Drew Merrick
Member
I took Friday off in hopes to help bring the travelette down the great phelps mountain. After getting off the phone with Mike roth I found out that I was a day late for the good times down the mountain. Damn!! So I grabbed my dog and headed down the road for a drive in the Travelall.
Now my dog loves the Travelall. Probably because that's the only beast I let that hairy beast in. Roll the windows down and he loves to push his nose out into the wafting afternoon air. He was hoping that a nice deep pond was waiting at the end of the ride but something far better came up.
There is a road that dead ends in a huge field back behind our house. I have never driven back there before and always wondered what was back there. Seemed like now was a good time with the Travelall and the dog both looking for some ground to chew up. So I turn left onto the road (down shifting with a big wind.. Brakes don't work so well) and headed on down the road. About two farms into it I look up and see a beautifully manicured lawn with two tractors sitting out for display. One looked to be a very old oliver tractor, the other was a dead ringer for a 40's era farmall.
I found a place to turn around (the closed knuckles make me think about my maneuvers before hand) and pulled in front of the farm along the road. Way up by the farm house I saw a man looking down at me and he waved me up. So I jumped in the Travelall and drove up the dusty driveway.
When I got out the old farmer (probably around 80) came over and looked over my old Travelall and gave and appreciative whistle. "don't see them much anymore" he said with a gravely voice. We became fast friends talking about internationals. He recounted many stories about internationals, rivaling even ernie bisio on the number, quality and wow factor. Then the man took me to his barn and that's where my eyes popped.
He showed me all of his tractors. Most were International farmalls including an h and a few "dime a dozen" a's. He had some very early chalmers that he was particularly proud of. I told him how much I liked that 40's farmall a he had out in his front 40. He told me it hadn't been started in about 5 years but since we got to talking about it he wanted to show me how amazing those tractors were. We walked up and he handed me a hand crank. I slipped it in the socket and fired away. It was smooth and surprisingly easy to turn. After about the third try that tractor fired up and sounded very good.
We ended up talking for the better part of two more hours before I packed up the dog and headed off back to my place. But before I left I noticed that I could see our red barn from his place just across the field. All this time these beauties were within plain site.
Now my dog loves the Travelall. Probably because that's the only beast I let that hairy beast in. Roll the windows down and he loves to push his nose out into the wafting afternoon air. He was hoping that a nice deep pond was waiting at the end of the ride but something far better came up.
There is a road that dead ends in a huge field back behind our house. I have never driven back there before and always wondered what was back there. Seemed like now was a good time with the Travelall and the dog both looking for some ground to chew up. So I turn left onto the road (down shifting with a big wind.. Brakes don't work so well) and headed on down the road. About two farms into it I look up and see a beautifully manicured lawn with two tractors sitting out for display. One looked to be a very old oliver tractor, the other was a dead ringer for a 40's era farmall.
I found a place to turn around (the closed knuckles make me think about my maneuvers before hand) and pulled in front of the farm along the road. Way up by the farm house I saw a man looking down at me and he waved me up. So I jumped in the Travelall and drove up the dusty driveway.
When I got out the old farmer (probably around 80) came over and looked over my old Travelall and gave and appreciative whistle. "don't see them much anymore" he said with a gravely voice. We became fast friends talking about internationals. He recounted many stories about internationals, rivaling even ernie bisio on the number, quality and wow factor. Then the man took me to his barn and that's where my eyes popped.
He showed me all of his tractors. Most were International farmalls including an h and a few "dime a dozen" a's. He had some very early chalmers that he was particularly proud of. I told him how much I liked that 40's farmall a he had out in his front 40. He told me it hadn't been started in about 5 years but since we got to talking about it he wanted to show me how amazing those tractors were. We walked up and he handed me a hand crank. I slipped it in the socket and fired away. It was smooth and surprisingly easy to turn. After about the third try that tractor fired up and sounded very good.
We ended up talking for the better part of two more hours before I packed up the dog and headed off back to my place. But before I left I noticed that I could see our red barn from his place just across the field. All this time these beauties were within plain site.
