It was love at first sight.
“It’s beautiful and blue!” It was quickly nicknamed Ol’ Blue by B.
We dismissed the predicted rain showers and grabbed our helmets, rain suits, and essentials, pointing the bike west towards Columbus to see some of C’s family before heading to the big tractor pull that night.(You read that right. Big. Tractor. Pull. YEEHAW!)
We stopped in the don’t-blink-an-eye-or-you-will-miss-it town of Cornlea (population 40 people!) to surprise C’s Uncle Lee at his newly purchased tavern and to grab some lunch.
Cheeseburgers $3.25
Fried mushrooms $2.00
The splurge of the day?
Shrimp Basket with homemade macaroni salad ONLY $5.50!
After lunch, we stopped by to see C’s Grandma, who would have loved to have jumped on the Harley for a quick spin but the high temperatures, topping close to 95 degrees, kept her inside. After a quick kiss and hug goodbye to Grandma, we were off to Erv’s (C’s dad) where we would park the bike for the night and ride together to the big tractor pull in Wisner, NE.At that time, Erv’s tractor, Wild Fire, was currently holding the number one position in points (and ended up winning the season) in the Light SS category of the Outlaw Truck and Tractor Pulling Association. Wild Fire is pretty famous in these parts, so I felt privileged that I was able to climb aboard the green machine. (Editor's note: Seriously, it's famous. Google "Wild Fire+tractor," and there are YouTube videos!)
The goal of tractor pulling is to pull a heavy sled as far as possible. We sat at the 300 yard line, which is a pretty respectable distance, to cheer onWild Fire.
One thing that I quickly learned is that tractor pulls are LOUD, and a bit dirty from the diesel fumes and flying dirt. B thinks tractor pulls are the one of the reasons for our ozone problems!
Boy, that machine can go! C’s brother, Jesse, drove Wild Fire 297.22 yards. I think I will stick with something more my size.
After a long, sweaty evening at the tractor pull, we headed back to C’s dad’s house for hot showers (it was a filthy day) and some much needed shut eye. But before we crawled into the John Deer sheets, I was asked to judge a contest that C’s dad and his fiancee, Jolene, have going between them – who has found the longest turkey beard!
This does not come as a surprise to me knowing that C’s dad loves to hunt and has quite the gun collection. Here is B showing off some of Erv’s prized shotguns (which go nicely with B’s camouflage shorts, don’t you think?)
Stay tuned for the next installment of my Wild (Mid)West Adventures with C & B.
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