It's been a busy couple of weeks and this post is much-overdue.
I moved into an old farm house at the
end of September. It belongs to James Williams, a fellow dealer's son
who moved back to North Carolina to take over the dealership. His
house hasn't sold in the last year or two and I was looking for
something different, so renting it from him works out for both of us.
It's only six miles north of Pella and is definitely out of town, is
on 3/4 acre, has a couple sheds and a garage, and a nice workspace
downstairs. I've been enjoying it so far; I just need a couple more
couches and I'll be pretty well settled. I've even got two kittens to
watch for mice. They proved themselves on day one.
I hadn't done any traveling for work
since my Montana trip in June until I took a day trip to Emmetsburg
in northwest Iowa two weeks ago. I went to look at a couple rakes
before cornstalk baling season started, and I went with a new baler
engineer Steven Talsma, who looked at four balers. It was a 17-hour,
615-mile day, but was productive. I went to work the next day
(Friday) and was told to pack my bags and be ready to leave for
Mississippi on Sunday to be in the field on Monday. Ryan Walker,
another new baler engineer Alex Knee, and I folded ourselves into an
extended-cab service truck for the 880-mile drive to Meridian,
Mississippi.
Many parts of the south make hay from
Bahia grass, which is slick and short; it's basically lawn clippings
this time of year. Certain balers have issues with it late in the
season, so we were sent to look for solutions. I went to represent
Enhancement as this is a perennial issue, Alex went to help with the
Go-Pro camera and to learn some things, and Walker went because he is
just so handy and has a lot of experience.
We mostly ate fast food, but went to a
highly regarded steak house one night. The "best seafood in
town" happened to be at a gas station. Regional Manager Bryan
Setzer and the dealer Van Davis swore by it. Walker and I were game
to try it, but Des Moines-grown Alex was visibly terrified and only
had hush puppies. I had an overstuffed fried shrimp po-boy, ate it
happily, and survived the day.
It was one of many instances in which
Alex was given grief: he had a rather tough week. Aside from the learning curve he was experiencing, he also couldn't quite make a 12-foot gate with a 7-foot wide truck, scratched it a bit, and blew a tire. We had an older spare, which we discovered didn't fit because new hubs on Ford trucks are metric. We had planned on leaving that evening, but had to stay an extra day to wait for tires. We worked on a customer's baler in the meantime, and while taking off a sprocket Alex managed to hit himself in the face with a gear puller. His other mishaps included breaking the pull cord out of the gas-powered air compressor twice and breaking a (crappy) drill in half. He had a lot of explaining to do on Monday when we got back.
I thankfully had an easier go than he did. This was also probably the one time I'll ever get to say that we raked and baled on ground owned by Lockheed Martin, the airplane manufacturer. I enjoyed being out in the field and on the road, seeing two new states, Arkansas and Mississippi, bringing my count up to about 32 states I've spent appreciable time in. I also realized on the way back I'd somehow hogged all the city driving, going through St Louis twice, Memphis twice, Jackson, and Tupelo; Walker has been on the road for Vermeer for more than twenty years and is no slouch behind the wheel, but I think he'll get over it.
The Enhancement Group is now back up to two members, so I am no longer a one-man show. Madison Delaney started at Vermeer in January as a manufacturing engineer, and is a good fit in his new position. I never heard the story why Jacob Limke's spot was filled after only one month instead of nine, but I am grateful to have someone to work with because there is much to do and Enhancement is very busy.
Sarah and I have been together for two years as of last weekend! I honestly can't quite believe it. She almost pulled off a road trip without letting me know where we were going, but I drew it out of her and spoiled the surprise. We went to Milwaukee, which may sound odd to skeptics. She had been there a couple times but I had never been there and had no idea what to expect. There was some surprise involved because the city was not what I expected. It seemed to have a lot happening. Some intersections are a little weird compared to other cities I've been in, but I think I can forgive them.
We got there late last Friday, and went straight downtown to listen to a session, which was just great. We saw the Public Market, a Pabst Brewery tour, a Pabst Mansion tour, and the Lakefront. We had a nice seafood dinner at a bistro, at loose ends for the evening. We had seen several theaters downtown, and found that one nearby featured Brian Regan, a favorite comedian of mine, that night, so we impulsively bought tickets. He is genuinely hilarious, original, and not obscene, which is a rarity. It was a full day well spent.
We went to mass at the Basilica of St Josephat, which was very beautiful and even had a choir. Yet another Milwaukee surprise. We wandered our way back to Pella, the kittens skittering across the gravel to see us, finishing our 763-mile trip. I've driven 3290 miles on all my October roadtrips, so I'm ready to stay at home for a little while.
