START

I just checked the count down timer on the sugar beet harvest timer. Here is the link:

Sugar Beet Harvest web site link

Rain suits are loaded in the truck bed tool box of the Dually for quick access.

Lunch sandwiches are made. Ride arrangements with co workers confirmed.

Extra gloves, safety lock out padlock and safety glasses at the ready.

And the ever present green hard hat, with last week’s beet mud washed off.

The harvest kicks off at midnight, but we will be there early to get job and piler assignments.

Yep,

we’re sittin’ dead on ready.

ROUTE

 

Our travel route for 2009 was similar to the one we are following in 2010.

The main difference is that we worked for Amazon.com in Coffeyville Kansas in 2009. In 2010, however, we will be going to Campbellsville Kentucky to work for Amazon.

In 2011 we may change the Winter trip down South to the Gulf of Mexico by working as on site security at oil well drilling sites along the Louisiana/Texas state lines, down near the Gulf Coast. We are still looking into that job at this point.

In 2009, after completing our work/travel loop and spending the Holidays at home with family, Betty and I quietly celebrated the arrival of the new year, as we prepared to head South to The Padre Island National Seashore. We were ready for some Sunshine, Surf and sand.

On January 5th we started this years loop by heading South to Corpus Christi Texas. At this point we are well past the half way point up in North Dakota. We are at the sugar beet harvest, having completed our Summer’s Job of managing a 50 site campground in Colorado.

Our Amazon job will be completed on December 23rd and we will zip home for the Holidays, and the 2010 loop will be history.

COOKOUT

It is Sunday afternoon at the Hillsboro Rv Park.

 

A mild, gentle breeze stirs the leaves on the trees.

Side dishes wait on a picnic table.  

Lawn chairs click as they unfold.

Conversations buzz as RVing tales are being told.

We couldn’t tell it at the time, but the soft ground was beginning to give way under the cooker. A close look at the cooker shows that it is beginning to lean already.

After a near disaster, the ribs are finished up on the grill. Chef Paul to the rescue !

Then, it’s time to dig in !

RV park owner Paul furnished the ribs and their preparation and every one brought side dishes.

WOO HOO !!! We be cookin’ out !

We are between the pre pile and the regular harvest seasons and are resting up for the big job ahead.

 

The sunlight is at a low angle on the horizon and Paul has another great meal in the bag !

Thanks Paul, for a great afternoon at Hillsboro Rv Park.

GORE-TEX

While in Fargo shopping we stopped into a thrift store and found a bargain !

 

A great gore tex jacket for under $10 !

And a HimAlayA fleece lined “hoodie” parka for $15 !

I may have to go through the closet and cull some of my older low tec fabric clothes.

MEDICATIONS

Meds out on the road. It can be a problem, stopping at a drug store to get them to call somewhere to get a copy of your prescription faxed to the pharmacist.

Many of us choose the simple and expedient method of having our Doctor fax the prescription to the local WalMart pharmacy. Then, after that, no matter where we are in the lower 48 states, just stop into a WalMart and drop the empty bottle off for a refill while we shop. It has made our travels quite a bit simpler. After our annual Doctor’s visit, he faxes our prescriptions and we don’t have to worry with them for the next year.

Until today that is !

Last year while in North Dakota for the Sugar Beet Harvest, we had filled our prescriptions in Alamosa Colorado, just before leaving there. This year we had enough meds to last for a couple of weeks here in North Dakota. Today we were ready to refill our meds and went to the local WalMart’s pharmacy.

To our surprise they were not a WalMart pharmacy and were quick to tell us that they didn’t have access to WalMart’s prescription data base. They would have to call the doctor to fax the prescriptions. They also told us that North Dakota had no WalMart pharmacy’s !

We went eight miles to the East to Moorehead Minnesota and found a WalMart pharmacy, dropped our bottles off and went shopping.

LIFT

Topping and lifting the sugar beets is at the start of the harvest. Here is a look out in the fields where that happens:

First the beets are topped.

Then they are lifted from the ground into a truck.

Here is a Beet in the field.

Now when it’s mostly dry, the equipment above will get the job done. But if it’s wet, the equipment and the trucks will have to be pulled through the fields with a tractor that looks similar to this:

Man, oh, Man ! Twelve tires on a tractor that steers by bending in the middle !

TEMPORARY

Last year when we were at the Sugar Beet Harvest we shot a video of our temporary home for the duration. It was titled Hillsboro Rv Park Tour . We are there again this year, enjoying the wide clean spaces and other amenities. Here is a link to that video on You Tube;

 

It is pretty much the same this year, but we are in a Coleman 36’ fifth wheel instead of a 17’ Oliver.

Here are a few photos to round out the overall view of the Hillsboro RV Park.

Typical 50 amp site.

Row of 30 amp sites.

 

Wide sites with trees and grass.

Playground equipment.

Shower rooms to the left, Laundry to the right.

Spacious showers with change room attached.

Laundry room with deep sink, folding tables and hang up clothes racks.

Office.

Office door.

The basket ball court is the other side of the office.

Dump station is a pull through at the end of the center row of parking  right on the way out.

Here is the way we look this year.