After a pre-dawn link-up outside of Borlaug Hall, the team hit the road full of energy. Although you may not be able to see it in the picture below, Minnesota gave us some snow as a fitting send-off!
 |
| UMN Soil Judging Team packed and ready to roll outside of Borlaug Hall |
We have big pre-contest plans...the team is using Friday and Saturday to look at soils throughout the region, in Iowa and Missouri, prior to arriving at KSU on Saturday afternoon. This is a critical learning experience and will enable the team to put the soils they will see in Kansas in a broader, regional context. We made our way south through the Des Moines Lobe till plain to our first stop mid-morning in Ames, IA, where we shook the rust off by describing a Hapludoll (individual) and Hapludalf (team) at the ISU Reactor Woods site (thanks Amber!):
 |
| Hapludoll on a summit position - ISU Reactor Woods site. |
 |
| Hapludalf (Lester!), with an assist from Goldy. |
The team immediately set to work and was eager to finally get their hands on some "real" soils (not the domesticated kind we keep around Borlaug) after a winter out of the field:
 |
| Minnesota A members Andrea Williams, Nick Vetsch, and Luke Ratgen in the pit while others contemplate major horizon boundaries and landscape context. |
 |
| Minnesota B members Stefan Swenson and Mekuria Zemede evaluating structure type and grade. |
Once the team completed their descriptions we had discussions about genesis, landscape variability, and geomorphology before hitting the road. After a brief dinner stop just south of Kansas City, Missouri, we arrived in Mt. Vernon, Missouri for the night. Tomorrow's agenda - more warm-up soils and a much anticipated arrival in Manhattan, KS!
