed one of the tires on the header trailer had very little tread left on it. So, he changed it before it could create more problems when it blew.

When we get home, it’s so overwhelming! The yard is in good shape – thanks Matt! The weeds did have a heyday, though. I may start pulling a few of the larger ones tomorrow…maybe. There’s more dead bugs in the house than ever before and the spiders and their webs are everywhere. Makes me wonder why I think it’s important to clean the house before we leave in the spring.

I guess we’ll spend the day tomorrow doing whatever we can.  On Monday, we’re going to take the family and go to the Nebraska State Fair for the day.  We haven’t been there in a lot of years because we’re usually still in Montana. On Tuesday, we’ll be headed back to Denton to get the combine and the two pickup trucks we left up there.

Now that we’re home, harvest and being away just doesn’t even feel like it happened. I was trying to remember all the events of the summer as I was driving home. One year, when Jamie was fairly little, she hated having to leave the trailer so bad, she decided she was just going to stay in it. She did for a couple of days but then moved back to the house. What’s wrong with us? I love summer, I love seeing friends along the route, I love being with my family, I love being on the road, I love my cottage on wheels – I just love harvest! Only 9 more months to go and we can do it all over again.

“Tracy, you got your camera handy?” “No, why?” “Here’s something you don’t see everyday – a mobile haystack.”

This is a park just south of O’Neill. We’ve tried stopping here nearly every year when we can. We used to try to make it specifically to this park while on the road because it has a decent shower house. It’s a very nice place to take a break!

Pete and my cottage on wheels.

Some happy Nebraska cows!

A Nebraska highway.

Nebraska crops - soybeans on top of the hill, corn at the bottom.

Looks like paint on his head, it’s blood. He hit his head on something while changing the tire on the header trailer.

Changing the tire.

Back in Husker land!

by nebraskawheatie

The above picture is of main street Valentine, Nebraska.

Just a brief note tonight. We left Broadus about 7:30 this a.m. and headed south. Stopped in Belle Fourche, SD for breakfast and then never stopped again til Valentine, NE. Another night of sleeping in a parking lot. This time in the truck lot at the station on the south edge of town. Walked to a restaurant for supper. Sitting in the McDonalds using their wifi. Should be home tomorrow. FYI – last night I had several extra blankets on the bed. Tonight … the extra blankets are being put away. What a difference in weather! Nice to still feel the warmth of summer but I have a feeling I’m NOT going to like being back to the humidity that home has to offer!

Bear Butte – Near Sturgis, SD

Me and my love of old buildings. This is an abandoned home along the highway somewhere in South Dakota.

The vast South Dakota scenery…NOTHINGNESS!

We go through several of these deep river basins. All of them had been flooded this spring.

I really debated on whether or not I should share this photo with the world. This is what being on the road, without a shower or even brushing your teeth for a couple of days will do to you 🙂

He was a magnificent looking cat – HUGE! I wanted to take him home with me.

And, by the way, remember me saying something about watching for loaded combines? There’s one in the lot tonight!! Makes me feel like we’re still on harvest.

Leaving Jordan…for the second time

by nebraskawheatie

This morning began on the chilly side. Jamie texted me early to tell me it was supposed to be 100 degrees at home today. It was 50 degrees when we woke up this morning in Jordan. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, we spent the night in the Garfield Motel. Waking up to the smell of coffee brewing has got to be one of my favorite ways to wake up! The owner of the motel didn’t know that, but she sure made my day when I smelled it! Our room was on the upper floor – the coffee brewing was on the main floor directly below us.

I took  pictures of main street Jordan for my brothers and Dad. I thought they’d enjoy seeing what Jordan looks like 30 years later. Yep, it’s been 30 years, guys, since we came to Jordan the first time. It hasn’t changed much.

The laundromat – we used to spend a lot of time here, huh, girls!

The new swimming pool

Main Street looking West.

                  The North side of Main. The building with the blue top was Ewy’s Dept. Store. It’s now the hardware store. Next to it is the fire               station and then the pharmacy.

The Pioneer Garage

  The South side of Main…featuring the Rancher’s Bar, the Hell Creek Bar and Ryan’s Grocery.

The Post Office

This used to be the place to hang out…the Snack Shack. Lori Morgan even stopped here with her tour bus once.

We had several things that needed to be taken care of before we could finally hit the road and head this train south. One of the first things we did was pay a bill at the local auto repair shop and then settle up with our farmer. We headed out to Charlie’s house (the farmer) and kept him way longer than we should have. About 10:30, he told us he had given some thought to going to an auction that was near Billings this a.m. I asked him what time the auction was supposed to start – 10:00. Shoot! Well, I don’t know if he felt bad about not going or not but Jim and I sure enjoyed sitting there and talking to him! It’ll be a year before we’ll get to do that again. Thanks, Charlie, for giving us an excuse to come back to Jordan this year!! Sorry the weather didn’t cooperate for ya…NEXT YEAR!

Next scheduled “must do” was to go to the meat locker and pick up the hamburger and the few roasts we haul home with us every year. You may think we’re crazy for hauling meat 1,000 miles in coolers in the back of Frank. However, you WILL NOT find a better place to get meat than Jordan, MT! Ryan’s locker/grocery has the BEST selection of meat you’ll ever find. I’m not sure how or why it’s so much better than anywhere else but I do know this, when my hamburger supply runs out it’s tough finding anything to match the quality of Ryan’s meats!

Next, we headed back to the trailer court. Jim had to make some adjustments to the power box on the pole when we got to Jordan the first time. So, he had to go back and finish the job he started then. While we were there, I took a few pictures of our home while we stay in Jordan.

                                                                                                                 Notice the clothes line???

This is the only remaining stump of a line of Russian Olive trees that used to run east and west on the south end of the trailer court. Why is this so important? When Jamie and Jenna were little and we spent a lot of time here, those trees became the girls’ imaginary “homes”. They had a ball in those trees! I remember Jenna making bird houses out of boxes or milk cartons and hanging them in the trees. Those trees provided those two girls and their friends entertainment every year until they got too big to play in them.

Today, this stump and this empty trailer court left me feeling sentimental and longing for the days when it seemed like there was just too much to do! My goodness I was busy then and remember thinking how stressful it all was. Trying to make sure the guys were fed in the field, the kids were taken care of, the laundry was kept up, etc.  I walked around that court today remembering the little things. The girls getting ready for school and Jim taking them if the weather was bad. Most of the time, they’d either walk or ride their bikes. The mornings when after a rain, we’d be really looking forward to sleeping in and Tom would come pound on the door and get us out of bed for coffee. The girls’ friends stopping by the trailer constantly. Jordan being a pup and how many times she’d entertain other crews with her ability to catch frisbees or climb trees. Oh, my goodness – it was a day of going down memory lane, that’s for sure! The first time we parked in that trailer court was in 1981 – 30 years ago!

It was well past lunch time by then. We’d finished all our little extras, had a nice visit with Charlie and decided we’d head up to the Hilltop Cafe and get something to eat before heading out. Sat down, ordered and was just getting ready to eat when who should show up but Tom, Kenny and their hay hauling crew. We ended up sitting there longer than we ever expected visiting with them. It was nice feeling like we had time to do this now that the push of getting wheat cut and moving on up the road was over. No push to get home and no set schedule to meet today.

Finally, we are headed down the road! Jim radios me and says he guesses we’ll stop in Miles City and top off the trucks with diesel fuel. This should get us to Valentine, NE without having to stop for fuel again. So, we pulled into the gas station, fueled both the trucks up and went in to get our receipts. We ran into yet another friend who we hadn’t seen yet this season. We ended up standing in the aisle of the store for over an hour visiting with Larry. As Jim said, “this was a day of visiting”. Yep, it certainly was a day of visiting – something that we don’t take the time to do nearly enough!

Needless to say, we didn’t get down the road very far tonight. We’re parked in an empty lot across from the Broadus weigh station for the night. It’s chilly but it sure beats trying to sleep in this trailer when it’s really hot. I’m feeling the harvest “let down” again tonight. I wonder if this happens to anyone besides me? It’s really tough when you’re headed home and you still see other crews still out there in the fields or parked in trailer courts. I feel like I’m leaving my best friend behind. I’m sure once we get farther down the road and harvest is completely in the rearview mirror, it will get easier. From here on out, when I see a loaded combine, I’ll get excited because it’ll be a part of the world I’ve left behind…for a little while.

More Montana sunsets