July 18, 1998 - Long Prarie - Foley

DISTANCE TRAVELED: 75.39 Miles

TIME: 9 Hours 30 Minutes

AVERAGE SPEED: 15.2 Miles/Hour

TRAVEL CONDITIONS: Warm and sunny in the morning changing to rain in the afternoon. A side wind was very strong but was not from our front for very long.

ROAD CONDITIONS: Good roads overall with some cracks.

TERRAIN/DIFFICULTY LEVEL: Fairly flat the entire way with some very small hills. Overall a very easy ride even with the side wind.

DAILY JOURNAL COMMENTS:
I woke up at 8:00 and although the tent felt like 100 degrees, I still didn't want to get out. When I finally emerged, the wind felt great. I took the rain fly off since there was a lot of moisture on the inside and laid it out on the grass so that it would dry before I needed to pack it away. While I waited for it to dry, I packed up the rest of my gear, ate some breakfast of cherrios without milk since we had run out, and made lunch for the day. I finally left around 10:30 with Brad and Heather and shortly caught up with Katie and Julie. We passed by them and about a half an hour later stopped for some food since I was so hungry. Breakfast didn't exactly fill me up. As we ate, Katie and Julie caught up. Finally we were ready to go again and just as we got going, the SAG caught up. I got out my rain jacket which I had not been carrying for a while. About five minutes later the rain came and I threw on my rain jacked. Unfortunately Brad and Heather didn't have one so they got a little wet. Finally we got to Rte 6 and we couldn't read whether we were to take 6 or 26 so we took 6. About a half a mile later we felt like we were going the wrong direction so we stopped at a farmer's house and found four farmers drinking beer in the kitchen. They invited us in and gave us some sodas. We ended up talking for 2 hours without realizing it. They said that every rainy day is a "farmer's holiday." After drinking the sodas, eating some Twizzlers, and some homemade hot dogs, it was time for us to leave. We walked outside and the farmers tried to ride our bikes. Brad and Heather went onto the big trampoline outside and two of the farmers also jumped on. They had socks on so as soon as they tried to jump, they fell straight down. This happened at least 5 times.(Picture65) Finally we were able to leave and at the next town we stopped for lunch. It wasn't really lunch since it was 4:00 and I had two eggs, hash browns, toast, and hot chocolate. We left around 4:30 and then remembered that we had 30 miles to go and dinner was at 6:00. The SAG passed one more time and we cycled into Foley around 7:00. We were starving for dinner even though we had already eaten only 3 hours earlier. There was tons of food waiting for us including many different fruits, pastas, chicken, brownies, cookies, bread, and lemonade. After dinner we then paired up with one other person to go to people's homes where we were to stay for the night. I paired up with Dan and we ended up going with Brad and Cosmus to a farm for the night to stay with our hosts, Connie and Elvin Henry. It was really nice to be in such a small group. When we got there, we went for a tour of the farm which first included going to the barn where all of the machines were stored. Elvin had five tractors for pulling different tools. Three of the tractors where enclosed and had radios with full air conditioning or heating for the different times of the year. Some of the other tools that he had included: a machine that takes off all of the ears of corn, a machine that takes all of the rocks out of the soil leaving all of the good dirt, a machine that cuts the corn from the ground and grinds everything up into a meal so that it can be used for feed, a few different types of seeding machines, a hay cutter, a round bailer, and many different types of storage containers. After this, we went into his shop which was about 30 feet by 40 feet and full of tools. We could barely get into the door to see everything. He had three different types of welding machines and numerous other things. One of the most interesting things was a tool called a plasma cutter. It uses a compressor that produces only 60 psi and can then cut through metal that is ¾ of an inch thick. You squeeze a trigger and the air comes out instantly, cutting through the metal. After this part, we then saw a grain container where he is able to pump grain directly into a truck by using an auger. We also were able to see his silos which had much more to them than what you see at first glance. Three of them were designed for dried feed that includes the stalks and ears of the corn. This is all shredded and then dried out before being put into storage. The fourth is designed to contain only the corn kernels and they don't have to be dried. Because of this, the container has to be airtight so that the feed doesn't spoil. To make it airtight, they have to take into account that the sun will heat the air inside making it expand and the air will also contract in the winter. Because of this, it has ¼ thick steel casing and then a huge plastic bag inside. As the air expands or contracts, the bag will move around to accommodate the different pressures. This ensures that the silo will not burst. The final and best part was going into the barn where he keeps all of the cows. He used to have 60 but because he is now 65, he has decided to cut down to 30 and will most likely be getting rid of all of his cows within the next year or two. We walked into a room that was very clean and contained a 600 gallon tank for holding the milk. It used to be emptied every day but it is now emptied every other day due to the decrease in cattle. We then went further in to where the cows actually are. Although it smelled, it wasn't too bad since he takes good care of the room. Unlike the beef cattle that are commercially farmed, his dairy cows are kept in much better condition and live much better lives. We were able to pet three of the young cattle. They were only two weeks old and to make sure that they didn't get infected, they were kept off of the ground in their own stalls. We moved further in to the area where he prepares the feed. It was set up on a type of conveyer belt with four different openings for the four different silos to empty into. First the conveyer belt was started and then, depending on whether he wanted to put real corn in, shredded corn, or protein, he would open a different valve by the push of a button. The grain would fall onto the belt and after making a series of turns would fall into a feeding trough. He said that the cows primarily stay inside of the barn since he has set up fans to keep out the bugs. Along with this, he has set up a cleaning system that uses a piece of wood to scrape the floor three times a day. He pushes a button which turns a motor on which then drags a chain to pull the wood. When it reaches one end of the barn, all of the dung falls into a pit. Every once in a while, he will then clean out the pit and by using a mixture of dung, sawdust, and a few other things, he can make humus. This is then used to fertilize the ground for farming. Due to this, the ground is more fertile now than when he started to use it. It was incredible to see how automated a barn that looks so simple from the outside is on the inside. We went back to the house and threw some laundry in so that I wouldn't have to waste my time in Minneapolis. I went upstairs and found that Connie had put out roast beef for sandwiches and root beer floats. Along with this there were numerous types of desert. I couldn't believe how well prepared she was. After eating, I pulled out my laptop and connected to the Internet. After updating a few pages and then typing some notes about what had happened for the day, I got ready for bed and fell asleep around 12:30.

TRIP ROUTE:
Rt on 16 to US10 to Randall Rt on CR 14 for ½ miles. Lt on CR 1. South on 1 to Elmdale. 238 east to 26 east, South on 25 to Foley.

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws