I think that’s how I would describe the day that I had on Wednesday – WOW! My brothers asked if Daryl and I would like to go with them to the Farm Progress Show that was being held in Iowa this year. And even though Daryl couldn’t make it, I went. At first I didn’t know if I was going to go, but then thought that I might not ever get another chance.. so why not? I had no idea what this show all was, so of course I started to check it out on the web before we left. I found out that this show is the largest show in the country and they were expecting over 200,000 people to attend. OK, I think I got it. It was going to be huge! We left early in the morning and with my new seed sling back that I got the other day and my camera – into their pickup I went. We knew that the weather was going to be hot and that there was a lot of walking, so I hoped that what I wearing was going to last the day. Then this is where the WOW comment comes in. This show was on 75 acres and there was more machinery in that spot that I’ve ever seen in my life! And HUGE machinery. I took some pictures of the show from the top of a bin ladder and I had to take one picture… turn… take another picture… turn…, well you get the idea.
Just one small section of the show
So the first thing that we did was for me to get in this one racer. We asked the guy standing there if I could take my picture and he said he was just trying not to get too close. After we figured out that the real owners weren’t watching, into the car (?) I went. I had to suck in everything that I had to get behind the wheel and once I was in there, my next worry was how I was going to get out. But I tried as gracefully as I could and managed to squeeze back out. A little bit later when we were walking by we saw another guy go in and do the same thing. I think they were just waiting for someone to do it the first time.
Not sure that I look like I belong in it
Then off to see what was new in farm equipment. Now to be honest, I had to ask many times just what some of the equipment was, but my brothers seemed patient with me and answered my questions. They even tried their skills at the strong man swing. And even though didn’t win a shirt, they came close to ringing the bell.
We also took our picture on top of this unbelievably large combine. We asked the guy to take our picture and you can just see us on top of it. I forgot what this combine was, but I knew that it’d be a good spot for a photo of us.
Good photo opportunity
Later that day when we were in this one building we saw a type of game that you went into it and tried your luck at grabbing fake money with a prize wrote on it. Well I wanted to win this one flashlight but luck wasn’t on my side. I did win a pizza cutter and my brothers said that they needed a new one for their farm. OK, then my one brother tried it and he won the flashlight. Too funny! I was teasing the ladies who was running it that there must not be any flashlight’s in there, and then they just laughed when he won it.
Looks like a fake smile to me
Later in the afternoon when we were walking through one of the show buildings, we came across the Secretary of Agriculture, Bill Northey, and Clayton Yeutter, a former Secretary of Agriculture. Pretty cool huh? So of course we wanted our picture taken with them and it turned out pretty good. I was a little worried because it was at the end of the day and with the weather in the mid 90’s and very windy, so you just never know how pictures are going to turn out.
My brothers and I with Bill Northey and Clayton Yuetter
With the show getting ready to close for the day, we headed back to the pickup to go home. Once we were on the road we saw that we weren’t too far from our sister’s house and decided to give her a call. We asked her if she was starting supper yet and if she would have any extras to share? She said sure and off to her house we went for a good barbecue. What a fun day that was! And even though I was ready to hit the shower when I got home, I am so glad that I decided to say yes and go to this amazing show! I also decided that I better end this post with a farm picture since it is about the Farm Progress Show. And because lately we’ve been talking so much about corn heads this year, I took a picture of this one. They said it was the world’s first 12 inch row corn head. 