For those of you that live where there are still farmers, do you ever get stuck behind them? A small story...
I used to live on a farm, and the family had two others. One evening after we had been running the combine all day and had filled quite a few grain wagons with corn, I decided that we needed to get them down to the grain mill, since the forecast was for rain the next day. I called Will (a neighbor), and had him come over to take the semi down for me, while I took the John Deere tractor and three or four grain wagons down.
The tractor that I was driving is was a 4230 model. It's very big, and was plenty powerful to move around a couple of wagons. However, I was pushing the limit when I attached three wagons together and was pulling them. Our farm is in a valley, and we have a lane that leads directly out onto a state highway. I hitched everything together, and climbed up in the cab. Got onto the highway, and started off to the mill... it was only about three miles away. It was about dusk, there was still light out, but it was dark enough that I turned on my headlights in addition to the eight (!) hazard lights that are constantly flashing during tow.
On this highway is a curve. It's not an extremely sharp one, but it isn't very gradual either. It's on a very slight upward grade, and then immediately after rounding the curve, the grade drops suddenly, into a small dip. Everything was under control. I started rounding the corner. I check my side mirrors, note that the hazard lights are working, and that there are now four cars following me. I normally would have pulled off somewhere so as to let them pass, but the berm on that road is low enough that I would have rolled the wagons had I attempted to pull over. Shortly after the curve is a pull off spot, and I thought that I might pull off there. I was not able to see around the bend very well, as there is also a hill to the interior side of the curve. I was nearing the end of the curve, where the road dips. I saw a car sitting just past the dip in the road, and further noted that it wasn't moving. I pulled the throttle back just a little, trying to figure out what was going on. When the car didn't move in another few seconds, I thought that wrecking was probably imminent. I clutched and tried to see if the brakes would be enough to slow me to the point that I could pass the car on the opposite side of the road. The brakes weren't going to cut it along. I shifted down to first gear (from 12th) and declutched. I slammed the throttle back to 0% and pulled the engine fuel shutoff. At this point, the transmission is grinding, the engine is screaming, and I have one hand on the door handle, ready to abandon ship if need be. I hit the differential lock (which you normally would not want to do) so that (hopefully) the tires would brake evenly, and not pull on one side, and throw me sideways.
About 15 feet before my rig would have destroyed them, whoever was in the car slammed on the accelerator, and took off. To prevent someone from hitting me in the rear, and to avoid a rollover caused by jack-knife, I turned engine fuel back on, clutched to relieve the strain on the tranny and engine, shifted up to 8th gear, and declutched while I threw the throttle back up to full power.
Although all of this took place at about 20mph, that's a dangerous speed when you're carrying more weight than a semi, and have to stop in very short order. I was able to get the rig back in a straight line, and went on my way to the mill. I felt like I needed a fresh pair of pants after that experience, but nobody was hurt, and everything turned out OK.
Yes, I know, bizarre story to be reading on ATOT. I was born a farmer, and still like to visit the country sometimes. I wouldn't trade the computer industry for farming any day, though.
Andrew
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