July 4, 2017

For the past few weeks, we’ve been busy helping our son Philip move back home from Portland, Oregon.  There just wasn’t time for posting on this website.  But now, we’re home, and soon we can settle back into a new routine.

While Pat and I were away, John and Brandon finished off the re-replanting of soybeans.  The flooding and crusting of the soybean fields caused us to do a record amount of replanting this year.  The new air drill is finally cleaned up and put into storage.  Also, the levee along White River that was breached during the May floods was repaired.  John has the herbicide applications caught up.

Here, John sprays some of the replanted soybeans at the Freddie farm.

Replanted soybeans at the Grubb farm, post-flood from White River.  Compare to the picture on the post for Wednesday, May 10.

#plant17 and #replant17 and #3plant17 has been a marathon!

Our trip out west was eventful.  In Portland, we met many of Philip’s terrific friends, and we blessed by their kindness.  A dozen or more of them helped us pack up his stuff in the old U-Haul.  My BIL John Hobson flew out the make the 4-day trip back to Indiana.    Departing on Monday morning (26th), we didn’t make many ‘sight-seeing’ stops, but kept the ‘pedal to the metal’ most of the time.  But what we saw in our trek across America was beautiful.

One of the few ‘stops’ we made was just a few miles out of Portland on I-84. Multnomah Falls.

Central and Eastern Oregon impressed us with the wheat fields and pastures and fields of potatoes… all with the mountains in the background.

Idaho agriculture impressed us even more than the speed limit… must be because it’s an “I-state”.

Utah was special with more agriculture in the north than we expected.

Wyoming provided us with many trains to entertain us

Entering Colorado, it was our 4th state to see on Tuesday.

The vast expanse of eastern Colorado was fascinating.

We loved western Kansas, with the pastures and wheat fields. Some people may be bored by this scenery, but not John and me!

There were a few interchanges in Kansas that connected to rural roads. We just happened to be able to pull off to see these combines in a field adjacent to I-70. The operators waved back to us.

Thursday evening, this was a special sign we had been eager to see, just after we crossed the Wabash at Vincennes.

One of the best sights was driving up the farm lane to home.

Folks from church came Friday evening to unload the U-Haul. We’re grateful.

Many times, as we were viewing something spectacular, we would comment, “Thank you, God, for making this, and thank  you for letting us see it.”  Yes, America the Beautiful is a proper description.

It was quite a trip from Oregon to home, but we made it okay.  The U-Haul’s a/c worked to keep us cool.  Yes, we missed the cooled seats, the backup camera, and the blind-spot detector from the pickup, but it got the job done.  Thanks to my BIL for making the trip with me.

Had some office work to catch up, but John did a terrific job covering for me while I was out west.   I hope to get the bush hog out there on some roadsides soon.

Have a very happy Independence Day, everyone!