Hauling Junk

About Hauling Junk

East of Republic, where the ground opens into the tallgrass around Wilson's Creek and Bloody Hill holds its shape under a skin of frost, a hard freeze shows first on the bent-over bluestem before it ever reaches a driveway. Hauling Junk works the properties along that edge of West Republic Township, where a long gravel lane might run past a stand of prairie grass before it reaches the house. Snow behaves differently against native prairie grass than it does against a mowed yard — it catches in clumps instead of lying flat — so a plow blade set too low will scalp ground that's supposed to stay wild. The truck runs the lane down to gravel or concrete, then hauls the pile to the field edge instead of leaving it blocking a gate. Out here, clearing a driveway means understanding the ground it sits next to, not just the snow on top of it.