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The contents of the “Weekly Feature” page are provided to you for your entertainment, amusement, and perhaps information. Here you may find articles of interest, pictures, historical information on the Club, or whatever shuffles to the top of the pile on our desk. The only defined characteristic of this space is that we will make every effort to change/replace it around the middle of each week. Thank you for visiting, and please stop by again. Click on any photo to see it larger in a separate window.

LIFE WITH A TRACTOR-HOLIC

Having celebrated our 34th Wedding Anniversary in April, I recently spent a day reflecting on my life married to a tractor-holic. When we were first married, people would say “When did Bill buy that?” and my response would be “hmm, let me think which fight was that.” After giving this some thought, I now realize that the benefits of being married to a tractor-holic outweigh the downside by far!

Very early in our marriage, new living room furniture was a priority on my list, but instead the money we saved went toward a John Deere AR tractor. I remember Frank Young telling me that an AR would look good sitting in my living room. I did not think so! We have since bought new living room furniture a couple of times and the AR was sold or traded long ago. I now realize, however, that the AR was just a stepping stone to the collection of antique tractors we have today.

The first Baker tractor Bill bought was around 1983 when he was drawing unemployment and trying to start his own business. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper! I never dreamed that eventually we would have the largest collection of Bakers in the world or how rare of a tractor they actually are. There were only about 300 ever built and only half are in existence today. Bill’s love for Bakers took us to Mt. Pleasant, Iowa on Labor Day weekend in 1987. We attended the Midwest Thresher’s Reunion in Mt. Pleasant because they were featuring Baker Tractors. It was a bit of a disappointment when we drove 10 hours to see only TWO Bakers at their show, while we had at least 8 in our back yard. Yet, because of Bill’s interest in Baker’s and that trip to Iowa, we met several families from Iowa who have become lifelong friends and have us returning to Mt. Pleasant many times over the years. Also, the Mt. Pleasant show is well worth the trip despite the lack of Baker tractors.

In 2010, a couple of our Bakers were sold at auction and I never dreamed how sad I would feel when one of our first Bakers, a 1928 25-50 Wisconsin Baker, was sold and shipped to Germany. I almost (mind you I say “almost”) felt like I was losing a member of our family.
The auction in 2010 surprised me. I never thought I would see the day that Bill would part with a third of his tractor collection like that. But, I have come to realize that he has moved from collecting a large quantity of tractors to collecting larger and rarer tractors or “toys” as I like to call them. Like the 1910 Hart-Parr that will be featured this year at the show or the 1919 & 1921 30-60 Aultman Taylors we now own. Had it not been for the auction, he would not have had the money to purchase those big toys. People are known to go over their heads in debt with hobbies and addictions, but Bill always finds ways to avoid doing that to us. He has become a master at trading and selling to be able to afford what he wants. For a man who refuses to move into the electronic age of the 21st Century and cannot log onto a computer or send an e-mail, he has figured out how to lookup tractor sale sites, which I fondly refer to as his “tractor porn” sites, on the Internet at least once a day in order to do a lot of his wheeling and dealing.

Being married to a tractor-holic has made for some very interesting trips. In 1992, we took a 3-week family vacation to Wyoming and Montana to see Oscar’s Dreamland (a very large, rare collection of antique tractors). Bill would have been happy to just drive out to Oscar’s, spend a few days, and then drive home. I, on the other hand, planned the rest of the trip that included Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Tetons, the Bad Lands of South Dakota, Little Big Horn and several other stops all of which (even Bill had to admit) were much more exciting than Oscar’s. BUT, I also know had it not been for his desire to see Oscar’s antique collection, we probably would never have taken that memorable trip with our 10-year old daughter.

Since my retirement a few years ago, I have had the opportunity to travel more frequently with him seeing the beautiful scenery this country has to offer, such as the Rockies of Colorado; Amish country in Lancaster, Pennsylvania; the port of Duluth, Minnesota; and this past fall we traveled to Barrie, Ontario and drove along the West Coast of Lake Huron. Although each trip has entailed either picking up or delivering a tractor (or both), we have met many very interesting, friendly people along the way.

Several of the guys in the club who have travelled with him can attest to Bill’s obsession with tractor shows on Labor Day weekend. He will travel a circuit of stops in Pontiac, IL, Mt. Pleasant, IA, Janesville, WI, and Escanaba, MI to hit just a few of the shows that go on that weekend. The travelling on that weekend trip is too much for me so I leave it to the guys. Maybe the travelling wouldn’t be so bad if Bill would take the quickest routes, but he prefers taking back roads on many of his trips. His theory is that you cannot find antique tractors on the expressways, which is true, but you also cannot find rest areas on the back roads. When the guys travel with him, that probably isn’t a problem, but for a woman, it definitely can be.

When our daughter Dani had the opportunity to interview for a position with the U.S.D.A. in Ames, Iowa, Bill jumped at the chance to take her out there. Of course the trip also entailed picking up an antique tractor in Boone, Iowa and a little detour trip through Wisconsin on the way home to pick up another antique tractor. Dani didn’t really mind the extra detours because that trip with her dad landed her the job she has held for the past 5 1⁄2 years.

Shortly before Dani moved to Iowa, Bill attended an auction here in Michigan at which he bought so many tractor parts, he had to also buy an S-10 pickup that was on the auction to help haul the parts home in. One might think that is going a little overboard, but that little S-10 served us well in moving Dani to Iowa and giving her a vehicle to drive for the first 2 years she was there.

It seems like many of his purchases always fall around my birthday or our anniversary and the joke in the family is what my latest tractor-related gift is going to be. In February this year, Bill pulled in the driveway with what looked like some guy in an orange hoodie standing in the back of his truck. What it turned out to be was a Case Eagle statue. Bill’s first job out of High School was with a Case Dealer and he has always wanted a Case Eagle statue. That morning, he had gone to look at an antique tractor…didn’t buy the tractor…but found the eagle instead. The orange hoodie was used to protect the paint from being scratched. He told me that it was my belated Valentine’s Gift…gotta love him! I must admit though that the eagle is a nice addition to our business’s show room.

The most memorable tractor related gift Bill bought me was Christmas of 2000. As a kid, I had learned to drive my Grandpa’s 1953 Ford Jubilee. A cousin bought my Grandpa’s tractor at the estate sale some 20 years ago. At that time, we didn’t have the money to buy it and if anyone knows Bill well, they know that “Ford” is not his brand of tractor. I have told him for years that if he ever has the opportunity to buy a tractor like Grandpa’s, I would really like to have one. After Christmas Eve services in 2000, we stopped at the shop and Bill told me I had to go in for a minute. When I walked in the door, there stood a restored 1953 Ford with a bow on it. I was brought to tears thinking that he had bought me a tractor “like” my grandpa’s. Then Bill started telling me the story of how he acquired it and I realized that this was not a tractor “like” grandpa’s, this WAS my grandpa’s tractor that he had tracked down and bought for me. That little Ford was the BEST present ever!

So over the past 34 years, I have come to realize that there are a lot worse things Bill could be addicted to and being married to a tractor-holic has brought many more blessings than curses to our life.


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