« The Devil's In The (current issue of) Details | Main | "We Drew Straws" »

Heavy Machinery

Thanks to my sister Meg, Claire and Cameron got to see what things are like Down On The Farm in Oklahoma a couple weeks ago.

They ran on top of hay bales:

Straw is cheaper.  Grass is free!

They played in a big truck full of recently harvested wheat:

Does playing in grain trigger asthma problems?  Who knows.

But the highlight of the trip was the Big Tractor. Not only did they get to ride through the fields in enclosed comfort, but each of them got a turn steering the behemoth. I remember getting a similar ride on a farm that belonged to friends of my grandparents when I was four or five. Steering that big red thing was the thrill of my young life - the images are still very vivid to me. I can still remember the sense that I was controlling something that was so, so, so much bigger than me. Power!

Anyway, tractors have come a long way from the days of iron bucket seats. Take a look for yourself:

Heavy Machinery (4.8 MB Windows Media movie)

Comments

I, too, have vivid and fond memories of being on the tractor with Grandpa. He let me steer and I remember KNOWING that I could drive a tractor, or a car or anything else after that. Every kid should have cool relatives with a farm.

This city boy also knows the power of farm equipment. Two summers ago we visited my wife's relative in Nebraska and her cousin let me drive this huge red Thresher around the family farm. Man, the power I felt 12 feet above the ground with these giant spinning cones of death was amazing. Talk about a rush. I could just image tooling around town demolishing everything in my path.

Got any other pics from your trip?

Post a comment

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)