View from the Cab: Quality Time
We spent some quality family time together over the Labor Day weekend before things get busy with the pending harvest.
For the first time ever, our entire family of four rode on the John Deere 4020 in the recent Threshermen’s Parade through Pontiac. Kasen and I rode in the parade for the past few years and now that Kenadee is showing some interest, she and Rebecca joined us on the classic 1968 tractor. Kenadee was worn out by the end of the route and many parade spectators got a kick out of her dosing off.
Threshermen’s Parade day is like Christmas for Kasen. In fact, he was singing, “happy Threshermen’s to you” to our cats the morning of the parade. Someday he may be driving a tractor of his own down the streets of Pontiac. We couldn’t have asked for better weather with clear blue skies and pleasant temperatures in the lower 80s. Thanks to my brother, Curt, for driving the CIFN truck and to my in-laws, Norman and Karen Harms, for letting us drive that gorgeous tractor every year. The Prairie Central FFA did a great job restoring it.
Our family also checked out the activities out at Threshermen’s Park during the annual Threshermen’s Reunion. I am always impressed with the steam engines and machines of days past. Thanks to the Erickson family of Odell for letting me drive a steam engine for the first time ever and for letting Rebecca and the kids hop on for a ride around the park. You can see some videos and photos I posted to the Central Illinois Farm Network Facebook page.
After it was gone for a year, it seems folks couldn’t get enough of this year’s reunion as crowds were large and they had great weather. This was well-deserved for those who put on the event each year. There was a steady stream of cars coming into the park on Saturday morning. It was hard to find a parking spot, which is a good problem to have. We all look forward to the gathering of the orange next year as the Allis-Chalmers tractors will be on display.
As of this writing, there is little harvest activity to speak of around Illinois. That could change in the next week or so, but the corn maturity is behind schedule. Expect activity to really pick up toward the end of the month or even during the first part of October. More and more soybean fields are turning yellow and the corn is gradually firing.
(The View from the Cab is powered each week by Petersen Motors of Fairbury)
