[AT] Rock Falls, IL

Cecil Bearden crbearden at copper.net
Sun Dec 18 19:44:43 PST 2016



On 12/18/2016 1:41 PM, Henry Miller wrote:
> At least for the return trip you have a tractor to help get unstuck.
> Dress warm enough to enjoy it.
>
>
Reminds me of a trip about 53 years ago nearly 100 miles west of here.  
A friend had given me an unstyled wide front John Deere A that his 
brother had bought new in 1933.  It had been converted to rubber tires.  
Still have it.  We started out and hit rain about 50 miles out.  It was 
the weekend and Dad was working during the week so we had to go on.  Got 
there and it was 4 miles off the paved road on a dirt, not graveled road 
and we were in a 52 GMC Bobtail truck 248c.i.  6cyl engine 4spd w/ 2spd 
axle.  & 14ft bed.  We got the truck to the edge of the field and had to 
walk 1/2 mile carrying 5 gallons of gas to run the tractor.  It has been 
sitting about 6 months since it last ran.  Hand crank on the flywheel.  
It was pouring rain.  I dumped about 3 gallons in the tank and then 
about 1/2 gal under the engine and lit it with my lighter.   It got the 
wires dried off and warmed the cast iron a little.  It was about 40 
deg.  After flooding the carburetor and cranking until the fuel was 
blown out of the compression petcocks, it finally started.  We poured in 
the rest of the gas and drove to the road.  The only place to load was 
the borrow ditch and it was full of water.  Turning the truck around it 
slid into the ditch and we pulled it the 4 miles at about 5mph to the 
road.  The tires on the truck were Highway tread it had been a Safeway 
Grocery delivery truck, so we were helpless in mud.   Drove another 2 
miles on the highway to a OK dept of Highways maintenance shop where a 
loading dock was located.  We loaded the tractor and drove the 100 miles 
back to OKC without a lot of trouble.  There were a couple of hills 
where we could not make the 40 mph minimum speed!!!

The Good Old Days......

Cecil in OKla



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