Prolog: This weekend was spectacular on the shore. the weather on Sunday was warmer than expected and it the fall foliage is still quite present. It made "scenic" travel enjoyable rather than slow and tedious. At one point I was traveling down one of the postcard roads with the trees lining both sides and a small grassy fringe up to the pavement – sun rays clearly visible down through the branches onto the pavement ….

I’m not writing about Harley Davidson motorcycles – agricultural combine harvesters are the real road hogs! These things are amazing. I’ve been watching them in the corn fields and more recently in the soybean fields for the past several weeks. The days are getting shorter and rain has hampered where and when they can bring in this year’s crops. The equipment is costly but one machine makes quick work of 10’s and 100’s or acres. So, those farmers with operational equipment often are called into service across fields all over the county. No sooner have they finished one field, they take to the road and move to the next.

I first saw these several years ago running up and down RT 13 (the major thru-way on the Eastern Shore). They would take up the shoulder of the highway as well as one full lane and a portion of the next. This leaves half a lane and the other shoulder for cars to pass. Everyone is courteous and careful so it more or less all works out.

I’ve often said the back roads and side roads on the Eastern Shore are some of the widest I have encountered. Now I know why. Over the weekend, I saw two combine harvesters being moved to a nearby field. The picture here may be a bit deceiving. These things are huge. They may *fit* on the highway here but they *command* the back roads. I came around a bend to see the pair of these running tandem down the road – the WHOLE road. The catchers were just missing the trees on either side. They not only covered the entire road but the grassy fringe as well.

In cases like this, there is only one thing to do – back up. Of course, with so few houses, it meant backing up for about 1/2 mile to first turn off (in my case into a field).

The combine drivers smiled and waved as they rolled on by. "Courtesy makes it all just work out". <grin>