7/19/2004

We're scheduled to start cutting on Wednesday, but with the rain we received today, that may be optimistic. Today was spent taking the Kenworth for a drive as one of the guys reported that it was "cutting out" when rolling down the road. It ran perfectly. Also had to recharge the A/C system as it was low enough that the low pressure switch prevented the system from turning on at all.

Mike and I stopped and had a look at an FMC pea combine that rolled down a hill after a hydraulic system failure. It went off a small embankment and ended up on it's side. The operator wasn't injured. Looked like a wild ride.

Paul and I moved a wheel tractor (4WD John Deere) with a flail mower to a field. The weeds needed to be cut down pretty bad. We also closed the doors on the two grain silo's the farm owns as well as repairing one of the auger doors in the floor.

7/20/2004

The rain last night kept us from cutting today. Moisture content was way up there.

Troy and I finished putting together the rear end of the MacDon swather that the farm uses for cutting alfalfa for bailing. Mike came up with a dampener setup to help control how much the rear wheels oscillate back and forth. They act a bit like the front wheels on a grocery cart, and can be a real handful when out on the road moving from field to field. Hopefully we'll fire things up tomorrow.

7/21/2004
My daily net haul: 201,000lbs

Wheat Ho!!!

We got started first thing in the morning as soon as Mike got a sample of wheat analyzed for moisture. Here are the guys (three combines) out in the field next to the farm, and all four trucks in a row, mine in the lead. Troy had one bad tire on his truck, and one of the bankout wagon tires was low on air, but everything else ran well. We finished the field next to the farm and moved over to another field and have it 3/4 done. This year I bought a cheap Sony MP3 CD player ($50 at Best Buy) and have it plugged into the stereo aux input in the truck. It's great having 140 songs on one CD :-)

7/22/2004
Daily net haul: 263,000lbs

The crew finished off the field from yesterday and we moved to a new field around lunch time. Cutting has been going well. One of the guys broke a shear pin in a bankout wagon when he fired up the PTO with the auger full of wheat. Bad deal, the auger had to be pulled out with a forklift and the pin repaired. A few pictures: Front compartment of my trailer, Paul tarping a load, Barb on the way to Mission (in the dust cloud), Cory running the 9750STS 1,2.

7/23/2004
Daily net haul: 299,000lbs

Ahhh...got a lovely start today. Alex picked up a hole in the hydraulic filter on his combine somehow. We had to change it before we could move to the next field. Mike had a strap wrench which wraps around the filter and has a square tube that you put a 1/2" wrench in and turn it. That filter was on there, but good! As soon as we put any pressure on it, hydraulic oil just started spraying out like a water hose. Had it running down both arms, it was just nasty. Mix in a little dirt and dust and bleah. After a lot of grunting and a little cursing, the filter came off. When the filter sprung a leak last night, the engine sucked a lot of it up through the radiator and plugged it up good with straw and debris. Mike had to wash all that out with the fire rig. No permanent damage done though, and an hour later we were rolling.

In the next field, we got a lot of wheat cut. It was a good day. Pictures of the trucks and tractors this morning 1, 2, 3. One of the city of Adams off in the distance from the same field. Two of the lift platform at the grain elevator in Mission 1, 2. It's used by trucks that don't have tilt beds or bottom dumps.

7/24/2004
Daily net haul: 279,000lbs

Felt like it was going to be a hot one today and boy was it! Someone said it was over 105deg F. We got in a good day today, shutting down at 6pm instead of 7 as usual. So far, I've racked up 450 miles on the truck. Amazing how it piles on even for short hauls like we're doing. Alex broke the sickle bar in his combine (no fault of his, it happens) but other than that, things went very well. Pictures: Dave loading Troy's truck with the green bankout wagon with James waiting in line to unload, Troy kicking up some dust out on the gravel road, the combine crew opening up the next field, picture from my truck, and finally a picture of the clouds off in the distance.

Witnessed a near accident at the intersection in Mission. As I pulled to a stop getting ready to make a left turn to the elevator, a driver in a Ford Excursion pulling a camper trailer pulled out in front of a semi coming from Pendleton. The trucker locked up the brakes on his trailer (it was unloaded, easy to do) and missed the Ford guy by 20 feet or so at 40mph. Crazy stuff. I can't tell if the Ford guy wanted to get through the intersection before having to wait for me to turn, or if he was just careless and didn't look both ways before taking off. Gotta be careful people!

7/26/2004

Today was rather mild, temperature wise. Topped at about 90deg F and there was a light breeze. We finished off the field from Saturday and moved over to the large field near Milton-Freewater. Alex broke yet another sickle bar, but other than that, it was a productive day. In the morning, I made three runs to Mission, then at the Milton field, we started hauling to the farms' grain silo's. Made two runs there before quitting time. The farm has a complete truck scale (big enough for a full semi) and large pit that can take a full load from a semi at one go. It doesn't take long to weigh, dump, weigh, and hit the road. Rode with Corey for a bit in the JD 9750STS. Nice machine, really chews through the wheat.

7/27/2004

The crew cut the majority of the Milton field. Had a bunch of good runs to the farm silo's. Road time is the best time in a truck :-) One fellow in a Honda was nice enough to let me merge into traffic even though I was only doing 25 (and picking up speed) and when we hit Winn hill (a major hill between Milton-Freewater and Athena) he passed me and just about that time his car blew something. A HUGE cloud of blue smoke poured out of the exhaust pipe. I couldn't even see the car.
Had yet another idiot out on the highway pass me on the left as I was making a left turn into the field. I was half way into the left lane as well. Just crazy.

7/28/2004

We finished off the Milton field around noon today and moved back over close to Athena. I had the last load off the Milton field and by the time I got back to Athena, the combines were just rolling in. We had a lot of equipment packed into a small area until the headers were back on the combines and they were cutting. Here's some wonderful pictures of my handywork with my semi, 1, 2. In the process of trying to avoid running over the red van, I failed to notice the nice dirt pile right next to it covered in weeds. It jambed the rear tire on the trailer up into the bottom of the trailer hard enough that the truck couldn't move. Paul had to chain the wheel tractor to the trailer and pull me off backwards. We all laughed. While sitting in the field waiting for a load later, some random person pulled over and took a picture of Barb having her truck loaded, 1. We didn't have a clue who the person was.

Saw Clint and Paul moving all their equipment back from the Spofford field over in Walla Walla today. Called Clint on the cell phone, he said everything went well. They'd been having problems with a leased combine. They are the folks I worked the 2000 and 2001 harvests for.

7/29/2004

The crew finished up on the field near Weston, and we moved over to the Nelson piece just outside of Athena. Jason got his combine stuck, but we were able to pull it out with the winch on Larry's pickup. Barb was out sick, so it was just Paul, Troy, and I. We made a total of 23 runs to the farms silo's. The odometer on my semi topped 950 miles. Pictures for today: inside of my truck 1, 2, 3, 4, and Paul guiding Dave in loading his truck. The Fuller Roadranger transmission in my truck gives a total of 13 forward speeds. It's broken up in first through fifth low range, then 2nd gear is actually 6th in high range with 6th through 9th being split, so 6, 6-over, 7, 7-over, 8, 8-over, etc. Basically, you run through the 5 gear pattern, shift into high range, then as you work through the gears again, you use the red thumb lever to split the gears, basically cutting each gear jump in half to make better use of the engine torque. When unloaded, I usually skip splitting gears as you can accelerate faster in traffic by just using the normal gear pattern without splitting. Each gear in low range is about 40% higher than the previous one, but this drops to 17% or so in high range as the engine has to work harder at higher road speeds. Factory diagram of the shift pattern.

7/30/2004

We had a good day today. Paul was off so it was Barb, Troy, and I running trucks. With the short haul to the farm silo's, it wasn't bad. We finished off the Nelson field around 4pm and moved up Holdman highway a few miles to the next field. Alex' combine smoked badly when he started cutting into that field and Mike had to work on it. The diesel fuel filter and air filter both needed to be replaced. I got to run the wheel tractor through town which thankfully has a pretty wide main street so it was cake. Before we moved, there was a fire a few miles to the North in a lentil bean field, but whoever was there got it under control quickly. Took a couple pictures but forgot the camera in the semi :-)

7/31/2004

Well after having a couple very productive days, all three combines were down with various issues right off the bat. Alex' combine has a diesel injection system problem of some sort as evidenced by the smoke when he starts cutting. Most John Deere diesel engines will smoke a bit as they rev up under load but then don't show any smoke when running. Cory's 9750 lost the belt tensioner for the Rahco hillside leveling system pump, he had to drive to Colfax, WA for the part. Jason's combine broke the return auger clean in half. Larry was able to get a new auger pretty quickly so we got Jason back up and running. Alex' combine is down until Monday when a factory mechanic will come work on it, and Cory's combine got running with just enough time to finish his first pass around the field. Larry called it a day as everyone was hot, tired, and stressed out. Troy, Barb, and I each had two runs to the farm silo's, Paul headed out to truck water to the cows the farm has. A couple pictures of Troy's fantasticaly accurate weather vane made from a water bottle and two pieces of straw, 1, 2. It actually worked! Troy's German Shepherd, Chloe, has been riding with him all harvest, James who drives one of the bankout wagons is on the left in the second picture. I've been searching around the internet looking for tips on how to troubleshoot the rolling idle my truck has. The engine (Cummins straight six with turbo) doesn't want to idle smoothly and really loads up. It takes a few shifts under power to get it to clean out, then it runs great.

8/2/2004

The network server at one of the schools I sysadmin for had some issues so I had to work on it until 9am today, then I headed out to the field. The crew just about had the field from Saturday finished then we moved. As we started cutting the new field, a storm rolled in. We got quite the lightening show! Pictures of the clouds 1, 2. We got a little rain but not enough to stop cutting. Later in the afternoon, Corey had an "issue" with the 9750. Seems the stub axle that had the rear wheel motor break off a couple years ago actually cracked in half this time. He was coming up a hill out in the field when it happened. A bunch of pictures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. We pulled the broken axle parts off and a new stub axle will be here first thing tomorrow morning. The rest of the crew kept cutting while Mike and others worked on the 9750.

8/3/2004

Mike and I started in on the combine axle first thing. Larry showed up with the replacement axle a short while later. With the help of Lonnie from Les Schwab we had Corey's 9750 rolling in an hour. Alex's combine had injection system problems again but Mike seems to have it running good now. We finished off the Price field around 2pm and moved to the last field in that area. We should have it finished in just a few hours tomorrow morning, then it's off to the Stockman field with all the windmills. A few pictures, one of the sky today and 1, 2, 3 of the truck hoist at Mission dumping a small wheat truck. It's the same hoist that I linked pictures to earlier, this is just from the other side. The odo in my truck shows 1250 miles.

8/4/2004

The crew finished up the Price field in a couple hours and it was moving time. We took everything except the wheel tractor over to Stockman (it's too hilly to use the wheel tractor). Each of the trucks got in two runs to Mission. Having the Stockman run happen later in harvest is nice because we're all in a trucking frame of mind, instead of starting off harvest with the hardest run. One section of the road is 25mph, twisty, and very steep. It's not what I'd call a good time. My truck has been running really well since this morning, the injection system is running properly again for some reason. Makes driving this truck a joy.

There were more thunderstorm warnings in effect. We got a very slight rain where we were at, but got a great view of all the lightening up in the mountains and around Mission.

8/5/2004

Jason's combine lost a bearing on the unloading auger drive. Just as we finished it up, the rain started coming down bigtime at the Stockman field. Mike called it off and we all left. I went into work to have lunch with the staff and then headed over to the Reeder's fields to see what was up with them. I had a fun afternoon chatting with Clint and catching up with them. Their fields didn't get any rain and they were cutting as usual. We'll see what Stockman looks like tomorrow.

8/6/2004

We rolled into Stockman around 7am and things didn't look good, 1, 2. It started raining again. The rain stopped a bit later and the guys gave cutting a whirl. The wheat threshed okay so we made a go of it. Picture of a somewhat steep section with Cory's 9750 just about maxed out in the leveling department, Cory and Mike opening up another field at Stockman, picture as they passed my truck. After I made one run to Mission, it really started to rain again and we had to shut down for the day.

8/7/2004

The crew showed up at the Stockman field at 7am again and serviced the combines and bankout wagons. Things were far too wet to cut so Mike sent everyone home and he'd give us a call around 2pm letting us know if we were going to cut later. When he called, it was still too wet to cut so we had the day off. I visited Clint and Paul again and gave Cody a hand unloading one of their Gleaners that had a broken unloading auger. Fun stuff.

8/8/2004

All the equipment was ready to roll first thing so we got to work. Mike wants to be done with Stockman today. Between Paul, Troy, and I, (Barb had the day off) we made a total of 18 trips to Mission, about 1.5 hours per trip. I was so beat at the end of the day, but we got the field done! The last trip in to Mission there was a semi with a potatoe trailer being dumped on the lift. Pictures 1, 2, 3. While I headed back to the ranch, the combine crew moved their gear back to the farm as well. We'll be starting off on a field right next to the ranch tomorrow. Mike hopes to be done with harvest by next Friday.

8/9/2004

We put the headers back on the combines, the crew serviced the machines, and they were off and rolling. We knocked out a couple of fields 1/2 mile from the farm, and then moved to a pair of fields bordering the farm driveway. We worked until about 9:30pm to make up time. Driving my semi is a lot of fun at night. Almost no one out on the road, few distractions, peaceful in a way (the humming of a big diesel engine). Mission was a fiasco. Trucks were parked clear back to the corner store, probably 30+ trucks in a row. It took me about 1 1/2 hours to get through, which is no good when you have three combines cutting in good wheat. A picture from my truck at Mission of the wheat pile and a semi in the back being dumped on the hoist, the wheat pile, one of the sunset (the dust in the field gives it the hazy effect), and one of the sky overhead at sunset.

8/10/2004

The crew finished the field next to the farm and then headed east a bit to the next field. They were able to knock out three fields before the combine guys took off at 6:30pm for a concert in Hermiston. Mike, Lance (fellow from the local NAPA store) and James drove combines after dark with me in a bankout and Troy running his truck.

8/11/2004

We finished up the field from last night and cut three more fields even farther east. Daves green bankout wagon lost the PTO gearbox and Mike rented another bankout wagon to finish harvest. It has a huge auger in it and can really unload wheat!

The crew cut after dark a bit opening up the next field. Pictures from Mission showing the truck situation 1, 2, 3. Barb cruises by in her Freightliner, just leaving Mission. The guys at Mission started having the long haul truckers weigh at the ArrowHead truck stop just up the road, and then come in to dump, saving a lot of time weighing on the small scale which was technically illegal anyway. The line got better later, and wasn't nearly as bad the next day.

8/12/2004

The guys were able to finish up the field they started yesterday by nightfall and I took the last load into Mission at about 9:30pm. We should be finished tomorrow by 10am or so, having just one small field left to cut. Picture of Tony at Mission cleaning up the grain pile, I'll try to get a picture of the pile next week when it will be at it's peak. Mike did some dozer work (1, 2) on the ditch that the bankout wagons had to cross to reach the trucks. Mission was a lot better today. Later in the day there was still a good wait but folks weren't parked out in the street. Thankfully there's a store close by that we can stop at on the way out for something to drink.

8/13/2004

Harvest is over! Corey and Alex cut the last small test plot and just barely filled up my truck. We parked equipment and they'll have to figure out where to dump my truck as there's a hodgepodge of wheat in it, and it can't go to Mission. We had a nice pizza party at the ranch and everyone pretty much split as it was so hot out. Picture of Corey cutting the last field, folks at the party, and the harvest crew. All told, the truck drivers each put better than 2500 miles on their trucks. I'll have to get a total on how much wheat we actually hauled, but it was substantially more than last year. I keep debating on whether to ask the boss if I can drive a bankout wagon but really enjoy truck driving.

8/16/2004

Epilogue: I stopped by Mission today to see how big the wheat pile has grown. It's pretty impressive. It's grown from a bar asphalt pad to this and then to this as of today.