Road Trip, Part 2

This shouldn't have been a two-parter, but I got totally off the subject there for awhile, so now we'll get on with it.

Cliff spends a lot of time on the computer looking at all things tractor-related.  Last week he mentioned that he would love to go to a certain tractor salvage place, just to look around; he's basically an Oliver man, and the people at this place specialize in Minneapolis Moline, Oliver, and White tractors, none of which have been built for many years.  He was wishing it wasn't so far away.  

We do a lot of sitting and looking at our computers, because once we start moving around, we hurt.  But he was so happy working on that last tractor, I figured anything he wants that has to do with tractors is good for him, so I looked up the mileage to Welters Farm Supply: 180 miles, way down below Springfield and Branson!

"Sounds like a good road trip to me," I said.  I suggested we get a motel so he wouldn't have to drive there and back in one day, and called Bed arnd Bones to make sure they had room for my dog, Gabe, on Friday night. 

The next day Cliff noticed an ad for a Ford tractor on Facebook Marketplace and said, "Here's a tractor I'd like to look at if it wasn't so far away."

It was in Long Lane Missouri.  I had some idea where it was without even checking, because I have an Internet friend whose address is Long Lane.  She and I compare our Wordle games on Facebook every day.  I actually know her from the blog she kept when she and her husband had a dairy farm.  I love dairy cows, and that's why I followed her blog.

I told my husband he was in luck, because Long Lane is practically on the way to where we are going.  Oh, did he ever get excited!  He tried to get ahold of the guy with the tractor on Facebook, but but the man never responded, even after 14 hours or so, and we were almost ready to leave.  I decided to look the man up on Facebook and was surprised to see a mutual friend on his list:  Rebecca, my Wordle friend!  I messaged her and ask if she knew him, because he wasn't answering us about the ad.  "Yes," she said.  "He broke his phone yesterday and can't answer."

So Cliff sent him his cell phone number and they connected.  All was well, and Friday morning we were on our way. 

  I looked at the reviews for Welters; nothing but five-star!  Nice, friendly people, everyone said.  When we arrived, I told the ladies in the shop I had read their reviews, and had expected them to have halos and wings when I got there.  They laughed and laughed.  

Cliff asked if he could walk around the salvage yard and one lady said, "You want to take a tour?"

They called a man inside who took Cliff away on a side-by-side off-road vehicle.  There was no room for me, but temperatures down there were in the high fifties, so I sat in the truck and read my book on the cell phone and stayed comfortably warm.  When they came back, Cliff assured me I was better off staying behind because he and that man had a nice, long "old-man talk".  Don't ask me about that, I have no idea.  Were they comparing their aches and pains?  Ha!

He spent a good hunk of cash, although he had brought along something he traded the guy for $250 that helped on the costs.  With that done, we started north to Buffalo, which is very near that Ford tractor is and got a motel for the night.

At 8 a.m. Cliff called the guy and we were off; it was a twenty minute drive to his place.  By the way, this Ford tractor's engine isn't working, which worries me, but Cliff thinks he can fix it.  He's never worked on a Ford tractor before, but there's a man in our tractor club who lives six miles from us; he has restored many, many Fords and kept most of them.  So if my husband needs to pick his brain, he's close at hand.    

There's my husband, looking the project over.  He and his older brother are planning to go get it Wednesday.  I'll be staying home, knowing my husband is a happy man.