Red Power Round Up.. who was there?
Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2012 5:08 pm
Spent the better part of two days at the red power round up in Duquoin... absolutely amazing! Over 2000 tractors, or so I was told, and a plethora of cubs and cub owners! After playing "where's waldo" with EJP for the first hour or so, (he's remarkably elusive on that souped up scooter of his!) , I perused the parts vendors for over 2 hrs.. and still doubt I saw all of the "deals." I did pick up a nice drawbar and brackets very reasonably after playing a bit of Picker's dickering.
The first day I drove my squad, (one of the perks of the M/sgt gig), and ended up assisting with a subject who was "messed up" at the front gate. I had just pulled up to talk to ask a show official a question, but was politely waiting as he was on the phone. Little did I know, he had just been called about an man having problems, and he was surprised to see me pulled up along side of him. He was unclear if the subject was drunk or it was a medical problem, so I buzzed over to the front gate, where the subject was, and found an 84 yr old man with heat exhaustion. I took care of him, getting him cooled down and transported him to a cooling station. It was one HOT day for sure. The show official was kind enough to give me a few gate passes for the next day, when I came back. As I was hauling a tractor on Saturday, I didn't have to pay to get in, so I handed the passes off to a random couple I saw at the gate. They were pleased as punch and it made me feel good too.
I've worked the state fair on those grounds for several yrs, so I know all of the backroads and shortcuts, but in the sea of red, it all looked very different... Where there would normally be a beer tent, there were a bunch of tractors... where the carnival would be, there were a bunch of tractors.... where the kid's RR would be.. yeah.. you guessed it... a bunch of tractors! Even the cattle barns were filled with red parts instead of red Herfords.. Besides tractors, there were trucks, plows, engines, implements of all types, an exhibition hall full of really cool stuff, (I really liked the IH Garand rifles..... The ISP firing range was right across the road but the owner wasn't too keen on THAT idea!) There were at least a dozen old high wheel, chain drive trucks and much much else. If you didn't get to go, you missed quite a show. I saw license plates from all over the US and several from Canada.
Ironically, on Wed, I was patrolling south in I-57 when I had occassion to talk to a driver of a tt/st from Iowa, that had a bit of a heavy foot.. (not too bad, but enough it caught my attention.) After a momentary discussion on "velocity", I learned his destination and what he was hauling. Yup... red tractors. I think I suprised him by being able to "speak tractor." We had a nice conversation about his tractors and I gave him good directions to the fairgrounds entrance and off he went... (no, I didn't write him a ticket....not even a warning... there were plenty more fish in the sea that were faster to deal with, and he was obviously a pretty good guy. After all, he restores TRACTORS!)
It was nice to put faces with the names of several members of this forum, like Cub Bud, Stanton, and several which I already knew. Just out of curiosity, how many members DID attend?? Respond and let us all know.
I took scads of pics, but upon trying to load them, found that they were too large for photohost to accept. I'll have to resize them and try later.
The first day I drove my squad, (one of the perks of the M/sgt gig), and ended up assisting with a subject who was "messed up" at the front gate. I had just pulled up to talk to ask a show official a question, but was politely waiting as he was on the phone. Little did I know, he had just been called about an man having problems, and he was surprised to see me pulled up along side of him. He was unclear if the subject was drunk or it was a medical problem, so I buzzed over to the front gate, where the subject was, and found an 84 yr old man with heat exhaustion. I took care of him, getting him cooled down and transported him to a cooling station. It was one HOT day for sure. The show official was kind enough to give me a few gate passes for the next day, when I came back. As I was hauling a tractor on Saturday, I didn't have to pay to get in, so I handed the passes off to a random couple I saw at the gate. They were pleased as punch and it made me feel good too.
I've worked the state fair on those grounds for several yrs, so I know all of the backroads and shortcuts, but in the sea of red, it all looked very different... Where there would normally be a beer tent, there were a bunch of tractors... where the carnival would be, there were a bunch of tractors.... where the kid's RR would be.. yeah.. you guessed it... a bunch of tractors! Even the cattle barns were filled with red parts instead of red Herfords.. Besides tractors, there were trucks, plows, engines, implements of all types, an exhibition hall full of really cool stuff, (I really liked the IH Garand rifles..... The ISP firing range was right across the road but the owner wasn't too keen on THAT idea!) There were at least a dozen old high wheel, chain drive trucks and much much else. If you didn't get to go, you missed quite a show. I saw license plates from all over the US and several from Canada.
Ironically, on Wed, I was patrolling south in I-57 when I had occassion to talk to a driver of a tt/st from Iowa, that had a bit of a heavy foot.. (not too bad, but enough it caught my attention.) After a momentary discussion on "velocity", I learned his destination and what he was hauling. Yup... red tractors. I think I suprised him by being able to "speak tractor." We had a nice conversation about his tractors and I gave him good directions to the fairgrounds entrance and off he went... (no, I didn't write him a ticket....not even a warning... there were plenty more fish in the sea that were faster to deal with, and he was obviously a pretty good guy. After all, he restores TRACTORS!)
It was nice to put faces with the names of several members of this forum, like Cub Bud, Stanton, and several which I already knew. Just out of curiosity, how many members DID attend?? Respond and let us all know.
I took scads of pics, but upon trying to load them, found that they were too large for photohost to accept. I'll have to resize them and try later.