scenes from j & t’s excellent adventure-parts 3 & 4 (cont.)

Nebraska Wheatie

11 years ago

I’m not sure where this is going to lead but my intentions are to share with you some of the scenes of our travels from Montana to Nebraska, back to Montana and then, finally, back to Nebraska again.

We’ve been “home, home” for two weeks. ONLY two weeks. Harvest feels like a dream. Callie and I made a trip to Omaha on Saturday in search of the perfect Homecoming dress. We met Jenna very briefly at the mall and had lunch with her but basically the day was just a me-and-Cal-day. This doesn’t happen very often. Anyways, she and I had some fairly deep discussions that day; one being about harvest. She and I agreed that unless you’re involved with harvest, you just can’t explain the feelings this industry creates deep down in your soul. We discussed how sad we were that there are people out there who haven’t any idea what a wonderful place Jordan, Montana is because it’s not within their 10 mile radius. Did we find the perfect dress? We found “plan B” dress. “Plan A” dress is on it’s way in the mail. A brief catch up on what the Z Crew has been doing since we got home is in order! As a reminder, we left Jordan on Saturday (sort of late). We spent our first night in Miles City. Sunday was a BIG day. We took the same route home the second time as we did the first time. We spent our second night on the road in a truck stop south of Pierre, SD. Monday was another BIG day! We were just sure we wouldn’t make it home before dark. Jim figured we would be a couple of hours away from home for the night. The trip must have gone better than expected because we rolled into the farmer’s yard just as the sun was going down. We made it! Jim and I did our typical “high-five” and congratulated each other for the summer – another summer in the books! Leaving the equipment that evening left me with a twinge of sadness in my heart knowing that my days with the Yellow Beast were over. Time to get involved in the “real” world and back to the alarm clock!

Since then, I’ve spent time with Eli (never enough), canned tomatoes, canned salsa, moved a few things from the cottage on wheels to the “real” house, attended the Apple Jack parade (watched Callie march), and driven school bus. Two weeks?? That’s all we’ve been home? Seriously? Can I go back to Montana? I’ve made my goal for this week to get the cottage completely unpacked and cleaned. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can… Funny how the feel of the trailer house has returned to “just a trailer house” again. Any volunteers to come help clean…clean trailer, clean house, clean yard?

Jim’s back in the field. He started cutting soybeans this past Friday (just four days ago). We had a little rain shower move through so they changed to corn. I’m not sure, but I think he may be back on beans again. Taylor went to the field yesterday and spent the afternoon with her dad. I asked her to take a few pictures for me. So, when she shares them with me, I’ll share them with you.

I have a lot of pictures. I’ll start with our first trip from Montana to Nebraska and see how long this gets. It will probably have to be broken into two posts.

Loading Frank for the last time.

Storm rolling into Jordan the night before we left.

Our coolers of Montana beef loaded in Frank for the trip home.

Headed out of Jordan. Pretty typical Eastern Montana!

The Yellowstone River – just north of Miles City.

Every time we pass this schoolhouse, I think about how it used to be so alive with kids, noise and LOVE! This is between Miles City and Broadus.

A brief stop at the Broadus Port of Entry.

End of the first day on the road. We spent the night in Belle Fourche, SD. Next pictures are what we saw the next day.

Bear Butte outside of Sturgis, SD. It was a cool, cloudy beginning to our 2nd day of being on the road. But the heat cranked on again in the afternoon and became almost unbearable with the combination of heat and humidity.

I really dislike this stretch of highway through South Dakota. Miles and miles of nothingness to look at!

White River Canyon – south of Murdo, SD.

The morning before we left O’Neill, we visited with the other harvesters who were parked there for the night. She had to show me her traveling tomato plant. I always threatened to do something like this. How awesome is this??