As some of you may know, my grandpa was a huge collector of John Deere Tractors. Now when I say tractors, I don't mean the small, little, toy tractors, I mean the real ones! He had over 150 tractors and then another 100 in implements. Grandpa died two years ago and it was time to stop holding on to the passion he so loved and just keep the memories of the tractors. Don't worry, we didn't get rid of them all. There are still plenty that we kept that had too many memories and sentimental value to give up.
Laramie and I drove to LeMars, IA on Friday night and were able to get this amazing sunset picture. However, I did get in trouble from my dad for taking this picture since I was standing on the roof of a gator we were riding on. Sometimes you just have to to do what you need to, to get the picture.
Today was the actual auction. The day started off kind of crummy since it was pouring rain. However, that didn't stop people from coming. Eventually the rain cleared out and it ended up being a great day. Multiple news channels had come from Sioux City and were interviewing my grandma and other family members. Here are a couple of links to different news articles:
http://www.ktiv.com/story/23247756/2013/08/24/rare-tractor-collection-auctioned-off-near-le-mars
The auction was a great success. There were over 1,000 people there and cars were parked for miles along the gravel road. We had to take gators out to bring people back to the farm so they didn't have to walk that entire distance. Tractors were being bid on left and right and it was fun listening to the auctioneers as the went from tractor to tractor.
Even though all the tractors are gone, the memories will always live on. It will be two years on Monday that Grandpa has died, but there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about him. My favorite memory of Grandpa and the tractors is when I was younger, I used to go and stay for a week with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa always said that I had a steadier hand than he did so I was always put to work on painting the "John Deere" in yellow on the back axle of some of the tractors. I love that memory and it was always fun spending time with Grandpa in his shop.
The auction was a great success. There were over 1,000 people there and cars were parked for miles along the gravel road. We had to take gators out to bring people back to the farm so they didn't have to walk that entire distance. Tractors were being bid on left and right and it was fun listening to the auctioneers as the went from tractor to tractor.
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