It's HOT when you're sitting in line at the elevator...

We got into full-swing harvest yesterday (Thursday June 25)! I fueled the trucks on my first few trips to town and boy was it hot! The manager at the gas station said we were in a heat advisory and the heat index was 107! I believe it - that's Kansas harvest time for ya! Don't worry I put on sunscreen! I didn't really have too much time to worry about the heat, because as soon as I'd get back from town with an empty truck, I had a full one waiting to be taken back in to the elevator. I had to remember how to do all the correct shifting real fast - there was no grace period yesterday. It still gets me after doing this for probably close to 5 years now - how different the two trucks are. On one truck, you have to let the clutch clear out to the seat and just barely push the gas pedal to make it move smoothly and the other truck well you better be put on your lead boot on because you're gonna need it!

It was so hot yesterday, the asphalt was melting on the stretch of street where all the trucks turn their loads into the elevator to be probed (sample the grain for moisture and such). Some radio station fellas were trying to be nice to all us farmers working in the heat, handing out greasy pizza and lemonade there at the elevator. Greasy pizza was NOT what I wanted at 4 in the afternoon when the heat index was 107! I could have done better with 2 gatorade's instead of pizza! BUT, I took it back to my other half who spent the day planting milo (grain sorghum) in the air conditioned tractor, and he happily at the pizza in the middle of the afternoon!

I am going to be the new driving instructor this year since Becca has decided finally she's serious about learning to drive the trucks. She didn't want the guys at the elevator to laugh at her for killing it or making the sideboards bang loudly (on that truck with the tricky clutch/gas setup), so I got her out to a flat stretch in the country and made her drive a few miles back to the field. And of course, she got the thing lurching and banging just like I used to do when I first started driving. Hell, I still get the thing lurching and banging sometimes when I get in a hurry! Patience is a virtue if you are a harvest truck driver! And a good ability to handle the heat, because there is no A/C unless you enjoy the hot wind going down the highway!