Travel Blog

We got off to a shaky start. A few posts back, I said we were going to be working in Crookston, MN. But that was
changed to E. Grand Forks, MN. So we get to the RV place in Grand Forks, with no idea what we were doing, or
where we were supposed to park our rig or anything. We call our contact guy, Arlin, and he says that he’s
changed his mind and that he wants us to come the 25 extra miles to Crookston. Here it was, 7:00 in the evening,
Phil and I hadn’t showered in three days, and we knew the Crookston place was a no-water site. So we told Arlin
we were going to see him tomorrow and stay the night where we could have water. So I drive around and try to
figure out where to park it for the night. I get in one space, but we couldn’t get very level, so I said frog it, let’s move
to another spot. About my third circuit around the park, some dude starts yelling at us. I slam on the brakes to
see what he has to say. It was a camp host, and he was wondering if we were with the sugar beet harvest. We
said yes, but we weren’t going to be staying for more than a night here, we had to go to Crookston. So the bugger
made us pay to stay there, which we weren’t very happy about because if we were there like we were told we were
going to be, staying there is free. But we just wanted to be parked and to get clean. I finally find a good spot for the
night and we get settled. We got our showers, and that made us happy. And there was an Applebee’s within
walking distance, so that made us happier. However, we forgot about the fickle weather in Minnesota, and by the
time we were done eating, it was pouring down rain, so we had two showers for the price of one.
Yesterday we get to Crookson, which is really a nice little place.


We staying in Central Park, and it’s really pretty and we’re surrounded by green, green grass. The dogs love it.



We were greeted right away by a nice fellow named Larry who told us there was limited space, but that folks were
working on getting everyone electric. He told us to park anywhere we could, but he was a newbie to the harvest,
and wasn’t really sure what we should do. Luckily, as we were rounding a corner to park and call Arlin, we were
met by three of the nicest folks we’ve ever met. Darlene, Carl and Ron have worked the harvest for years, and told
us good things about it and how fun it can be. Carl and Ron are both foremen (we found out today we’ll be working
for Ron, which thrilled us), and Darlene worked as a sample taker the last couple years, but has moved up to scale
operator, so she was very happy about that. But they filled us in on the space situation, and recommended we just
back our RV next to Ron’s and use his electric box. Cool with us. So now we’re parked in the grass with no
neighbors to the one side of us and Ron on the other.






View of a church from the park:



View of the river from the park:



I wasn’t my normal self, and actually enjoyed talking with all the folks here. We’ve met another couple with a pug,
and Xander had fun meeting Pugsley. I didn’t trust Willough with the old guy (he’s nine) yet because sometimes
she’s not so nice, but they’ll meet one of these days. And we briefly spoke with a young guy who, along with his
girlfriend, is living in a mini-van chainsawed to fit a camper onto it. (When I know him better I’ll ask him if it’s ok to
take a picture.) He had been at training earlier in the day and said he ate a sugar beet. He described the taste as
“sweet dirt.” I learned from the repeat folks that sugar beets are used in things like Hershey’s chocolate and Coke.
And they can get as big as bowling balls, and they’re white. I can’t wait to see one. I don’t think I’m aloud to take
pictures on the job, but I’ll see what I can do.
Sugar beet field:



As I said before, the park we’re at has no water hookups, but we had filled up our water tank the night before at the
other park, so we were good to go. We turned on our pump and nothing. Not a sound. Pump wasn’t working. So
we made due with our water jugs for the night, but today, Ron and Carl helped us figure out what was wrong, and
now we’re good to go. I love RV’ers!

We had the first part of orientation this morning, which consisted of a whole bunch of paperwork, W-2’s and
whatnot, and a training video for the harvest. Arlin said something to the group about not everyone being
guaranteed a job, and that sort of ticked us off, but we were told later that all the RV’ers will have a job. There’s a
lot of migrant workers looking for work too, and not everyone will get a job, so I guess that’s where Arlin was
coming from there. Whew!

We go for more training tomorrow afternoon at the sugar beet main company here. That’s where we’ll see what the
job is really all about and where I’ll get to taste my sweet dirt. Can’t wait. Then we’ll actually start the work on
October 1st, and barring any weather problems, we’ll be done ten days from that. I guess we don’t work if it’s
raining too hard, if it’s too hot, or if it’s too cold, so I guess delays can happen. But the weather so far has been
awesome, so hopefully that will keep up. Phil and I are pretty sure we’ll be working nights (Darlene, Ron and Carl
all swear that’s the best shift so we’ll believe ‘em), so our hours will be from 8pm to 8 am.
So far so good. We have a great internet connection here, so in my four hours of not working or sleeping per day,

I’ll be sure to keep this updated. I’ll leave off with a picture of the new dog bowls we bought today.