Ray Schutz had the tractor ready for me when I got to his farm in
Winnebago Valley on Saturday morning. A light mist was falling, and mixed with
an east wind and 35 degree temperature, it was a recipe for a chilly ride home.
I didn’t care though. A fine adventure was looming, and cold
weather won’t dampen that.
Ray gave a few pointers on the Allis WD. “The brake is locked,” he
said, pointing to a wire by the right foot brake. “Step on the brake and lift
it up and it will come free.”
He pushed up the hydraulic lever. First the mower came up in back,
then the bucket rose in front. I couldn’t ride home like that. but if he
lowered the bucket, the mower would come down too. So he found a chain in his
shop and bound the mower in place. Then he lowered the bucket. A typical farmer
trick. Very ingenious.
“Did you bring gas?” he asked. I answered yes, and unscrewed the
cap in the front.
“That’s the radiator,” he said, informing me that it did have
antifreeze in it.
I unscrewed another cap.
“That’s the air filter;” Ray said.
I unscrewed another cap. “That’s the hydraulic fluid.”
There was only one cap left, so I confidently unscrewed it and
poured in about three gallons of gas.
Then it was time to go. I gave Ray his check, and shook his hand,
and climbed up my new tractor.
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| David posing with Noah on his very first tractor. |
I had the route all planned. Down the road to Shady Hollow Road,
then up the valley to County Road 14, then to Whitetail Drive and down into
Freeburg, then up the Freeburg road, and finally the grand descent down the
river hill to Brownsville. Cindy was going to follow me just in case.
We got about 50 yards before the tractor stalled. Luckily Ray was
watching from his yard. He drove up in his pick-up and asked what was wrong.
“It dies when I put it in gear and give it gas;” I said.
Ray walked to his truck and came back with a small crescent
wrench. He had me unscrew the gas line—his old hands get too cold. Sure enough,
only a trickle of gas came out. So I took off the gas valve from the tank, and
handed it to Ray while I held my hand over the hole. He reamed it out with a
wire and blew through the nozzle. I put it back on, and smiled again at Ray’s
knowledge. Farmers just seem to have a knack for fixing things and doing it
quickly.
We headed off. The cold almost got to me at first. Rain covered my
glasses so that I could barely see, and my face went numb. But then the rain
let up and so did the wind. I was able to block out the discomfort, because the
ride was beautiful, even this dark and gloomy time of year.
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| David and his next tractor. I do not have a picture of the Brownsville Allis Chalmers tractor from this ride. |
There’s something about a tractor ride up and down our beautiful
country that is hard to beat. The Allis traveled at just the right pace to peer
into the woods, and wave at hunters, and look over this farm and that house. We
chugged along like the Little Engine that Could, purring up the hills and
hustling down them, and I knew that this was the start of a beautiful
friendship.
I gave a silent hello to Uncle Donny when I passed his farm on
Whitetail Drive. I tipped my hat to the Goetzinger farm, and thought of my good
friend Ron Goetzinger up in Sturgeon Lake. When I reached the Crooked Creek
Bridge, another smile crossed my face. Lots of good trout fishing memories
there. And up County Road 24—now there’s another favorite road for Paul Bray to
add to his list. The house that had water up to the piano keys during the big
flood, according to Grandma Heiller… Augedahl Road… The old Davy School, home
to many a softball game. It just doesn’t get any finer than that.
And at the top of the hill to town, well, it was all downhill from
there. I cruised down into town, and took the back road to Ron Cordes’ garage,
so that he could fix the lights on the Allis. Tommy Serres was there, solving
the world’s problems. I told him I had just driven the tractor 16 miles from Winnebago
Valley.
“Winnebago Valley!” he said. “I would have put it on a trailer.”
He wasn’t the first person to say that.
I respectfully disagree.
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