Just a Little Accident

A post from Kelli–

Last Sunday, Jason called me just after lunch, which is kind of strange. When he called, he simply asked me to drive down the road a ways to the “Guyer Bottom” to come take some pictures. I was quite perplexed and asked what kind of pictures he wanted and why. Side note–I had talked to him about 30 minutes before and told him I was going to take a nap because I was scheduled to work overnight, so I was even more perplexed. His response was that everyone was okay, but there was a little accident and they needed pictures for insurance. All he said was there was an accident with a tractor.

I jumped in the car and sped off–It was less than a mile away, so it was a quick drive. When I pulled up, this is what greeted me.

It turns out that the boys had been chopping corn and hauling it back to the farm. This partiular area of the gravel road is quite narrow. One of the tractors that was driving out to the field had big duely wheels (2 wheels) on the back end and was extra wide. The tractor that was driving away from the field and back to the farm tried to move over a little more in order to allow both to get by, but it ended up rolling. The good part however was that everyone involved was okay.

After a little bit of discussion, I finally convinced Jason that yes indeed they did need to call the sherriff because they were going to need a sherriff’s report in order to file the insurance. We attempted to call the insurance agent to confirm, however we weren’t able to reach them as it was Sunday afternoon. Finally, Jason decided to heed my insistance and call the sherriff. We also found out that as there was oil leaking from the tractor, they would also be paging out the fire department. In the mix, we found out that we are literally in no man’s land when it comes to fire districts.

Before long, the sherriff arrived and was asking questions. Of course, Jason didn’t have his license or farm insurance with him, so I was set out to find those things. When I came back, the fire department had arrived. Shortly after, the wrecker came too.

As you can see, the road is quite narrow!

It took a bit of work, but eventually, they got everything hooked up to get the tractor upright again.

A bit of pulling, and WALAA! Tractor is out!

The chopper box however was a completely different story!

It took about an hour to get it up this far. The biggest problem that they had was that the wagon had been full when it tipped, so all of that extra weight was making it very difficult to get it flipped over and upright. Also, where it had gone in at was a bit steeper than where the tractor was.

Eventually, they ended up going up to the farm and getting the skid loader, ran it into the ditch and ripped off the side to help get some of the weight out.

Then came the fun part–Shoveling all of the corn sileage out of the chopper box. By this time, it was getting quite late and I could see that everything was going to be fine and they’d be able to get it out. I had to split because I needed to get home, shower, and head off to work. The tractor was driveable, so they got that drove back to our house. The wrecker took the chopper box back down to our house where it has sat since. The insurance company ended up estimating damages for the chopper box at $10,000. They came and got the tractor last Monday, but haven’t heard anything back as far as numbers go on that one.

No one was charged with anything, so that was good, but the best part was that no one was hurt! Needless to say it was quite the experience though. Thanks go out to the Fayette County Sherriff’s Office, the Clermont Fire Department and Bill’s Auto and Towing in Decorah! Thanks for your help in getting things settled and taking care of things!