Marlboro Man used a day of hay hauling last week to teach Todd how to drive a stick. His Dodge is the only vehicle with manual transmission on our homestead, and all members of the household need to know how to drive it.
Every now and then, MM had to get out of his tractor to go give Todd a pointer or two, but for the most part, Todd caught on quickly.
So here’s how hauling hay goes: First, the hay is cut. After that, it’s raked into lines. Then, the baler drives over the lines and the hay gets rolled and baled. Once the hay is all baled, it’s stacked into neat groups to make loading easier. Once the hay is stacked, then it’s time to load it and haul it! So the person driving the pickup and hay trailer parks strategically near a line of hay…
And the guy driving the tractor lifts the bales one by one…
And sets them onto the trailer.
Then a second one…
Gets set beside it…
And when it comes to loading subsequent ones, it’s about using the hay on the prongs to push the one on the trailer forward in order to make room.
Todd likes hauling hay! And pay no attention to that teeny tiny (ahem) dent. It happened ages ago! And Todd wasn’t even driving this truck.
(He was driving the Polaris that backed into the truck…but that’s another story for another time.)
A tractor is the only way to lift these things…or even move these things.
One time, in a fit of marital competition, I bet Marlboro Man that I could roll/budge a round bale 6 inches.
I couldn’t even budge it one inch. Or even half an inch. They are enormous and heavy and I almost got a hernia trying. The bale just sat there and laughed at me.
Cackled, was more like it.
So what I’m saying is, I’m grateful for tractors. Hernias are no way to live!
So back to the driving lesson: As soon as the trailer was full of hay, they had to be taken down to the stackyard and unloaded. A steep, winding hill is involved, so Marlboro Man decided to take the driver’s seat and give Todd a few pointers before turning him loose.
Now, Todd has driven this hill plenty of times…
Just not in a stick shift.
So there was definitely some clutch coaching going on.
“Clutch coaching.” Say that fast five time!
It may not look like much, but this hill is a little bit of a bear. Especially when you have a long trailer behind you. And try driving it in ice sometime!
This hay was going to the stackyard below the Lodge, so they pulled right in and parked.
Now, before we got this style of hay trailer three or four years ago, the bales used to have to be unloaded with a tractor one by one, just as they are loaded…
But instead, they just turn a crank a few times, and the bales tip right off! Then later, Marlboro Man will use a trailer to stack the bales in neat lines in the stackyard…but at least this way, the trips to and from the hay field can keep moving along more efficiently.
Time for Todd to drive back to the field!
When they got up there, Marlboro Man had to use the tractor to push the sides back up since they’re a little stiff (normally you can crank them back by hand). Todd tightened the crank to get the trailer ready to load back up.
Yawn. This is the face of a boy who’s been working cattle and hauling hay for two straight weeks.
But there’s no rest for the weary! There’s still plenty of hay to be hauled.
So Marlboro Man loaded up another trailer full.
And then…it was Todd’s turn to drive down the hill!
Good luck, Marlboro Man. May the force be with you.
And they’re off!
Marlboro Man’s always a little bit of a backseat driver anyway…and now I have photographic proof.
Of course, in this case…it’s warranted.
Here they come!
Yep. I see Todd’s head in the driver’s seat.
Mama is officially impressed. This hill is not for the faint of heart, especially if you have to worry about a clutch.
You’re doing great, Todd!
Hang on, Marlboro Man!
They made it just fine.
And now Todd can officially drive a stick.
Which means his job description just got a little bit broader…
