Somewhere between Limon, CO and Salina, KS

I did something yesterday that under any other circumstances I would not do…I left Jim without help in the field.

Taylor was involved with FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) last year in high school. She was a part of two groups that participated at the State Leadership Conference in April. Both of these groups took first place and qualified for National Leadership Conference. It was a bittersweet win for me. I was so proud of her and knew how much fun Nationals would/could be (I got to participate in two National Conferences while in HS) but knew it wouldn’t be easy because of harvest. So, I was happy and concerned at the same time. I knew it wouldn’t be right to deny her and the other members of her groups the opportunity and yet I knew with harvest, things just aren’t as easy as they would be if we were a typical family during the summer months.

This leads to another thought. The girls have missed out on all normal summer type kid activities because of our lifestyle. They have never played softball, baseball, participated in sports camps, no girl scouts, no 4^th of July celebrations, etc. You may view this as a deprivation. You’d have to ask the girls if they felt the same way. I would be willing to guess they may feel slightly short-changed but, in the long run, they would never have changed a thing. Their summers have been travelling the Midwest, meeting awesome people, working together for a common goal, given responsibility, being involved with agriculture, building strong family roots, etc. Maybe I could talk one of the girls to write a blog about their feelings of harvest.

Anyway, back to Taylor. When we were discussing what to do this spring, it was decided that she should just go and we’ll work out the details when it came time. Yesterday was time. We were still wondering how we were going to get her where she needed to go on Tuesday. It was decided that I would take her to Salina to meet the group and would just have to miss a day in the field. Jim was a little on the “owly” side because of not having his assistant but knew there was no other option and we would get through it. I agreed to go to the field in the morning and stay as long as I could. Taylor would come to the field and pick me up. It would be a 6 hour drive – one way.

Frank had been filled the night before so I took it to the elevator first thing. While I was there, I noticed a pile of coal on the ground next to the train cars and there was a small crane. The crane was scooping the coal from the pile and putting it in the car. I, of course, had to ask the gal in the elevator shack what was going on. Apparently, there had been a derailment “up the ways” which involved 15 cars full of coal. You guessed it, they were hauling the coal from that location (via truck) and dumping it at the elevator to be reloaded. Interesting! I had never seen anything like that before.

When I arrived back to the field, there was an additional person standing there Come to find out, the farmers were feeling bad enough about our predicament, they allowed one of their helpers to come over and drive truck for Jim for the day. Yes! I was so relieved that he wasn’t going to have to try to drive both combine and truck. If he had had to do that, it was going to be a long day for him too.

Taylor was in the field right at 11:00 – the appointed time. We headed back to Limon for gas, a quick stop at the cottage and we were off! If you haven’t been aware of what’s going on in the Midwest right now, I’ll tell you – IT’S HOT! Taylor is an awesome traveler and we stopped only one time for a quick break at a rest stop very near the town of Hoxie, KS. I knew it must have been hot because the car was running on the hot side most of the way. Whoa! I certainly wasn’t expecting the blast of hot air, though, when I opened the car door to get out. I had Taylor see what the temperature was – 113 degrees.

We got to Salina only 10 minutes after the rest of the group had arrived. We met at a truck stop right off the interstate. Taylor quickly grabbed her bags, I said a quick hello to everyone and they were off again headed for San Antonio– and so was I…back to Limon. I stopped at the Walmart in Hays for a reason to get out of the car and walk and that was it. I arrived back to Limon at 11:15. What a day!

Good luck to the Elmwood/Murdock FBLA National Leadership qualifiers!! You’ve already made our community proud of you and your accomplishments so what you do now will only take it over the top! Have fun and I’ll be anxious to hear all about it in a week. I’m proud of you, Taylor!

An update on the Colorado Springs wildfire. This morning on TV, they said hundreds of homes have been burned. I think I saw the number 300 on the screen but I wouldn’t be 100% sure of that. Check out this website for some pretty dramatic photos. http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2012/06/27/colorado-wildfires-waldo-canyon-fire-colorado-springs/5732/