The day began with a cool breeze and sunny skies as though the sun were smiling on the drivers of the River Junction Tractor Ride. Leading the parade was Harley Westfall of Riverside, Iowa driving with 1958-560 FARMALL. Not far behind was line of tractors which made their way through Pleasantview Home, taking well over an hour to come to the last in line a John Deere 4430. Ranging from CASE, John Deere, Allis-Chalmers, Custom C, Farmall, Oliver, Ford, Minneapolis-Moline, McCormick, International, Massey Harris, and Massey Ferguson the array of tractors made for not just an interesting and colorful parade filled with tractors of orange, yellow, red, green, gray and even blue in the form of a 3600 Ford.
All driven by tractor lovers, some reported that the tractors they were driving had put in many years on the farm and were still going strong. Santa even made an appearance on a John Deere 2510 much to the delight of the crowd. Wayne Riley of Norway, Iowa was proudly sporting a 1959 Massey Ferguson that he shared he'd used on the farm for 25 years. Commenting, "this old antique isn't by far the oldest in the parade but she's been awful good to me!" A comment this daughter of a former MF dealer was delighted to hear, although I realized later in tractor years I qualify for 'antique' status myself. Discovering the oldest tractor in the ride was that of a 1935 International, my status of 'antique' was lost for at least this year. One of the most interesting tractors to this reporter was a 1952 Minneapolis-Moline owned by Matt Trimpe of Williamsburg, Iowa. Driving a 1948-Custom C, a tractor built with all Chrysler components, and manufactured in Shelby, Indiana; owner Ron Bowser of West Chester, Iowa added his touch of history to the ride as well with this unique tractor, one I suspect many were seeing for the first time during the ride.
Donovan Bender, enjoying the ride with his father Dwight, shared, "We used to drive in Tractor Rides with a 1953 8N Ford in past years. Now we watch them and enjoy them that way. Dad lived on the same farm from the time he was born in 1927 to 2006. Now he's 83 years old, and we enjoy the tractor rides from the sidelines together. When we were active in tractor rides we'd take my boys Timothy and Tobin with us so they could experience the fun and travel around the countryside. It was a great experience."
Watching tractors passing by, Dwight echoed a sentiment I overheard time and time again, "They just don't build them like that anymore! They have all this high tech stuff that just doesn't last." Gesturing to a Case passing by he stated, "These last forever!" So many of those watching were heard commenting "I remember when dad had this one on the farm." "I had a tractor just like that one." " I remember how hard that one was to start for me but it started up the first time everytime for dad" and even "I learned to drive that same tractor in the pasture." Clearly the trip through past Pleasantview was a high point of many of the resident's day.
Pleasantview resident Jess Grout, who farmed 4 miles east of the cheese factory near the Grout Church which is now located at The Kalona Historical Village Museum, shared some of his life history with me. Stating, "I lived on the same farm for 84 years and my wife and I lived there for 60 years before moving here to Pleasantview. This was a wonderful ride. The tractors were so nice to see, even though some of the names of the older tractors were hard to read."
Sharing with me a book he has written on his life history, I found Mr. Grout to be full of local information with an enthusiastic appreciation for both the tractor ride and the men and women who brought it here for the residents to see.
Organizer of this ride, Gerry Morgan a participant of the Cedar Rapids ride, stated, "I've been going on the WMT ride for the past 10 years and that's a 3 day ride. I had a lot of my friends say they wanted to go on it but it was too long, so I said 'let's get together and have a one day ride,' and here we are in our fifth year with 185 participants."
I discovered through my conversation with Gerry, coordinator of the ride that on the first ride there were 76 tractors in the ride, so in the span of five years that number has grown by over 100 with what I expect to be even more as the years go by.
Monroe Miller, the man in charge of organizing the route stated, "With a lot of the tractor drivers insisting it is a 'must' to go to Pleasantview. I knew it would be on the route. I called ahead to let them know when we had turned off 22 so they would know when to gather the residents to watch the ride. And we had a good response as we traveled through the countryside. There were a number of Amish who came out and watched us as we traveled past their homes too. We had a lot of fun and it seemed everyone who watched us had fun too!"
Riders participating were not only from Iowa but from states such as Missouri, Illinois and even California whose driver stores his tractor in Riverside and comes back every year to participate in the ride. The pride and enthusiasm for these tractors was infectious to all who witnessed this fantastic event young and old.
And Saturday's ride was not the only event for the riders. On Friday evening, Gerald Morgan of River Junction had 180 tractors on display at his home. A farmers supper prepared and served by the Lone Tree Lions Club and The Old Settlers Association was well attended. Following the dinner the River Junction Theatre presented a variety of acts including a couple of apes from "The Planet of the Apes" singing their rendition of "I've got you Babe", Ruth Walker, the State Chicken Calling Contest winner from 2008, demonstrated her winning call, Tyrone and Gladys from "Laugh In" made an appearance much to the delight of the crowd, the Iowa City Drill team performed a drill in Hawkeye colors ending the evening with The River Junction Theatre presenting their interpretation of a silent movie, "The Bank Robbery". It was an enjoyable evening for all, many who commented to this reporter on Saturday that I "missed a great show Friday night!"
After a brief stop lining B Ave. in downtown Kalona, the riders began their journey to the Steve and Jan Weeber home where lunch was served by the Mid-Prairie FFA. The afternoon proved as busy as the morning with the ride traveling north on Vine to Hills where they drove past the nursing home, then back to Vine and Highway 22 where they were to end at 4 p.m.
I also was informed that an unscheduled detour at one point was made at the request of a 101 year old man who was unable to view the ride elsewhere. As his home had a circular drive, the tractors made a slight change of route, sharing not only their prize tractors but making the day of a gentleman who has not lost his love of tractors despite the passing years.
Summing up the appreciation others have for the ride, especially the Pleasantview residents, Dwight Bender commented, "I cannot encourage them to do this more. They have no idea how nice this is for older people who cannot get out to see things like this. It means so much to them. It was a wonderful way for them to look back into their youth once again. It's a wonderful thing for younger viewers to experience too!"