What is there about these old tractors? What is there that makes us so thoroughly enjoy driving these old machines down the road with other fans of vintage farm equipment? For me it is some very special memories of “road gear.”

It is true that these machines were designed to spend more time in the field than on the road. But the movement of tractors and their implements from farm-to-farm and field-to-field was an exciting experience for young farm boys back then. And now some 40 to 50 years later the thrill has really never faded. We remember what it was like to pull out onto the road and shift into “road gear.”

The days of working these tractors across those fields were very long days. We thought we would never get done. The work started early, and with many acres to cover before dusk, there was no time to waste. Hour after hour we looked around to check the results of that moldboard plow as it turned over the soil back behind the tractor. We watched the Kewanee disc slice through the plowed ground, preparing that seedbed for the planter. Or a few weeks later we stared down at those rows of corn as they passed between the cultivator shovels, mile after mile and hour after hour. It is no wonder that some of us grew to dislike so much back then the same tractors that we have come to love so much today.

But as that sizzling sun that had tortured us all day settled behind the tree line, it was time to head to the house. There just were not many things that felt better than pulling the implement out of the ground, easing the tractor out onto the blacktop and shifting into “road gear.” With the blast of the cool evening air taking some of the sunburn sting away, and heading up the road at a blazing 15 miles-per-hour, it felt so good to have done a day’s work, especially knowing what was waiting at home.

Coming around the curve down by the barn, I could catch the first glimpse of light from the windows of that old farmhouse. Even “speeding” along in road gear, I couldn’t get there fast enough. I knew that on that kitchen table in there was some of the tastiest pork and gravy, flavorful garden sweet corn, luscious home canned beets, soft homemade biscuits and the richest blackberry cobbler a farm boy had ever known. My “bottomless pit” needed filling, and Mom knew just how to do it. There were not many things that she seemed to enjoy more.

And after 30 years of broadcasting, traveling to some 30 different nations, seeing the most awesome mountains, lakes, sunsets and skylines on this planet, I have to tell you that they all truly pale by comparison. From the seat of this same old Farmall that took me full-throttle home for the night, with the sensations of “road gear” coming back, I can honestly say that hardly anything has ever looked as pretty to me as the warm, yellow glow in the darkness from Mom’s kitchen window.