Our first tractor show in two years

I made the mistake of taking an over-the-counter sleeping pill the night before our adventure, thinking a long night's sleep would do me good.  I didn't take ZzzQuil, which really zonks me out; just a Walmart generic tablet that usually works fairly well.  I don't take any sleeping pill over once or twice a month, as long as I'm getting around six hours of sleep a night.  But I had tossed and turned for two nights straight and decided to do something about it.  Unfortunately, I forgot how lazy and tired those pills make me feel the next day.  

Boonville, Missouri is almost halfway to St. Louis, but all the traffic was going 80 miles per hour, so Cliff did likewise, and we arrived in an hour and twenty minutes.  Once we got through the gates, any fears I had of being in a crowd were gone:  The old farmstead owned by the tractor club has about 100 acres, I believe, although the show grounds don't cover it all... yet.  The parking lot is quite a distance from the show grounds, but they have tractors pulling carts with benches on them so nobody has to walk.

  We were outside all the time except when we ate, and even then we were pretty well distanced due to the fact we ate lunch at 11 A.M., before the big crowds flooded in.  

The first thing through the gate, there are vendors selling T-shirts, Trump flags, food, flea-market type junk, and lots of tools, nuts, bolts, old tractor parts, and so forth.  That's where Cliff usually spends quite a bit of time.  We both have our cell phones, so I usually leave him there and look for more interesting things like kettle corn, corn dogs, ice cream, and other such culinary delights.

However, I don't think we'd been there more than half an hour before I realized my knees weren't going to allow me to walk as much as I'd intended.  I can take my daily walk here at home barefoot in the soft grass for 40 minutes without major pain, but that much time spent on hard gravel-and-dirt paths with shoes on is a whole other story.  I had gone ahead to where the tractors were displayed, parked my chair-cane, and sat by some large International tractors that I knew would draw Cliff's eyes; all I had to do was wait patiently and reel him in when he approached.  Below is the bait I used.  Funny thing, I didn't recognize it as our next-door neighbor's prize possession until Cliff arrived and mentioned it.

My ploy worked well, and Cliff was soon at my side admiring Randy's International tractor, even though he's seen it many times.

As many people as there were, they were widely scattered.  Not only was it a lovely day, but a brisk breeze was working hard to blow the cooties away.

There were lots of Mennonites in attendance.

Tractors as far as the eye can see.

A chair made out of tools doesn't look too comfortable, but it's interesting to behold.

While we were waiting to watch the Parade of Power, I enjoyed watching this little boy examining blades of grass.  He sat in that position for the longest time, and I thought, "Oh, to be a child again."

We watched the tractor parade for an hour or so, then went on our way home.  When we got here, I tended to the dog and cats, ate something, and slept in my chair until 7 P.M., then went to bed and slept the longest time I've slept in years, waking up at 5 A.M.  

And wouldn't you know, just this morning when I found the flyer I linked to above, I noticed we could have rented a golf cart and ridden all over the grounds without pain.  Maybe next year.

Live and learn.