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GM Guy

Posted 1/12/2020 22:01 (#7970051)
Subject: 2019 Review from NW KS (Pic Heavy)

NW KS/ SC ID

Better late than never I guess. :)

Here are some pics from my 2019.

Finished 2018 and started 2019 in Idaho dragging home internet auction purchases, got to meet NAT member Big Ben's Dad's neighbor who is part time help for the auctioneer where the cornhead was located and was my forklift operator, he did a great job and he and the auctioneer were very helpful on all levels! Cabbage was snow packed, going down empty, a little daunting for this KS boy. :)

Once the head was back to Idaho, off to California to deliver a caddy and get another header and White tractor and see our friend Rod at Rio Vista. Call me crazy, but once you subtract the overpopulation and crazy traffic, I honestly like the state. Very beautiful in many places. Choose an alternate route over the Sierra Nevadas to go visit family in Smith Valley NV, then back to ID. The truck ahead of me in alot of the pics is dad and his new White tractor. Well used ol Cali tractor, luckily quite cheap. :)

Head back to KS and hit a few auctions, got to line up a collector friend to save a John Deere built blade plow from certain death (scrap) My dislike for scrappers and destruction of history overrides any dislike I have for JD, so it had to live. :) Got to haul a nice "candy stripe" 875 for a friend. Got dad a set of grain doubles for use in ID with the narrow field entrances.

Dad picked up a 844 JD wheel loader to play in the rocks in Idaho. hydraulic pump makes some noise, so IDK how long the fun will last. :) It was close enough to road home, and you know its big when you have to check bridge ratings on your route... lol

Had a little wind and rubbing power line induced fire in mid April, thank God I was home and it was greening up so it wasn't moving too fast, I pretty well had it handled with the hose, but our place is a mess so better safe than sorry, so I called the big guns in.

A friend wanted to have a little fun with his tractor collection, so he graciously invited me to partake in the fun. You can see why ol IH was pretty cocky back then, the ol Super MTA he let me run pulls darn good! I was impressed at the lugging torque it had for being a gas engine. Of course had the TA in case it got too bad.

Another friend was needing to move cattle and work ground, so I went up to help them out for a day or two, loved the 7140 Magnum, disappointed in the 8.3L. ;)

Fertilizer time in late May ahead of the corn! tractor made it through, but the spreader barely did. little 11L15s dont like mud! :)

Got the corn in late May, finished on June 1st. low end of the field I was not too proud of, a little on the wet side.

Page 2
Header haul in KS, got caught on the edge of this storm. Weather apps are nice to try and avoid hail damage. :)

Off to NE Panhandle after a cornhead, had to outrun a pretty healthy storm.

Around June 9, my wheat got hailed out for the third year in a row, beat the corn up that was poking through.

Got sick of slow cranking, finally did something about it. Hydraulic crimpers are awesome!

Off to NW SD to get another online auction bargain before wheat harvest hit. Awesome time of year to visit!

Bunch of pics of the guy I help during wheat harvest, with mine being hailed out I ran trucks for him all harvest. Dad came back to help another friend of ours.

Dad went to Idaho, and due to minimal harvest work lined up I stayed in KS, got to enjoy a local thresher show, I got roped into hauling some tractors up, a little heavier than the owner thought, but I took it easy and it worked out fine.

Pretty much after the hail that got the wheat to early August, next to nothing for rain, so the corn was about done, so I ran off to the front range to grab a craigslist bargain to take my mind off the dying corn. :) On my way home from Ritchie Bros on my birthday, I snagged my real birthday present, a rain storm! over the next 1.5 weeks we got 5 inches of rain. Threw my back out in preperation from the trip, and inversion tables and a torn muscle are a bad combo, so I made it worse. took a month to recover.

During the recovery i had to attempt to get our pair of 1986 Gleaner R7s ready for a photo shoot, you might have noticed the old girls in the November/ December issue of Heritage Iron magazine! They were not as clean as I would have liked, but given the situation with my back, I guess they were good enough. I was happy to give a friend and high school classmate an opportunity to take the pics, hopefully a little publicity will help her budding photography business. If you dont have a subscription/ never heard of it, I highly recommend the magazine, you can tell they put alot of effort into it. The article writer used to put together brochures for a major ag manufacturer, and did a great job. The magazine staff was awesome and helped me with any question I had, I cant thank them enough for the opportunity and hope we can assist with any future articles.

(Page 3)
By late September I could drive without pain, and so back on the road! When your choices for a rig to take on a 3400+ mile roadtrip are a 06 Duramax with 180K, or a 95 3/4 ton GMC with a 6.5L diesel and 442,000 miles, you take the one with the most comfortable seats. :) So I begged the GM Gods for strength and mercy and set off with alot of trust in my preventive maintenance program on a pickup with over 400,000 miles. :/

First stop was delivering an anhydrous bar we had been storing for a fellow NATer in central IA who won it on an online auction near the KS farm, he paid me more than I requested to haul it and was super nice and helpful all around.

Left from there headed to WI to get a cornhead, loved the state with all the small dairies, both active and not, would love to visit again. I drove by Heitmans at Durant, but was running late so didnt stop. We loaded after dark, and the farmer had a friend who owned a nearby motel, so I got a good buddy discount at a nice little motel, and got a new trailer tire and bought some locally made maple syrup the next morning at the tire shop for the folks for Christmas.

I hopped on I94 West, and got comfy. :) I got to see many new things, got to visit states I have never been to before, and got to experience Knoephla soup in ND at one of the few privately owned Flying J truckstops in the nation.

Dipped down into Idaho, and went out across the desert, past the nuclear research facility, and rolled over 444,444 that morning.

Dropped the header and then off to Utah for my backhaul, a cornhead for a customer in KS. The Roosevelt UT to Rock Springs WY route was new to me, and I'd love to return, just never again with a load. Very steep!

Pulled in the yard with 446,475 on the clock! Old girl did me proud!

Shortly after getting home, I got to take delivery of a new project, a 93 R62 with the twin turboed 779 V8 Deutz with a tummyache (Scored or broken piston I think). IDK when I will get to it, but hopefully soon.

Shortly after, time to turn around and head out for the last major long distance haul for the year, cornhead in west central IL. Shoutout to AC McCartney, they were very accommodating on me picking up my cornhead, and did everything I could ask for and more.

Wheat drilling time! I am still regretting my early October plant date, everyone that was closer to Sept. 15th is looking pretty good, but most of mine isnt even up. :/ Mid October is our insurance cutoff. Manifold breakfast burritos made by yours truly beat the heck out of PB&J! :)

On to corn harvest for the guy I help during wheat and corn harvest. During wheat drilling I had to move a truck and my sister was home, so I gave her a quick crash course on Roadranger rowing, so fast forward a week when she came with me to work with me, she got roped into helping shuffle empty trucks. She took it slow and did fine! :)

I got him to the end of the irrigated, and he only had a small amount of dryland left to go, so he found a substitute for me while I partook in some K State football tickets that I won off a Facebook contest put on by our local Gleaner dealer. I took my sister, and a good friend and her mother. Thank you Lang Diesel!

Then onto my own corn, it did way better than expected, especially due to the wind induced ear drop that plagued the area, and early season lodging caused by high winds. Thankfully my ear drop and lodging was very minimal compared to others in the area. Most combine pics are with my sister at the helm, she lives a couple hours away and has a desk job, so she loves being able to get away and get some seat time in the combine.

I figured it was worth a shot to try and grab some down ears, boost my yield, and potentially go after some custom work, but Sund pickups were designed to not pick up rocks, and apparently ears of corn weigh similar to rocks, so it was a definite no-go. :) I think over 2000 ft I brought in like 2 ears... Oh well, cant learn if you dont try.

Rescued a pair of old Gleaner A's, both missing some parts, but we got the parts to put them back together.

Concluded the year by dragging home my new used sprayer that I bought earlier that fall on an online auction, spent a nice Christmas with my sister who lives in the same town the sprayer is in, so left from her house early in the morning, hooked on, header for home and got home a little after dark. Shoutout to Simpson Farm Enterprises, they let me use a grease gun, and gave me a bearing cap, above and beyond what was required on a wholesale deal like that. I highly doubt I will do all my spraying due to the low clearance booms, but this will let me dip a toe into spraying, and hopefully boost my bottom line by a decent amount.

I say my goals are to have fun and make money, but if a guy could only pick 1, having fun takes a little more priority. :) Its the yearly goal to "hit the jackpot" and do both, and if I no longer do one or the other, its time to find a new career. :)

Here is to a happy, fun, and prosperous new year to us all!

Edited by GM Guy 1/12/2020 23:13