feeling very Iowan

On the last Saturday in August we drove three hours through the cornfields to visit the "mighty" small town of Nemaha, IA. They told us it was somewhere around population 92. Why, you ask? Because at 4 in the afternoon on that historic day right in the middle of Main Street was the Final Dance of the Farmall Promenade. We felt very priviliged to be a part of that event. And we also felt very Iowan.
















Eight restored antique tractors. Eight burly midwestern small town farmers (4 dressed as ladies). Square dancing. That is square dancing tractors. Nuff said.








Well, OK this is me typing, not Brian (or my brother for that matter, Jared you can just read Brian's posts from now on if you like, this is me sticking my tongue out at you). Anyway, it's obviously not enough said because I just don't work that way.

When Brian first told me about square dancing tractors, I was pretty skeptical. Who wouldn't be? However, it was actually quite impressive. There isn't any power steering on those tractors and they were doing some pretty fancy maneuvers. Pretty dang amazing. They got those huge tires touching sometimes. Once one of the tractors got lifted up ever so slightly when it's wheels were smashed between two other tractors. The "ladies" were entertaining, if slightly irreverent. Cumorah loved seeing the tractors. She clapped her hands to the music. After the dance they parked them all in a circle and you could climb all over them. We had a hard time getting her off.





This particular John Deere tractor was a surprise for the final show. The woman who does the calling for the dancing had this old antique John Deere that had been her daddy's tractor. The others in the group stole it. She didn't realize. She thought her brother had taken it to an antique tractor show for a display. They got it fixed up and brought it out during the part of the show when Mr. John Dear comes out. She got all teary eyed when she finally recognized her daddy's tractor. She was so surprised and so happy.



The Farmall Promenade retired this year. They've been dancing for 10 years at state and county fairs and other events. The drivers are all working farmers. The last dance was saved for their home town. We could have seen them at the state fair, but it didn't work out with Brian's schedule. I'm actually glad it worked out that way. It was way more fun driving through miles and miles of corn with the occasional soybean field. There really wasn't much out there. I did see a pig finally, although it was apparently lost. I enjoyed seeing small town America. I might be from a small town, but not a real small town. It's close to everything. This small town is close to nothing. Around 2,000 people came out for the final dance, some from quite far. Our friends Mike and Nancy came to see the show, too. It was fun hanging out with them and finally meeting Nancy. (I really like her, Mike.) Brian also ran into one of his classmates. They both asked each other, "What in the world are YOU doing here?" Come to find out, she had a better reason than we did. She's from Nemaha. Her father was the most flamboyant of the "ladies". Too fun. After the show we bought a dinner of bbq pork sandwiches and potato salad they were serving up from a big tent. And we stopped at a little ice cream shop in some other small town we passed through about halfway home. I'm beginning to realize what a big place America is. It's really neat that we have the opportunity to experience someplace different from what we grew up with. I still don't want to stay permanently, mostly due to the winter. I do like Iowa, though. Besides, we have a genuine Iowan in the family. And Cumorah has become awfully fond of Iowa sweet corn on the cob.