South Georgia and Oklahoma Cotton

This is Ella's way of saying, "Mom, will you PLEASE hold me?"

And of course it works every time. I've ruined her!

Monday morning, after delivering south of Macon, GA, we headed towards the southwest corner of Georgia and a little town called Blakely. Central Georgia is SO populated, really just one gigantic metropolis and suburb of Atlanta. I think just the very outer edges of Georgia can even be considered agricultural, but this is just my opinion. I'm not a fan of big city life and scenery, as you may have guessed from reading this blog. And because of this, and the fact that we drove through in the dark hours of morning, I did not photograph Atlanta and its surrounding area.

Rural Georgia, though, is quite picturesque and I enjoyed  that part of our trip very much.

South Georgia is much flatter than the northern part of the state where I have had most of my Georgia experiences. Its mostly agricultural with the majority of the land seeming to be cultivated in pecan groves (which are beautiful but hard to capture in the picture),

peanuts (this field had been harvested already),

lumber,



and cotton.

Most of the cotton had been harvested already. I always marvel at the huge bales of cotton waiting to be transported to the warehouses and the gins.

 

On the way to Blakely we stopped at a little pull off so Malcolm could clean the trailer out, and me and the girls got out and walked around a bit. I wanted to see what this field was planted in.

I'm still not sure what it was. I was hoping peanuts, but I don't think it was. And then because there was shreds of cotton all over the ground, I thought maybe cotton, except cotton plants turn dry and dead when the cotton is ready to harvest, and all the other fields were at that point or beyond.
So it wasn't a cotton field, but the tufts of cotton on the ground had to be investigated.

I'm fascinated at how much waste is involved in harvesting cotton. Half the fields that have been harvested, look like they were never touched, so much fiber is left on the plant. And there is tons of fiber lost on the ground, like the wad of cotton in the picture above.

And inside every bole of cotton, there are several cotton seeds, like this one.

They are about the size of large raisins. And let me just say, trying to extract the seed from the fiber without wasting the fiber...that's a challenge! Makes a person really appreciate the importance of the invention of the cotton gin! I used that in a student teaching lesson once, when we were studying the Industrial Revolution. The students were really impressed because its HARD to clean the seeds from the cotton fiber!

In addition to cultivated fields, Georgia also has lots of old architecture to enjoy. I love old houses and towns!

Where as most western tows were built with businesses facing each other along a main street, many southern towns grew up around a courthouse square. I think they are very charming.

That is the Blakely courthouse above, and in that town we loaded something I'd never heard of before. I enjoy peanuts, but I've never even considered what happens to the shells. Once again I was shown that our civilization is not as wasteful as I imagined it to be! It turns out peanut shells do have a use!

We loaded peanut hull pellets. They grind the shells up and compress them into pellets, then sell them as livestock feed. We took them to a feed company in Oklahoma.

On Tuesday we delivered and then went 30 miles west to reload. I was grateful for my interest in the cotton fields from the day before, because we loaded cotton seed. So I had picture from the field on Monday, and Tuesday I got pictures at the cotton gin in Hollis, OK.

I was in the truck the whole time pulling forward and back so it was hard to get good pictures. Cotton seed is light stuff and its fluffy because even the gin doesn't get all the fiber off. Therefor its a long process loading, dumping buckets in, and then it has to be stomped and shoveled down so that we could get enough weight on to make it worth while. We did manage to get our usual 50,000 pounds, but the trailer was so full Malcolm had a hard time getting the tarp to close over it.

I wanted SO badly to go inside the gin. But they weren't overly friendly, and besides, I was busy helping load. SO...here's what I can show you. First trucks bring in the big bales that had been out in the field. These bales were just delivered and are on some kind of conveyor waiting to go into the gin.

Inside the gin, through some mysterious process that I really want to see some day, the seeds are extracted from the fiber. Then the seeds are blown through a pipe and are deposited in this pile outside.

A closer look...

The man in the bobcat in the first picture was scooping it up and dropping it in the auger...

...and then it was carried up the auger and dropped into the trailer.

The air was absolutely full of cotton fibers floating around and stuck to everything ( one reason to be thankful I was stuck in the truck b/c I'm sure it wouldn't have been good for me to breath) . It was a very fluffy place!

As fascinating as I found it, the girls were apparently bored.

Once the seed is extracted, I assume the cotton is cleaned somehow and then packed into bales, wrapped in plastic and loaded onto trucks to be transported to mills.

The seed, as it turns out, is used for animal feed. Apparently its not only very nutritious, but critters reportedly devour it like candy. I can vouch for dogs not finding it appetizing though. There is a handful of seed on the floor of the truck that got tracked in and no one has shown any interest, and believe me, they are quick to lick up anything tasty that comes in on our shoes. They always check when we get in!

Unloading this morning in Wiggins, CO. Its even more work to unload the seed than to get it loaded.

Once its in the trailer, it doesn't like to come out. Its all stuck together by the fibers and it takes a lot of man power to get it to fall out of the hopper doors under the trailer.

Fortunately we got there last night, were the first in line this morning, and are now well on our way to Green River, WY while the 2-3 trucks that pulled in after us may very well still be trying to unload.

Its COLD and WINDY but at least the sun is shining and there is no fresh white stuff falling...for now!
Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Despite a hard year and less than favorable economic conditions and all the other things that could be different in our world, we all have a lot to be thankful for!

Time Well Spent in Tennessee

We drove all the way from Portland, OR to the eastern side of Nebraska with all that winter weather nipping at our heals the whole way. We escaped all the interesting driving conditions except in Nebraska where we were in freezing fog and rain. By the time we exited the state we had about a half inch of ice covering the truck.

But from there it was clear sailing to Georgia where our trip was ending, and by the time we got to Chattanooga, TN and stopped to visit my parents for a few hours, it was sunny and 74 degrees, and I was wishing I had packed a short sleeve shirt instead of leaving all my warm weather clothes at home.

We just stopped for a few hours to visit and have lunch together and wash a blanket because Ella had an accident in bed on Saturday night. Convenient timing though, if she had to have an accident!

After lunch, when we got back to Mom and Dad's the first thing I wanted to do was go to the chicken house. Remember Mom's bantam's that I showed you in July?

Well recently the two hens got together and hatched up a plan. Deciding that if two heads were better than one, probably two butts were as well, they sat together on about two dozen eggs. And Friday Mom and Dad discovered that they had 11 new bantams.



Sadly, 3 of the new babies didn't make it, but there are still 8 of the little fuzz balls running around with two very happy and protective mothers to watch over them.

While I went to see the chickens I left the girls on the back porch so they wouldn't disturb the guys who were watching TV inside. I thought the girls would appreciate the outside time, but I discovered that instead they were very disgusted with me for leaving them.

And so to make it up to them, Mom and I moved to the front porch to relax and visit...

...while the girls discovered the joy of running in a yard full of autumn leaves.

The picture speaks for itself. They LOVED it! Even Paris did some running in the leaves, sticking to the paved sidewalk or course. You know how she has a thing for concrete and asphalt. The princess doesn't like prickly grass.

Ella and Carlie Jean were in heaven. They never get enough of running, and when its in soft dirt, mud, or (their new discovery) piles of leaves, its even more delightful!

 They also discovered that its great fun to zoom as fast as you can up and down the front porch steps.

And so it went for quite a while. Down the steps, a fast circle of the yard, and then back up the steps to see who could reach "base" first.

Usually Ella was in the lead, but only because Carlie Jean likes to be the chaser. She always has preferred that.

(Oh how I wish that picture had come out clearer!)

Mom's dog, Toby, had to watch from inside. I felt really sorry for him. But Toby likes to get free and not come back till he's decided its time...which can take hours from what I've heard.



By this time, Paris had decided that even at 74 degrees, it was a bit too chilly for a princess to go running around, so she happily retired to her favorite perch to enjoy being outside from her lofty throne where its a bit warmer and she has a blanket made of her ladies hair.



Ella got distracted by the leaves on the porch. Apparently they were edible and quite tasty. And Carlie Jean kept trying to distract her from her new snack and tempt her into the chase.

It usually worked with a little persuasion.

"Mom, can me move here?!?"

Paris tried to hint that she was thinking of possibly going back inside. And in the mean time, Toby was doing a little more than hinting that he'd like to come out!

I knew that as soon as I let Paris in, she'd realize that she really would have preferred to stay out. So I just held her and let her watch the fun from my lap. And Mom gave in to Toby and went and got his leash so he could join us.

And enjoy the great out doors....at least what he could from within the confines of his leash.

After a while it got cooler and started getting dark, so we went inside and visited from the comfort of the living room sofas while we waited for the blanket to finish drying. Malcolm and Dad joined us after finishing a little project they had gotten started, and Malcolm and Toby re-kindled their budding friendship that began last Christmas. They like to "smile" at each other.



Back to Work, Back with a Bang

Monday morning we returned to work after a couple weeks out of the truck. We packed a little bit of everything into this last "break." While filled with fun and lots of visiting, there wasn't much of a "break" involved.

We started off with a couple days at home to get things packed, and get the truck turned into the shop for a clutch adjustment and a few other repairs. Then we headed to the ranch where we helped out with getting the calves shipped and then having the cows preg. checked.  In all we were there 3 days, plus a few hours. Lots of fun, lots of visiting, a little asthma and allergy issues, but that was the only bummer.

From the ranch, we headed to Tennessee. This was the first trip we've taken down there in a personal vehicle since moving to Montana nearly 4 years ago! Up to this point we've always just gotten a load of something going down there, and then taken our time off once we delivered. Its quite a different experience traveling that many miles (about 1700) in a pickup, primarily that you can't stretch out and sleep good. We still managed to do it without stopping though. It took 27 hours. Could have been a little shorter except we drove 65mph in order to conserve some fuel and some money too. We stayed down there about three days and then turned around and came home. We went to visit, but there was also a purpose other than pure pleasure. It was time for my first car to come home to Montana.

This is my 1991 Mustang GT. Daddy bought it for me in 1994 when I was 16. It had 6000 miles on it. I love me little red car! My dad has been storing it in his garage for the past 7 years, but it was time to get it out of his way. Now I guess it will sit in my father-in-law's garage for the next 7 years. But maybe I can get it out once in a while and take it for a spin.

And since we had the trailer and had gone all that way, Malcolm brought a new toy home too. Dad was wanting to sell his 1971 CJ Jeep, and Malcolm thought it would be fun for bumping around the ranch in.

We got to the ranch Monday evening and woke up to a good old fashioned Montana winter morning on Tuesday. How's that for a "welcome home!" By Tuesday evening it still hadn't really cleared up, so we just struck out for home and hoped for the best. The gravel road was really messy.

Thirty miles later when we hit pavement it got better.

Baker was messy and it was getting dark. I guess the good thing about the messy weather was that it kept the deer off the road and they tend to be kind of bad from Baker to Miles City. And then half way to Miles City it cleared up and the roads were dry the rest of the way home.

We spent Wednesday at home, but Thursday we ran a quick over-night load from Great Falls to Fort Collins, CO as a favor to the broker. Friday afternoon in eastern Wyoming was beautiful!

A couple more days at home, and then we hit the road full time again Monday morning. Though some states start in September, the majority of states require us to carry snow chains November 1 - April 1. So Sunday evening Malcolm packed the truck up, and threw in the snow chains to take along with us.

Good thing we remembered them because this morning they had the chain law up for crossing "Cabbage" east of Pendlton, OR. Beautiful snow.....

...not so beautiful roads!

Malcolm pulled off in a rest area to chain up a ways before the actual chain up area. When we got there, we were glad we'd stopped early! There were dozens of trucks parked out in the road getting their chains on, barely leaving room to squeeze around them.

"Cabbage" is a long 6 mile grade that has some steep places, but the main thing about the grade is that its a bit curvy, so if you get going too fast, you'll miss the curve.

This is the first time we've crossed it in really bad weather, and it was pretty nasty looking on top. But about half way down it cleared up and was just wet.

And at the bottom there wasn't anything but a few puddles and a lot of disgruntled truck drivers who were wet and tired and cold and mad that they'd had to put on chains for a short 3 mile stretch.

This was the earliers we've ever chained up I think, and the most we've ever chained up in one winter was 3 times. I hope, very much, that today was not a peek at what is coming this year.



Got to the bottom, and on down towards the Columbia River it turned into a gorgeous day. It was like another world!

And then a few miles further on, it started looking like this again...

It got more and more rainy the closer to Portland we got. I feel like mother nature has kind of thrown a little bit of everything at us today! By the time I got to Vancouver it was just misty, and then as we pulled into Woodland, WA, where we are now, a rainbow came out and now the sun is struggling to burn off the clouds.

We reload in Portland in the morning and then make a short run back over towards Pendleton and the mountain. And then we have to cross over empty. We're hoping the weather improves a lot between now and tomorrow evening when that is supposed to take place. Climbing an icy hill with an empty trailer...well its not a good scenario. Chances are it would be hard to get to the top. And I know that makes little sense. Seems like if you were loaded heavy, you'd have a hard time climbing on icy roads, but reality is the heavier we are, the more traction we have. Light weights are a night mare on icy roads.

Looks like we'll be driving to Wyoming empty ALL the way from Washington, to get a load of potash going to North Carolina! Looking forward to the trip! But right now I'm looking forward to a shower, a good hot meal, and a long night in a parked truck, as soon as we get unloaded. And we're backing in now.