19 Jul Brian: Best laid plans

Onida, South Dakota — Sometimes things work out exactly as planned. Our plan to wrap up in Kansas before another huge storm rolled through was well-timed and executed perfectly. As we moved equipment to town the next morning, we dodged mud puddles and noticed that the previous night’s field driveway could now serve as the neighborhood’s favorite new fishing hole. We were able to avoid loading in the mud by utilizing a paved street on the edge of town, and we were grateful for the solid footing.

But even the best laid plans sometimes change, and a simple phone call did just that. Only 12 hours before we intended to leave for Nebraska, we received the call no custom harvester ever wants. Our job there had fallen through. We were really caught off guard as our planned Nebraska acres looked to be fitting in perfectly this year. This was both a frustration and disappointment, especially after spending significant time finding a new place to unload equipment and a new RV campsite due to road construction that made our typical spots unavailable. After some phone calls and weighing our options, we decided the best plan was to head to South Dakota.

But the move didn’t go as planned, either. After only a few miles on the road, Cameron radioed he had blown a tire on the trailer house. Roadside tire changes are never fun, but the flailing rubber pieces also broke off a good portion of the sewer system pipes. With the spare tire installed, we were on our way again, but another flat tire had us limping into the nearest town. Glen’s combine trailer had a tire blowout, and that was a very precarious situation with such a big load. Luckily, we found a tire shop to get us back on the road in short order, but that required backing the combine off the trailer and then reloading it all over again. Thankfully, there was plenty of room for that, and the combine was not damaged as so often happens from trailer tire debris.

The rest of the move to South Dakota went more smoothly. We had unseasonably cool temperatures for overnight sleeping at a truck stop. The stretch of desolate travel through the sandhills of Nebraska can be taxing on tires and engine cooling systems in the summertime heat. But with temperatures in the 50s, we sailed along without issue and took in some of the most beautiful scenery of the summer before arriving at our final destination in Onida.

Things maybe haven’t gone according to our original plan this week, but we are planning on a really good harvest here. Ideal growing conditions the last few weeks should have set us up for some very good yields, both winter and spring wheat. A lot of harvesting lies ahead of us, but we’ll be making the most of this unplanned lull between jobs.

Brian Jones can be reached at brian@allaboardharvest.com.

Thank you to our 2024 All Aboard Wheat Harvest sponsors: High Plains Journal, Lumivia by Corteva Agriscience, Unverferth Manufacturing Co., Inc., Merit Auctions, Kramer Seed Farms, Shelbourne Reynolds and U.S. Custom Harvesters, Inc.

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