Driving on the Farm

When you live on a farm you never know what you might be required to drive. I grew up on a farm and we all learned how to drive at an early age. Usually, you start out with an automatic transmission, then work up to a standard transmission, and go to driving everything from pickups to grain trucks to tractors. I learned how to drive a standard on my dad's old Chevy pickup that had the gear shift on the steering column. Then I learned how to drive the tractor. One summer I drove a small tractor without a cab cultivating 3 rows at a time. I loved it! When I turned 16, Dad had me drive the grain truck to the elevator. I was always a little nervous about running the PTO to lift the bed. The elevator workers were hard to understand in all the noise but everything always went fine.

I learned how to drive the combine the summer after Leon and I got married. I was 8 months pregnant with Emily and he had me on the combine showing me how to run it. We came to the end of the field and he jumped off. I was on my own! Once I got used to it, driving the combine has been one of my favorite jobs. We don't have little grain trucks anymore. Now we use semis to haul the grain to the elevator. My combine bin holds more than the truck I drove for Dad. I have said that I will not drive the semi. Well, never say "never!"

Leon called yesterday and asked if I would bring his semi with the water tank over the field for him. He could start spraying then the truck would be there when he needed it. I told him I would try. The semi he uses for this purpose is the older one that does not have power steering. The steering wheel is so big I can barely reach the far side! I only had to drive it 6 miles and only had one corner. It wasn't that bad but I still do not want to drive one to town!

I also got to ride in the pickup with Katie driving for the first time yesterday. She is learning quickly and doing a good job. She is even practicing her turn signals. Katie usually drives the 4-wheeler during harvest to help us move vehicles from field to field. Emily has been driving the pickup for quite a while and does a fantastic job driving the tractor with the grain cart.