The Long Awaited Combine Ride

Friday was a great day... It was the day Bryce has been looking forward to for months, literally. Back in August, we again won a silent auction prize that allowed our son to ride in a combine with a local farmer - Mr. Morehouse.

So, you can only imagine how eager he's been recently as we routinely pass fields in Indiana being cleaned of their corn stalks. "Daddy, when is Mr. Morehouse going to let me on his combine?" "Mommy, is that field one that Mr. Morehouse works in?" "I think Mr. Morehouse is in that combine out there." And on, and on and on it's gone.

But Friday afternoon we found the very field and combine in which Doug Morehouse occupied. It's one of his smaller fields measuring roughly 150 acres. In total, he and his staff farm nearly 2,000. And for a mere 30 minutes, Bryce and his father sat in a pretty fancy 2010 John Deere combine and made 4 "swipes" through this field.

It was a pretty awesome experience for both father AND son. Mr. Morehouse has one of those combines that is GPS driven, requires very little steering but plenty of attention to be paid to his iPad and other computers.

Once the combine was filled, a tractor appeared next to us with a giant trailer to get help lessen the load we were carrying. This was the highlight of the day as Bryce was allowed to push the yellow button that dispenses the corn into the trailer.

While it was very enjoyable for us, I think Mr. Morehouse also found the intrusion a welcome break in an otherwise predictable day of farming. With two trips in the combine under our "city belts", we have actually been invited back for a Spring planting, too!