Harvest, Part Deux! For this summer (2002) I'm working for a new farm. Barnett & Rugg in Athena, Oregon is a fairly large outfit and harvests with three JD combines (one is a new STS), two Cat Challenger 85C's with bunkout wagons, and five semi trucks with 40 foot grain trailers. I lucked out and get to drive the nicest of the lot :-)

Check back daily to see what we go through getting ready for harvest, as well as what we go through getting harvest done. Click the dates below to view the journal entries.
7/22/2002
7/23/2002
7/24/2002
7/25/2002
7/29/2002
7/30/2002
7/31/2002
8/1/2002
8/2/2002

8/3/2002
8/5/2002

8/6/2002
8/7/2002
8/8/2002
8/9/2002
8/10/2002

8/12/2002
8/13/2002
8/14/2002


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7/22/2002

Today, the first full day of harvest, started off slowly. There were three new combine drivers and a new Challenger driver. I made two runs to Mission, hauling about 53,000lbs per load. The Kenworth I'm driving has a turbo'd diesel Cummins, similar to the
General I drove before, but has highway gears in the rearends and doesn't pull as well in the field. Out on the road though, it loves to do 60mph. The shifter is a slightly different setup than the previous Fuller Roadranger I was used to. This one has a toggle on the front for low and high range, and a seperate lever for splitting ranges in high range. After the first run in, it felt natural to use.

The truckers spent a fair amount of time sitting around while the cutting crew came up to speed. I'll post some pictures tomorrow of all the action.



7/23/2002

I arrived at the farm around 6:50am and saw the van heading out with the combine and bunkout wagon drivers. I had fueled my truck the previous night and was ready to roll. I made a total of three runs into mission, averaging 53,000lbs again with a GVW (gross vehicle weight) of about 80,000lbs. That is right on the limit for a tandem axle semi towing a tandem axle trailer. ODOT doesn't pull trucks over for spot checks in the area yet, but we are trying not to push it.

I've gotten used to the shifter setup in the Kenworth and actually like it better than the other Fuller I used that had a single switch for low, direct, and OD gear ranges. Here's a
picture of the truck I drive, another picture of the trucks in a row, one of Troy sitting outside his truck reading a book while waiting for a load, and 1, 2, 3, 4 of Cody coming in with one of the Challengers to load the trucks.

All in all, it was a good day, a bit warm (high 90's I think) but I'm getting used to my truck and really like towing a trailer. Funny that, the truck runs about the same as the General did last year, yet weighs 30,000lbs more when loaded.



7/24/2002

The combine crew knocked the rest of yesterdays field out (only took a few minutes) and it was moving time. We headed out to a field on Stockton road, north of Helix. The drive getting to Stockton road, and Stockton road itself, is pretty hairy. It's made up of a lot of switchbacks and 20mph corners. Stockton road is gravel, and turns to mainly dirt when we got close to the field. I'll try and get some better pictures of the nasty part tomorrow. Made two runs into the farms own grain bins, about 52,000lbs net per trip.

Photo's for today:
Picture from the top of Troy's truck, looking back at the combines coming down through the big gulley. Photo of the Mike's truck with a header card and the combines. Two pictures of the wind farm behind the field 1, 2. The crew down in the gulley finishing off the first field. The hillside is much steeper than it looks. The bankout wagons are sitting, ready to unload the combines. A nifty picture showing what happens when a crop duster mixes Round-Up in with other selective herbicides and flies a nice straight line over the field. The Round-Up pretty well eliminated the selective part and killed off a long skinny patch about 120 acres in size.



7/25/2002

The combines were down over the edge of the field doing some cutting on a couple really steep parts of the field today. The trucks all pulled down through the field we had been cutting and dropped onto a dirt road between fields. The Challenger guys loaded us there, and we drove out through the old farm house area and back up the dirt road. I made two runs, averaging 53,000lbs net.

A small rant: The only part about this job I don't like is dealing with idiot car drivers! Today I almost had a major accident when turning on to Hwy 11. Checking both ways a few times, and seeing no traffic coming from my left, I pulled out into the road and accelerated. Checked my left mirror again and literally out of nowhere a car came flying up at probably better than 75mph. There was a double yellow line (no passing) and the yahoo proceeded to jet around me anyway and avoided an oncoming U-Haul truck by probably 50 feet. Both I and the U-Haul driver blew our horns at the guy but he didn't even seem to notice. People just seem to think they are invincible and that they have just as much right to be on the road as the larger trucks. While that may be true, trucks simply can't stop or swerve like a car can. People just need to be more respectful of what's out on the roads.

We won't be cutting Friday and Saturday. Some of the crew (bosses included) are going to the Chief Joseph Days celebration in Joseph Oregon. We'll be back at it on Monday.



7/29/2002

Today started off cold (yesterday evening was rather cool) and I got two good loads in. I don't know if anyone else runs into this, but if I have a break over a weekend or something, I seem to start the Monday off doing better. Example, today my truck driving was MUCH smoother than it was last week. It's almost like I had time to relax and start fresh. I didn't miss a single shift.

We finished off part of the field and moved south a bit. The combines knocked off a small patch and then moved on to the last part of the field. It'll take two full days to finish it, if not more.

Pictures for the day:
Photo of my
truck on the dirt road waiting for a load. That dirt is ankle deep after having trucks run through it for a few days. Photo's 1 and 2 should give you an idea of how steep some of the hills are in these parts. You can see the combine just about maxed out on the leveling system if you look at the tires. A couple photo's, 1 and 2, of Corey cutting up the hill on the last piece of the field. The field levels out up on top but is far too steep for the trucks to run up there. The Challengers will haul out to us with their bankout wagons.



7/30/2002

Got in three loads today (although I couldn't dump the last one as the kid running the scale had left.) One of the trucks lost a tire (
1, 2), and we should be out of this field tomorrow. About time as the wind and dust is just awful. It's been fairly cool though, nothing too hot.



7/31/2002

We finished off the Stockman field and it was moving time. The trucks went ahead and waited at the next field back close to Adams. An hour or so later we heard over the CB that one of the combines lost a rear wheel out on the road. I jumped on one of the service trucks to go and lend a hand. Turns out that the 9750STS had the right rear hydraulic motor assembly come off when the four mounting bolts snapped. Photos:
9750 with the rear tire lying on the ground, Midway elevator is in the background; Larry starting to work on getting the lug nuts off the tire; Mike surveying the situation; a look at the end of the axle lying on the ground; bolting the motor assembly back on the axle; finishing up the job. We tried to lift the axle up with the boom truck the farm has but it pulled the front of the truck off the ground. One of the guys ran back to the farm and got the air/hydraulic jack to lift it. Mike welded nuts onto what was left of the bolts in the wheel motor and was able to turn them out. A short while later the 9750 was ready to roll again.

To catch up on the time lost, Larry, Mike, and Harmon decided to cut till late and Troy and I drove bankout wagons. What fun! Those Challengers are really rough riding on uneven ground, but it was still a lot of fun. The guys were cutting at almost 7mph because this particular field had poor wheat on it. The dust was something awful. We finished up around 11:45pm.



8/1/2002

Today was spent finishing up the other section of the field and we were done around 4pm. The combines got ready to move again and the truck drivers (including me) had the rest of the day off. The next field they are cutting has to be hauled to Walla Walla, across the state line, and our AG truck endorsments are only valid in Oregon, so Mike had to have another group of truckers haul that load. I get to sleep in!



8/2/2002

The truck drivers arrived around 10am after the field had been cleared off by the combine drivers and the other hired trucking crew. All the equipment moved back to the field we were at the first day of harvest and we knocked out most of the rest of the field (a large patch on the east end.)



8/3/2002

A few hours of work in the morning finished off the field, and we moved down the highway to Milton-Freewater. We were hauling back to the farm pit so I got in some good road time. It was the first time that the truckers were kept busy, we only sat for about twenty minutes between loads.



8/5/2002

We finished up the field over near Milton-Freewater later in the day, and the crew moved the combines and other gear to the next field that is closer to the farm while I took a load into the pit.



8/6/2002

The combines cut a field surrounding a crop circle and then moved across the road to another larger field. Brent managed to get his combine stuck when it suddenly dropped into some mud. Seems the pipe running the sprinklers has a leak :-)
Photo of the stuck combine, one of the front wheel, Troy getting hooked up to the back of the combine by Mike, the hole the wheel made. Picture of Troy getting a load on his truck from Roy.

Later in the day, Mike showed me how to drive around the big John Deere 9400 wheel tractor. What a sweet machine. It's articulated, has a nice big engine, and rides like a Cadillac. I made a couple runs into the pit and drove the tractor around some more. Getting the chance to drive various equipment really breaks up harvest and is a nice change.



8/7/2002

We cruised SE a bit and cut out a field, and then headed back to another field near where we cut yesterday. It was DNS (another wheat variety) and had to be ready for another trucking crew to take it to Walla Walla. Some of the crew (me included) stayed till about 9:45PM getting it all cut. One other truck and mine were waaaay overfilled, but they weren't going to be moved, they just needed to hold the wheat until morning when we'd use a portable auger to load into the other trucks. I'd say my truck was probably pushing 90,000lbs, boy did the tires bulge.



8/8/2002

While Harmon loaded the semi's with the auger, we moved all the equipment back over to the SE field area and cut out one of the fields. The entry for the field had some very fine powder dirt, and even with the diff locks engaged, all the trucks almost got stuck.

I got the last load, and followed Troy into Mission. While waiting at the scales, he asked what the funny noise was coming from my truck. We popped the hood and such a wonderful sight awaited us. The pulley that spins the cooling fan clutch had lost it's bearings and was basically eating itself. Each time I moved closer to the scales (as trucks moved through) I had to shut down. I was able to nurse the truck home by keeping the revs down to about 1200RPM's. I finished out the day driving an older Freightliner. What a tank.



8/9/2002

We started the day off right at the farm. There was a field of high yield wheat right along the driveway. It took most of the day to cut as it was upwards of 120bu/acre, and was slow going for the combines. We got quite a few truck loads off the field which is good.

We thought we'd be able to get the old Kenworth up and running (the green truck) but it appears that the pulley which needed new bearings had part of the belt sheave broken away. We'll see if we can find another one in the morning. If not, I'll be driving the Freightliner which isn't too bad, just no A/C.

Photo's from Mission: The
line in front of me, behind me, and the elevator dumping wheat out in a pile.



8/10/2002

I hooked up the Freightliner and drove it out to get a load of barley we were cutting. The field only took three trucks to haul, the yield was fairly low and the grade was low as well. It got hauled to Athena. I hadn't unloaded there yet. The elevator is very old and small. You have to weigh the tractor and trailer seperately. Definitely slow unloading.



8/12/2002

I decided I'd had enough of driving without A/C, so I went over Sunday night and put the Kenworth back together. The fan clutch setup is really interesting. It's made up of a splined air chamber that is actuated by an airline which is controlled by a solenoid. The fan clutch is engaged whenever the temp starts to rise. I ended up running the fan set to manual so that the A/C worked even when the truck wasn't moving. It was great to be back in the truck again.

The barley field was finished Saturday and we moved North to another small field. The crew got it knocked out in one day.

We moved another mile or so up the road and started cutting on some steep ground. We had to run the trucks up a very narrow twisty gravel driveway, and even cutting the corner as wide as possible just barely let the trucks make it through.

After finishing off that field, we moved back south about a mile and the crew started to cut out the last field we were doing while I hauled a load in to Mission.



8/13/2002

Mission was running out of storage space for low protein wheat which is usually purchased by the Asian market. Mike decided to have Troy and I haul into the Pendleton Flour Mill.

Talk about a challenge. The trucks head into Pendleton heading west, go about two blocks and then have to make a VERY tight left turn onto a side street which isn't even perpendicular to the main street. There's a used car lot there and the owner likes to park his shiny Cadillac right out on the curb. So...with traffic piling up behind me, I just barely squeeked by his car. It was pretty crazy. The wait at the elevator took forever. I made a total of three trips in, and the last one took over 1 1/4hours to dump. I was hot, tired, and a bit grumpy :-) I did have a chance to chew the fat with a couple other truckers waiting to dump as well. That was fun.

After hauling my last load into the mill, I met up with two of the combine crew to cut a small field that had been used by the OSU AG Research station. They mowed through it like nobodies business. That load would have to wait till tomorrow to go in. It may have to go to Hermistion to a livestock feed factory as it's a mix of various types of wheat.



8/14/2002

Yesterday was the last day of harvest and today was cleanup day. Cody and I took the headers off of the three combines and put them on the header carts so they could be moved to storage. I ended up hauling my load into Athena as the place in Hermiston didn't need it. I was kind of looking forward to a bit of road time, but maybe next year. When I got back, I had to run the Freightliner into Mission because it didn't get completely emptied yesterday for some reason. That load was a whopping 2,750lbs of wheat!

We worked on cleaning up the equipment, moving trucks around, and other odd jobs until 1pm when we had the harvest BBQ. Good burgers! After that, some of us headed out to a bar (I don't drink) and had fun playing darts and just talking.



Summary:

This year was my first experience with a full size 18 wheeler and I must say I had a blast. It really makes you think and slow down as you have to plan everything in advance. I had a LOT of fun with this crew and we got along great, for the most part. I'll probably be working for them again next summer.


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