Grinding My Way Through Harvest



Dreaming of one day driving this beast!!


Wheat harvest has always been a family thing.  My dad's brother (or my uncle, however you want to look at it) lives 2 miles from our house.  My grandpa (or my dad's father, however you want to look at it) lived about 5 miles from our house.  (His land is now being farmed by my cousin).  When wheat harvest rolled around everybody worked together cutting their wheat.  Harvest was not officially over until everybody's wheat had been cut.

Up until I was 16 I always helped out in the kitchen by baking cookies, fixing sandwiches, making tea, and ensuring that the Pepsi and the Dr. Pepper were cold. 

After I had turned 16, I decided that this was the year that I was going to help out with harvest.  I was going drive the wheat truck to and from town to deliver the wheat to the coop.  There was just one small problem, the wheat truck had a standard transmission.  Up until that point in my short driving career I had only driven an automatic transmission.

One Sunday afternoon right before the start of harvest, I was given a fast course on driving the beast of a wheat truck.  There wasn't much to it.  Just slam down on the clutch and grind the gear into place.

After a few hot and windy days it was my time to shine being the newly appointed wheat truck driver.  I hopped in the wheat truck and never looked back.  I got the wheat truck to the coop, weighed in, and then went to wait in line at the elevator.  There wasn't much to it I decided.  I could handle this; I didn't know what everyone was so worried about. 

I encountered one tiny little problem, ok, it could have been a big problem.  It was, it was...an incline.  Yes, I had to wait behind some other wheat trucks at the elevator.  Waiting wasn't the problem.  It was the incline that I was waiting on that tripped me up.  I received the nod to pull forward from the guys that were working in the elevator. I put my foot on the clutch, grinded it into 1st, and planned on pulling forward.  Except, that gosh darn incline got in the way.  I started rolling backward.  In my quick driver's training right before harvest, Dad had said something about this, but my quick cat-like reflexes didn't kick in.  I couldn't remember what to do, so I slammed on the brakes.   The guys gave me another quick nod to try again. I tried again and rolled back even further. Oh great, what am I supposed to do?  I sat there for a second and one of the guys came back to ask what the problem was.  I sat there with my lower lip stuck out and told him that I couldn't get the truck to pull forward.  I felt like the biggest idiot ever.  He made me get out and pulled it on forward.  I was so humiliated.  I had been defeated by an incline.  Who gets defeated by an incline?  My pride left with the wheat that I finished dumping. 

I finished out my duty as the newest wheat truck driver.  I got the hang of handling the beast on that blasted incline.  And wheat harvest came to a close for that year.  I think I must have scared my father (and everybody else in the community) that year.  From that year on they have had their wheat custom cut by some guys out of northeast Kansas.  My days as a wheat truck driver came to an end.  Maybe it was for the best?!?!?!