Combine!

It's the talk of the town and a must see, according to our hosts, Tom and Louise, LHC friends.  The town is Willow City, ND, population 162.  We stopped there to visit, parked the RV on their lot - with full hookups, no less.  The combine is new, cost $650K, and it's a huge mutha.

Kevin, proud owner of the combine, and his 2 sons, have 5,000 acres in crops.  Incredible that 3 men can handle that much acreage.  They couldn't do that without the help of this tractor, though.

Just kidding.  The old tractor still runs but the one below is the current edition.

This little doohickey is called a header; it fits on the front of the combine, cuts a 40' swath.  We got our first combine (on the family farm in MN) in the early 60s.  It could pick up one windrow, the result of a 6' swath.



My, how the times have changed!  I spent 100s of hours on tractors back in the day.  They had hard metal seats with hardly any springs, no cabs - sore butts and a dirt diet.  Now: enclosed cabs with cushy seats, A/C, fridge, microwave, stereo, computer.  As far as I know, they haven't added toilets yet.  Maybe next year's model.