travelling south

After two weeks preparation, we left for Texas on Wednesday 28 May to start cutting wheat. We cut about 7000 acres down there over 15 days. I took this video by the side of the road on the way down. It's pretty funny, you'll just here the boss Greg yelling at me at the end of the video to get going. We'd been sitting roadside for an hour and he came back just as I was goofing-off.

Eight vehicles set off in convoy; 4 semi-trailers towing the combines and grain-trailers, two trailer homes (one for the boss and the other for seven crew members!), our service truck with tools, fuel etc, and a mini-van that the crew use for excursions around town.

The journey down was about 400 kilometres and took us a little over seven hours.

I was thrown one of the semi-trailers to drive. Driving a semi is a bit of a coup for me. It was one of my goals coming over here. I knew it was on the cards but I didn’t think that I’d attempt it so soon and on such a big truck.

In Australia I simply would not qualify for the license because I haven’t got enough hours on a truck. Also the whole process can cost thousands of dollars.

Over here, I drove myself to the motor registry in the truck, paid $35 for both the theory and practical test, failed one component of the practical, drove myself home in the truck, showed up again the next day, paid an extra $1.50 to redo the practical component, passed and came out with a license that allows me to drive anything up to a triple trailer combination.

Many would say that it’s foolhardy giving someone like me a license. But it exemplifies part of the American ethos that I love; if you want to do something, you’re given the opportunity. Greg lives this out through his business. If you’re willing to listen and work hard, he has the patience to teach. It doesn’t matter if you’re a city boy.