2023 Tractor Parade
The day began with everyone coming to LDI. The tractors were unloaded, and each participant came into the building! After registering, everyone enjoyed some coffee and rolls, and wonderful fellowship.
At about 8:43 AM, I switched on a microphone and welcomed everyone to the 6th annual Ride into Sight tractor ride! As usual, I talked about the history of the ride, and introduced the volunteers and thanked them for helping me make the event a wonderful success. After this, I chatted about the route of which we would be traveling. Each year before the ride, I take a preliminary ride. I shared with the crowd that the “blind boy” managed to get lost by about five miles or so that day, though rest assured he figured out where his mistake was and promised to not lead everyone astray. Everyone laughed! I then mentioned that no new angel riders were upon us that day, though observed a moment of silence for all who have passed away in years past.
One of the most wonderful joys of Ride into Sight is having the opportunity to pray at the beginning of the ride. Usually, my good buddy, Mark, always leads the prayer. This year, however, he was absent. I lead the prayer instead, and God truly gave us all a blessed day for the ride. After the prayer, I recognized all the veterans of whom were present. When I did this, everyone clapped, and I thanked them for their service! The microphone was then handed off to Mel Hursey who led us all in the Pledge of Allegiance. He always does such a wonderful job with this! After he did this, I said, “Load them up and get outta here!” The ride departed about 9:11 AM.
After winding through the countryside for about an hour or so, and for about 9 miles, I pulled into Bomgaars in Council Bluffs for our morning stop. Participants enjoyed some cookies provided by LDI. One of the most wonderful aspects of stopping at Bomgaars is all of the support from the general public and also the employees. Several of them came and visited with me that day. After about 30 minutes or so, I yelled, “Load them up!” The ride departed about five minutes later.
After crossing an intersection, we headed to Highway 191 and continued to L-34. We took L-34 all the way to G30. Eventually we ended up in Neola, and headed to Arrowhead Park for lunch.
Our lunch this year consisted of smoked pork, chips, baked beans, coleslaw, water to drink, and wonderful desserts! I am still hearing comments about how good the meal was this year.
While I am on the subject of lunch, it is worth mentioning what joy it is to have such wonderful young people helping with the event. This year, a young lady named Molli prepared all of the desserts for lunch. Molli is a sophomore at St. Albert this year, and has such a bright future ahead of her. She shared with me that she hopes to open a bakery of her own someday, and if she does, she will get a lot of business and referrals from Tyler Juranek! I hope to have Molli assisting with the desserts for many years to come!
Also at lunch, I gave an update about the research! I mentioned the most important thing first, though, that this year when I went to Iowa City, I received the best report for my own eye health I have gotten in at least five years! Dr. Boldt also shared with me that more progress is being made! They now have figured out how to grow an entirely new eye with a skin biopsy out of one’s arm, implant it, hook it up, and turn it on! Not without a catch, though… When they turn it on, it is a matter of turning on different genetic genes for sight, etc. As it stands, they can turn on the necessary genes, but when they do, the cancer-causing genes are also turned on. Now, they are trying to figure out how to turn the genes on one-by-one, so the bad genes remain turned off. Time is ticking, and when the big breakthrough comes, it will be one wonderful celebration in my life for sure! Can you imagine all the wonderful things which I will be able to see that I have never seen before? What does an Oliver tractor truly look like to the human eye? It is only a matter of time before I find out! Woohoo!
After participants made it clear with a round of applause that I should do the ride again next year, I said, “Lets load them up!” The ride departed about 10 minutes later!
After I proceeded to get out on the road, I continued toward our final stop, the QCS (Quick Cookie Stop) in McClelland. The original plan, (even on the preliminary ride), was to go on down to Mount Hope Church just like in years past. However, the traffic on Highway 6 has increased terribly and so I changed it to McClelland instead. We took L55 out of Arrowhead Park to G30, then to L52. Before long, we were crossing the railroad tracks at McClelland. We all lined up near the park, and the QCS (Quick Cookie Stop) began. But it wasn’t exactly quick…
Each year prior to 2022, I have always encouraged more of my family members to get involved. In years past, (2020, 2021, and planned for 2022) but couldn’t due to weather, my great uncle, Veryl, has led the ride from the QCS back to LDI. Also since 2019 and beyond, my uncle, Kyle, and his friend, Joyce, have been at the back of the pack driving the caution car, ensuring people see the flashing lights, etc. This year, though, we changed things up just a bit at the QCS. My Uncle Kyle has never driven a tractor before in his life. He has ridden with me a time or two in years past around the field where I live, and some on the road as my co-pilot, but never on my Oliver 770 before either. This year, I went to him and said, “Kyle, enough of this back of the pack nonsense! When we pull off at the QCS, you’re getting out of the caution car, coming to the front, hopping on my Oliver, and you’re leading it back to LDI, and I will go and ride in the caution car with Joyce!” So, there it sat in McClelland, brakes set, the shifter in neutral, and idling smoothly. Kyle requested that my co-pilot, Bennett, stay on in case problems arose. So, down I climbed, and Bennett stayed. My Great Uncle Veryl gave me a sighted guide all the way through the line of tractors, all the way back to the caution car. I felt like I was the governor of Iowa for a short time, because everybody was yelling and putting their hands down from their steering wheel, wanting to shake my hand! Hahaha. I met Kyle halfway through the line, and I said, “Have fun!” I climbed into the caution car, and Kyle led everyone back to LDI that afternoon on my Oliver. The ride finished about 3:20 PM. When we returned to LDI, I asked Kyle how it went. His response, “Oh it was so fun! It was super easy to drive! I didn’t realize you could shift into 6th gear right away!” Hahahaha. He said he would do it again next year. That ride from McClelland to LDI, once again, brings an entirely new meaning to the phrase “family involvement.” Thanks, Uncle Kyle, for leading!
The statistics are as follows: 35 tractors were there that day. There were 4 Olivers, 2 Allis Chalmers, 2 Case-IH, 1 Ferguson, 7 Ford, 5 John Deere, 1 Kubota, 1 New Holland, and 12 International.