19 Jul Jada: Back in SD

Hoffman Harvesting got done cutting in Goodland, Kan. on the 14th with the exception of one combine which has been running with our farmer. The next day we worked on cleaning the machines and loading. We were able to get things done quickly as we only had 3 combines to contend with and as a result decided to head down the road.

There are several reasons we decided to make the trip in two short days. One is because it helped make it not seem so long and grueling. Typically, we move to Limon, Co. which is just a 3 hour trip. This time however we moved to Gettysburg, SD which is around a 500 mile trip. In a car this trip can seem mangeable but when traveling with wide loads in the heat of the day it takes longer. Another reason we moved in the middle of the day is because the heat makes us more susceptible to flats and the hilly terrain along with the heat can cause overheated trucks. If we had any trouble we knew we wouldn’t make the trip in one day so we thought any distance we got would help our trip the next day.

Our planing ahead seemed to be rewarding as the first day we had two flat tires which were caused from traveling in the heat of the day with temperatures close to a hundred. The next day was cooler and we arrived in Gettysburg on the 16th by noon. We were lucky because as the day went by temperatures got up to 107degrees farenheit (according to my temperature gauge in my camper).

One thing we noticed upon arriving in SD is a huge difference between the spring and winter wheat. Most of the winter wheat is ready for the most part but the spring wheat has a ways to go yet– it has a lot of green in it. The day after our arrival, we were in the fields cutting winter wheat. The wheat is barely ready and now thunderstorms are threatening to rain on our parade. In fact, we got rained out at 4 p.m. but were back in the field at 6 p.m. as it didn’t rain enough to completely stop us.

Since we are dumping in the bins and are barely started it’s hard to get a handle of the actual yield of the fields here. The moisture is around 11 but there are green patches in the fields we are unable to harvest. Conditions for harvesting are good and the wheat has a good stance. The crop is beautiful and will most likely bushel well.

Our crew will once again be together… Malin and Hans got done cutting in Goodland yesterday and made the big move today. They fortunately didn’t have any trouble which allowed them to make the trip in one long day. My parents- Perry and Candice- also decided to join us on harvest for the first time this year (well more so to see Kaidence). It is nice to get back to SD to see the family but it is bittersweet as we didn’t get to go to Limon, Co. It feels odd to not follow your complete route.

Jada Bulgin can be reached at jada@allaboardharvest.com. All Aboard 2010 Harvest is sponsored by High Plains Journal and DuPont Crop Protection.