Tractor Drive

Last weekend was the Flywheels Tractor Drive.  We had five tractors in the drive.  My dad went along this year and the manager at Tractor Supply (who donated all the parts to restore the show tractor) drove the show tractor along with Chris and I and Dan (Chris' dad).  With a total of 32 tractors, the biggest drive yet.

It was such a gorgeous day.  The morning wasn't cold like it has been in the past so we didn't have to worry about all the layers.  By afternoon, the sun was beating down and not much wind and it was almost too hot!  But still a wonderful day.

We left the Flywheels at 9:00 and made our way east over to Old 40 Highway.  We made our first stop at the park in New Cambria.  I hopped off the tractor to go check on my dad (bad back and was worried about the long day for him) and he was all grins and ready to buy himself a tractor.  It was a cool sight to see!!  Everybody visited for awhile and then we headed back onto Old 40 for our lunch stop and turn around in Solomon. 

The traffic down Old 40 was pretty sparse which I was happy about.  I was a little nervous traveling down such a busy road with as many tractors as we had and only reaching 8-10 mph.  We were all at the front of the line and several turns we made and could look back at the rest of the line, we had spread out quite a bit.  As we traveled, the vehicles coming in the opposite direction would wave and slow down and some even pulled over or off the road and watched and waved as we passed.  Others would get out and snap pictures.  I often wondered what we looked like to the vehicles traveling on I70.  Old 40 runs parallel to I70 and only a mile apart.  And we actually passed over or under 3 times on our return trip.  That would have been interesting to see!

Right outside of Solomon, we passed a train headed towards Salina.  He was moving pretty fast but he was blowing his horn all the way past our procession.  It was loud but really cool.  Evan would have loved it!  I can't wait for the kids to be old enough to go along with us!  And then as we were coming into Solomon, Jeff Cooper with the Salina Journal was waiting for us to snap some more pictures.  He was at the Flywheels before we left and then we saw him two other times along our route to Solomon.  My dad ended up in the paper on Monday along with two other pictures of other drivers.  He's a celeb on his first time out!!  I was joking with the guys that surely I would make it in the paper since I was the only female driver!!  But it didn't happen :(  Maybe next year :)

When we arrived at the park in Solomon, there was a huge layout of food.  Hamburgers, hot dogs and everything that comes with it!  All generously provided by the family of one of our organizers.  It was wonderful and they totally out did themselves.  I hope they are prepared to do it again next year because I am sure everyone will be requesting.  Made it much easier on all of us not to have to bring sack lunches with us.  Not a lot of room on the tractor for a cooler.  We had a nice time to eat, stretch, visit, and hear stories from some of the "old timers".  After lunch we took the scenic route back to Salina, winding through the dirt roads and farm country.  I like this route much, much better than taking the black top.  Much more to see, no traffic to tie up and way more relaxing.  We ended up back at the Flywheels at 3:30 and then the four of us continued on back to our house, ending about 4:00.  We traveled 38 miles total as a group and an extra five or six back to our house.  Awesome, awesome day.  I am so glad my husband got me a tractor so that I could do this with him.  It really is a lot of fun.  It will be even better once we can all do it together one of these years!

Enjoy the pics!
Love, Amy