Mike’s ride on a combine

This morning we walked the few feet over to Frances and Jack’s for a hearty breakfast of waffles, bacon and sausage.

Then in the afternoon I went back to the library in West Frankfort to do more research. Jack took Mike out to the farm where he works and introduced him to Jerry Miller who is in the process of harvesting corn.

From Benton, IL

Mike has always been fascinated by combines and today he got to ride on one while it harvested corn.

From Benton, IL

Mike took photos of Jerry attaching the chopping corn head to the combine.

From Benton, IL

Mike took a movie from the cab of the corn head cutting the corn

From Benton, IL

and he took a photo of the key pad that Jerry uses to operate the corn head. The key pad replaces levers and Jerry can lower or raise and tilt the corn head.

From Benton, IL

From Benton, IL

Then Jack took Mike to the Sugar Camp coal mine and where Mike took some photos.
 

From Benton, IL

Mike took a photo of the mine entrance where the miners drive into the mine instead of using an elevator shaft.

From Benton, IL

We had another visit with Jim and Sally when they came over this evening for dinner at Frances and Jack’s. Frances fixed a meat loaf with mashed potatoes and pinto beans. Sally brought over another one of her homemade apple pies (a la mode) – another great meal.

From Benton, IL

After dinner we hooked my laptop up to Frances & Jack’s TV and showed some of the photos we took on our trip to Alaska last year and some of the other places we’ve visited.

We enjoyed visiting with Jim and Sally again – on our previous visits, we’ve only been here for 1 night and that just isn’t a long enough visit.