Laura: Montana

Southern Montana – The crew has been reunited in Montana. We were very fortunate because the first load went up without a hitch. The second round had only one blown out tire and it was fixed quickly. One blown tire out of 164 tires on the second trip, yes, we’ll count that as success. With that many people on the road, heavy equipment, ports and permits, you can imagine moving is a stressful time. We want everyone, our crew and those around us, to remain safe.

I know there is a lot going on during moving days, so I proposed that the kids and I take “a little detour” over to Yellowstone on the way up. We wished we could go together, but Ryan agreed it would be the opportune time for the kids and I to go.

Traveling to different areas is one of my favorite perks of harvest, and one I take seriously. The ability to see these things would be much more complex in both time, logistics, and resources, if we weren’t already traveling to or staying near for work. I want to broaden our children’s world view as much as possible while building strong family bonds, even if the “little” detours are actually a “little long” on occasion. I suspect I may pay for it when the kids are older with never-ending jokes of “Remember when mom took us on that “little” detour to (insert name here)?” Complete with air quotations and an eye roll about how little was actually long. Oh, well! I’m prepared and think it’s a small price to pay for the memories and education!

In harvest news, the crew has been trying to find wheat dry enough to cut. We are just getting started, but preliminary yields are coming in strong. We’ve seen them in the 60 bushel per acre range. We deliver to on-site bins so test weight and protein content will not be available during this stop.

This area of Montana is a completely different from other areas as it is lacking straight north/south and east/west roads. An interesting fact is that many of the country roads are farmer owned and maintained, not county maintained like in other parts of the country. On a farm, there can be miles and miles of field roads through all sorts of terrain leading to different fields. It really is big country!

High Plains Harvesting 2018
A large percentage of the crew was present for this picture! They were prepping for the first Montana trip until I requested a group photo. (Photo credit: Laura)

High Plains Harvesting 2018
Clean windows are important! (Photo credit: Laura)

High Plains Harvesting 2018
Harvest crew today, pit row tomorrow. They are speedy! (Photo credit: Laura)

High Plains Harvesting 2018
Final details. (Photo credit:)

High Plains Harvesting 2018
Ironing out the final plans before hitting the road. (Photo credit: Laura)

High Plains Harvesting 2018 (Laura)
The views at Yellowstone were stunning! (Photo credit: Laura)

High Plains Harvesting 2018 (Laura)
The geysers of all shapes and sizes were a hit with us in the park! (Photo credit: Laura)

High Plains Harvesting 2018 (Ryan)
A nice pano shot from Ryan. (Photo credit: Ryan)

High Plains Harvesting 2018 (Ryan)
We’ve been fighting storms and wet wheat. (Photo credit: Ryan)

High Plains Harvesting 2018 (Ryan)
An example of one of the field roads. (Photo credit: Ryan)

All Aboard Wheat Harvest is sponsored by High Plains Journal and John Deere. Laura can be reached at laura@allaboardharvest.com.

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