10/22 Sebewaing, MI The beet harvest started on Friday, Oct. 16 and the weather and work culture is very different from N. Dakota. After a few days of getting used to getting up at 4:30 am to begin work at 6, I was moved from one piler to another and then our hours changed. I am working the “second” shift from9 am to 9 pm, and frankly, I like it. We are now settled in at our respective work pilers and hopefully, we will start seeing more trucks coming in. I call my piler the garbage dump. We accept all of the rejected beets that still have their green tops on because most of the pilers jam up with them.

I travelled from N. Dakota to Michigan with 4 other RVers and met Katie, who is from Wisconsin. She joined us in Wisconsin and is now my camp neighbor. We went to the thrift store and picked up a bunch of stuff. I bought a pair of Rockport hiking boots for $6 and they looked like they were only worn once. She also picked up some things for the harvest and then gave me a pair of rubber boots to wear. They are a little big, but I’m wearing two pairs of wool socks and my tights so they fit pretty well. Boy have they come in handy!

It rains a lot up here. And there’s a lot of mud and dirt. Lately it’s more mud than dirt. We are constantly cleaning and pushing the beets to make the pile look pretty. I get stuck in the mud a lot but haven’t lost a boot yet. The beets range from small like a turnip to ginormous like a bowling ball.

One of the local skid drivers gave us a BBQ place to check out. They serve loaded fries with BBQ brisket. I had to try it. Fortunately, we got off of work early today because of the rain and I went to the place and bought the fries. For $10.60 you get at least 2 servings of brisket and fries with sauce in a lined to go box. They are delicious and made up for the rainy day blahs. I do enjoy the sound of the rain on the van. It’s very soothing after a hard nights work.