Ready for another ride
Adventure participants already planning to take part in 2010 tractor run
CHANNAHON – There will be another Heritage Tractor Adventure next year, and drivers like Glen Harms of White Willow Road plan to be in it.
“I wouldn’t miss it if I can help it,” Harms said Wednesday as the three-day vintage farm tractor ride across Grundy and La Salle counties rolled to its final stop for 2009 at the Four Rivers Environmental Education Center.
Nor will Greg Weck of Lemont, one of several of the 200-plus participants who have driven in all eight HTA runs.
“I’ve been on it since the start,” he said after the closing meal and awards ceremony. “I keep coming back every year. It’s a great event. I’ll be here next year, driving the 1941 Farmall A I bought from my uncle.”
To his surprise, Harms was one of two drivers to win a fun award for not making it to the gate in this year’s run. Harms parked his tractor at his home as the cavalcade rolled by on the way to Channahon, and drove the final 15 miles in his pickup truck.
The other driver was John Cronin of Joliet. Both were awarded T-shirts by Chicago farm radio personality Max Armstrong, who helped organize the HTA and has led all eight rides.
Other winners included Kate Penn of Channahon and Linda Naughton of Manhattan, the only women to participate in all eight HTA runs.
Larry Eipers of Morris won for driving the most unusual tractor, a 1966 International Harvester.
Jim Mager of Sedona, Ariz., picked up the prize for traveling the furthest distance to drive in the event. Beth and Mel Brus won honors for the unusual spelling of their hometown, Walcot, Ill.
The Boo family of Lockport, Homer Township, won for turning their participation in the HTA into a family affair. David, Cathy, Rachel, Aaron and Brandon Boo won T-shirts.
Other award winners included Illinois State Police trooper Craig Ceraham and La Salle County Sheriff’s Deputy Randy Carmean, Ron Hibler, Dan Bell, Jill Jackson, and Charles Johnson.
Channahon Village President Joe Cook thanked all the drivers for their participation and all the volunteers who gave their time to the Heritage Corridor Convention & Visitors Bureau, which sponsored the ride.
Mary Beth DeGrush of the HCCVB told the crowd the HTA will go on again next year.
Julian Houston of Morris also plans to take part in the 2010, making it his fourth consecutive year.
“It’s something you want to come back to and do because you want to see the guys again,” he said. “It’s not church, but you have a sense of friendship and loyalty, and you don’t have to worry about someone stabbing you in the back.”
Armstrong said collectors of other kinds of old vehicles are essentially in the same category as vintage tractor collectors. However, people who really like the old cars and those who really like the old tractors differ from the standpoint of their appreciation of agriculture.
Many people into vintage and classic cars and that sort of thing don’t have the appreciation for farming and how the old tractors were used because their interests are different and they probably don’t understand agriculture.
“Truly, it’s hard to appreciate agriculture unless you’ve spent long, hot – or sometimes cold or wet – days pulling an implement in a field hour after hour, and looking forward to the end of the day,” he said.
“It’s getting out at the edge of the field, pulling that implement out of the ground, shifting the tractor into road gear, and heading for the house. It’s looking back after a long day and seeing everything done to the field that you’ve accomplished.”
“And,” noted Armstrong, who grew up on his parents’ farm in Indiana, “I always looked forward to that light in the kitchen window as I was coming up the road on the tractor, because I knew Mom had some good cooking ready there.”
For this year’s ride, Armstrong replaced the tires on his Farmall Super M. The worn condition of the old tires reminded him of all the miles he and the other drivers and their machines have covered on these rides.
“I’ve done rides around Dixon with this tractor, to Iowa, and to Missouri a few times in the Perryville area,” he said. “Also I did a ride in Florida with the Florida Flywheelers, although I did not have my tractor down there. I’ve been invited to rides all over the country.”
The Heritage Tractor Adventure, however, has really set the standard for tractor rides and made them popular throughout the nation, Armstrong said.
“People have seen the HTA on satellite TV on the RFD channel, and we’ve run videos of the ride, and that’s how people found out about it,” he said. “Now, there are rides from New York, to North Carolina, to Florida, and some in the Pacific Northwest. It’s really caught on because people have seen the HTA, and thought it was a fun thing they wanted to try.”
Armstrong cautioned the crowd about organizing tractor rides. Many times, he said, these rides are just a quickly thrown together event whose organizers have not worked in cooperation with local authorities.
“Which is something we have done since Day One,” he noted. “We cooperate and get the cooperation of sheriff’s departments and municipal police departments. That’s just crucial for us.”
Safety first is the element the HTA underscores on all the tractor rides.
“I don’t want to be part of a ride that isn’t concerned about safety,” said Armstrong.