The Life of a Custom Mowing contractor

[Hay Dude]

I enjoy seeing the pictures of your backroads with the hay bale in front. I wonder what is scarier to the cars on the road, the giant bale of hay, or the hay spears?

Our back roads in PA are little more than the wagon trails from 300 years ago with about 30 layers of poorly applied blacktop on them.
We have few paint markings on the roads, road signs overgrown 5 feet deep with branches & vines, and tree branches sticking out that will rip your $1,000 power mirrors off or break your windows.
And of course a lot of people ”greeting” each other when they meet in the middle of the road because there’s no room.

 

[scootr]

Our back roads in PA are little more than the wagon trails from 300 years ago with about 30 layers of poorly applied blacktop on them.
We have few paint markings on the roads, road signs overgrown 5 feet deep with branches & vines, and tree branches sticking out that will rip your $1,000 power mirrors off or break your windows.
And of course a lot of people ”greeting” each other when they meet in the middle of the rad because there’s no room.

In CT I swore the early wagons followed the deer trails and later cities paved the wagon trails... so the roads wondered around the countryside. Not a straight line to anywhere. Every corner was a narrow blind corner and bridges were often a single lane.

 

[MoKelly]

“Got the Call” today.
The call that says “I’m sorry to bother you on Christmas Eve, but we’re out of hay”.

So off I go to deliver a bale to a customer’s hay hut on Christmas Eve afternoon/ Sunday.

View attachment 840345



View attachment 840338



To the near left you can see the East Penn railroad “split”. The branch I’m crossing in the next picture goes to a terminal in Nottingham, PA. Home of Herr’s Potato Chips & foods.
The branch in the middle goes to Wilmington, DE.
To the far left is the old stone piers and steel girders crossing the lowlands. It’s been out of service since the early 80’s. It went to Wawa, PA.

Crossing the branch to Nottingham.

View attachment 840339

Wawa PA. It can’t be a coincidence - is that where the Wawa convenience store chain originates?

 

[scootr]

Wawa PA. It can’t be a coincidence - is that where the Wawa convenience store chain originates?

1902​

George Wood founded the Wawa Dairy in 1902 in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, to bottle fresh milk products from certified Guernsey cows. The Wawa Dairy produced and delivered certified Wawa milk to the doorsteps of homes throughout the Philadelphia region. Its milk and cream products were of the highest quality and received the highest accolades from physicians and consumers.

 

[Hay Dude]

Wawa PA. It can’t be a coincidence - is that where the Wawa convenience store chain originates?

Yep! I grew up just a few miles from there. Today you cant swing a cat by the tail without hitting one.

 

[MoKelly]

Yep! I grew up just a few miles from there. Today you cant swing a cat by the tail without hitting one.

Same in Florida (at least in the Tampa area).

 

[Hay Dude]

Same in Florida (at least in the Tampa area).

Are you living in the Tampa area?

 

[MoKelly]

We now spend 7 months in Missouri (St Louis area) (April-October) and 5 months in Florida (Tampa area) (Nov-March).

Eventually the goal is to reverse that time to take advantage of no Florida state income tax.

My wife still works in STL (outdoor tennis so she can work remote in winter when club is closed) and our 2 kids are almost independent. Almost.

 

[Hay Dude]

We now spend 7 months in Missouri (St Louis area) (April-October) and 5 months in Florida (Tampa area) (Nov-March).

Eventually the goal is to reverse that time to take advantage of no Florida state income tax.

My wife still works in STL (outdoor tennis so she can work remote in winter when club is closed) and our 2 kids are almost independent. Almost.

OK so you MUST go to a nice bar on the Hillsborough River called “Ulele”.
If you like beer, you got to try the “wedding beer” they brew there.
One of the best beers I have ever had! Great steak, too!

I loved it there

 

[MoKelly]

OK so you MUST go to a nice bar on the Hillsborough River called “Ulele”.
If you like beer, you got to try the “wedding beer” they brew there.
One of the best beers I have ever had! Great steak, too!

I loved it there

Thanks for the tip!

Will definitely give it a try.