August

August 1, 2008
Brenda’s Birthday. It is also the day we pass the mileage halfway point. It’s also sweep team day. So after getting up at 5, setting up and serving breakfast, cleaning up camp and loading the overweight bags in the gear truck, we head out. There are just 4 of us acting as the final sweep: Jody Van Dorp, Jake Pasma, his son Kevin, and myself. It was a long hot day, but we had a good time despite the heat. The scenery is starting to look a lot like home, with some very good looking corn and soybeans. It looks like they should have some bumper crops this year. It still amazes me how much is irrigated -- so far almost all the crops from here back to the Pacific have been irrigated. The irrigation here is a little different than farther west; we see more of the big pivot type units and a lot of gas engines driving pumps in little sheds along the road. Camp tonight is at York College in York, NE, a nicely shaded campus with hot showers. York apparently is a main railroad hub -- I’ve heard a train now almost every 15 minutes. At least they are somewhat in the distance.