[AT] Antique tractors go on covered wagons vacation

[RJK Sr]

ROLL THOSE WAGONS!: Antique tractors will pull brothers' homemade 
covered wagons from Byron Center to McBain

Saturday, February 28, 2004

By Julie Makarewicz The Grand Rapids Press

BYRON TOWNSHIP -- On Monday morning, Gordon and Jerry Diekevers will 
pull out onto the roads of Byron Center in antique tractors, but the 
brothers won't be traveling to a farm equipment show or to work a field.

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The Farmall tractors will pull homemade covered wagons, and the 
Diekevers are taking the scenic route to their family homestead near 
McBain.

"We're going to do something different for once," said Gordon "Gord" 
Diekevers, 61. "We're going to slow down a little and start living. 
That's what it's all about. I bet we'll see a lot of things other people 
miss along the way."

It was Jerry Diekevers' idea to try this sort of "vacation."

"We were both practically born and raised on tractors," said Jerry 
Diekevers, 62. "I started driving a tractor when I was probably 7 years 
old, and the same for Gord. So we've kind of kept them around a little."

He came across an old tractor abandoned in a field while deer hunting 
near McBain and finally tracked down the owner last fall. The 1945 
International Harvester Super A Farmall cost him $200 and a lot of hours 
to restore. Now he wants to show its former owner what it looks like 
restored.

Gordon Diekevers restored a 1946 Super C Farmall that he bought about 
three years ago.

"So after I got the tractor and got it fixed up, I decided I would like 
to take a tractor trip and stay in the covered wagons," Jerry Diekevers 
said. "So we built the wagons and put up the tarps, and we're all ready 
to go."

Gordon Diekevers cut all the lumber needed for the wagons on a portable 
sawmill he owns. The tarps cost about $150 each, the brothers said.

Inside each wagon is a cot, small heater, emergency kits and food 
storage. The brothers plan to share a portable stove and eat out in the 
open.

The Diekevers say the tractors should be able to average at least 10 
mph, and they expect the 130-mile trip up to McBain to take two days. 
Then, they plan to spend the week camped in their wagons near a lake for 
ice fishing before driving their rigs home again.

The brothers vow that they'll make the trip in snow, rain or sunshine.

"It doesn't matter," Jerry Diekevers said. "If it starts raining too 
hard or snowing too bad, we'll just pull over for awhile."

Reflective triangles to alert motorists to the slow-moving vehicles and 
small American flags highlight the back of the wagons.

"We're not going to drive at night," Jerry Diekevers said. "We're trying 
to stay off some of the major roads and we're going to pull over if we 
get a line of cars behind us wanting to pass. We're in no hurry.

"My wife thinks I'm crazy. She doesn't like cold weather, but it doesn't 
bother me at all."

But Gord Diekevers' wife, Karen, said she likes the idea.

"They've had a lot of fun working on this project all winter," she said. 
"It's kept them busy and out of trouble."

Jerry Diekevers is retired from Steelcase but now works at Green Valley 
Agricultural Inc. in the summer. Gord Diekevers turned over his 
business, Diekevers Masonry, to his son and now works for him part time. 
Jerry Diekevers lives in Byron Township just a little north of his 
brother's home in Dorr.

Gord Diekevers said he hopes this will be the first of many trips.

The brothers are already planning a second trip for their wagons to Gun 
Lake next year for ice fishing and camping.

But Gord Diekevers has bigger plans: "I'd like to drive up to Ludington 
and take the ferry across the lake and drive the tractors down into 
Iowa. Now that would be a trip."