Sunday, September 10, 2017

We arrived in Ashby, MN, after a very windy drive from Spring Valley.  We got in just in time to watch the Packers win their game today, and we hear the Brewers swept the Cubs!  We have stayed at this campground before, when we did the Northwest trip in 2013.  It is 5 miles from our friends, Larry and Elaine Larson.  We didn't know that until this year, when we were talking about coming this way.  We were invited over to their place this evening, and they took us out to 'the farm'.  OMG!  Farming has changed since I was that country bumpkin back on Salem Ridge!  My dad had 136 acres and about 20 milking cows and these people have acres and acres of 'flat land'!  We met Boone Carlson and he showed us how they harvest the sugar beets.  He rents some land from Larry and Elaine, and was very interesting to talk to.  We had a lot of fun and lots of laughs tonight, and it will continue tomorrow as they are going biking and caching with us!  We are to show them how to geo-cache!  The winds have died down, and it is to be a beautiful day. 

                                                         Welcome to Minnesota!

This is Jim, Boone, Elaine and Larry at the shed that houses the sugar beet harvester!  It is quite the huge machine and Boone explained how it worked.  He loves what he does!  I would love to see the whole process of going from sugar beets to Crystal Sugar!

I drove a Farmall H and an M when I was a kid on the farm.  Boone had Jim and I get up in one of the very big John Deere tractors, and I felt like I was on the second story! 

                                                                           CHEERS!