A Ride and a Tractor Show...

Today I went for a motorcycle ride. I did a 190 mile loop down to Turtle Lake, over to Camron, then up US-53 to Trego, then home. Along the way I stopped at the 31st Annual Moon Lake Threshermen's Association Threshing Bee and Gathering of the Orange, Allis-Chalmers tractor show & swap meet. It was just a few miles south of Turtle Lake, WI.

It was a very warm day in northern Wisconsin, and I debated all morning whether or not I should go. I'm glad I did, even with the temp in the high 80's, I managed to have a good time. I arrived just a few minutes too late to see the tractor parade, and most of the days events were over. I missed the opportunity to see old tractors powering belt driven items such as a rock crusher, a corn shredder, a lath maker, various saws and lumber planing displays. I missed the steam powered thresher too!

But even having missed a lot of the displays, I still enjoyed walking around rows and rows of old Allis-Chalmers tractors. Some still in original, unrestored condition, and some fixed up and looking nice enough to display in my living room!

There was a display of old cars too. Including a really nice 1936 Plymouth convertible with a rumble seat, and a 1949 Rolls Royce.

This friendly farm cat was taking a break in the shade...

I spent time talking to a few a few people, but one in particular was pretty interesting. This guy had his 1937 A-C B at the show. The 1937 B's were powered by a 113 cubic inch Waukesha engine. The Waukesha B's are rare, only 96 of them were produced in 1937. In 1938 A-C switched to their own 116 cubic inch engines. They went on to produce over 127,000 model B tractors between 1937 and 1957. I don't know how many of the Waukesha B's still exist today, but it's not all 96.

One more picture from today... A nicely restored B, of similar vintage, but much nicer condition than mine (maybe mine will look like this someday)...