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Festmas '94
12/12 Chris Barton, Jeff Budzinski, Matt Ciampaglia, John Crafts, Brian Jones, John Lindstedt, Ian MacFarlane, Mike Stevenson, Pat Sweeny
The first day of festmas included a great deal of baja and trail formation. It began with some wheelies and two exciting baja descents. We bajaed to the highway fence as John C. led Matt, Jeff, and Pat on a manual forest clearing expedition. At the highway there were too many cars to run across to the median. Chris hijacked the tractor and began heading back. I took over and drove over the stonewall crossing. Then we went for a quick tree dodging descent towards the road. Most everyone bailed. Before the road, we encountered a 35 degree decent. Ian (shotgun) proceeded to bail, while Chris and John L. covered their heads as we crashed through trees down to the road. Then we ascended to the turnaround with Jones driving. I took over for a kamikaze descent to the bottom of the hill and fell off at the bottom. During the decent the rear tires punctured.
12/13 Chris Barton, Jeff Budzinski, Andy Jones, Brian Jones, Craig Lengyel, Missy Motew, Josh Paige
Tonight's fest started with a tire search to replace the ones flatted yesterday. This took an hour but the reward was great, especially for first time festers Missy, Craig, and Andy. It was 8:30 when we proceeded up the trail to the turnaround with the aid of a flashlight. After the turnaround the tractor almost rolled due to the imbalance of the larger diameter rear tires. During the decent the flashlight died and we experienced the bumpy trail in the dark. The tractor was successfully navigated back to the road to conclude the second day of festmas.
12/14 Jeff Hnatio, Brian Jones, Ian MacFarlane, Matt Vitale
The third day of festmas opened with a trip to the highway fence which was struck in third gear just as Matt Vitale bailed from his shotgun position. This was followed by a successful crossing of the stone wall. It was getting dark as we began a kamikaze trail blazing decent back to the road. During this time we ran over a large number of trees as we literally plowed our way through the thick woods to the road creating a new trail.
12/15 Chris Barton, Jeff Budzinski, Greg Previte, Mike Stevenson
The fourth day began with an attempt to drive to the summit of Mount Tractor. But due to the larger drive tires without snow chains, the tractor lacked the traction and low gear necessary to ascend the mighty peak. During the first baja decent of the day the tractor ran over a large stump. Jeff bailed and Mike held onto the dump body as the rear end of the tractor bounced into the air due to its lack of rear suspension. Chris was launched from his shotgun position and I fell off. As we descended to the road, the axle guide got lodged on a rock. The tractor could not be pushed back up the hill so a come-along was used to assist in the situation. This was followed by a brief mud bog demonstration by Jeff with his Subaru. After a short break, we decided to do one final baja. A V belt fell off, so we had to wind it back onto the transmission pulley to continue into the woods. Then the tractor got stuck again. After hitting one tree which stopped forward motion, the tractor became mysteriously lodged between three trees with no possible way to pull or drive it out. The only solution was to cut down one tree to free the tractor.
12/16 Jeff Budzinski, Ian MacFarlane, Joe Sparks
Today's fest began by adding oil to the engine that was just drained from the car during an oil change. The chainless rear tires and a coating of snow created traction problems in the woods. Meanwhile excellent handling skills were exhibited during a descent while squeezing between trees at speed. This was followed by some good mud bogging at the bottom of the hill and some fishtails in the driveway. Then while tractoring over a log, Joe was viciously spiked to the ground from his shotgun position. We crossed the stonewall and descended through the good tree-dodging area that follows. The trip down the 35 degree embankment was fast because the lack of traction on the snow lessened the effect of engine breaking. The fest ended with an impressive fishtail at full speed which angled the tractor enough to pull into its parking spot around the pine tree and next to the backhoe.
12/17 Jeff Budzinski, Brian Jones, Ian MacFarlane
After running over a discarded box on the side of the road and entering the woods, the tractor ran out of gas mid way through the mud bog which was especially muddy on this damp day. During some forest clearing the tractor broke a rock with its front axle guide. This was followed by the removal of some trees and an exciting run through the mud bog in third gear. Then we encountered Mr. MacFarlane who came to witness Tractorfest. After reviewing the tractor's specifications with him, we to the barn to lower the transmission. A quick jaunt in the woods ended by knocking over a tree into the road which concluded the fest for the day.
12/18 Jeff Budzinski, Missy Motew, Mike Stevenson
The lone arrival of Jeff began the fest but we couldn't get the tractor running. Jeff departed as I continued to work on the tractor. After Mike and Missy arrived and the spark plug insulator had been thoroughly sanded, I attempted to start the motor one last time. The engine sputtered up to speed and we went for a short spin to fulfill the fest requirement of at least 12 minutes of tractoring.
12/19 Chris Barton, Matt Ciampaglia, Mike Stevenson
The fest appeared to be promising when the tractor first started and was warming up, but then it stalled. Another estimated 70+ pullstart attempts were not successful. After all the choke adjustments and sprays of ether, the engine had run for more than 12 minutes. Then we coasted in neutral for 12 feet just to say that we fested.
12/20 Kevin Blanding, Jeff Budzinski, Andy Jones, Brian Jones, Craig Lengyel, Matt Polizotto, Greg Previte
The festivities opened tonight with an effortless starting of the engine and we went to the woods for some thrilling night tractoring. After a wheelie which was dramatized by the darkness, we went for some daring nighttime baja for the first time in tractor fest history. With Craig shotgun and operating the flashlight, we navigated to the stone wall crossing. There was a brief delay when the motor stalled on the stone wall. After restarting, we continued our epic journey. While descending through a tree dodging area in third gear, the motor stalled because I forgot to reopen the gas valve. In an attempt to slow down and restart, a shift to a lower gear to engine brake was unsuccessful. As a result, we were descending in the night in neutral. Jeff and Brian bailed as navigation in these conditions became overwhelming. After dodging a large tree, gravitational and centrifugal forces took over and rolled the tractor. Everyone was OK after rescuing Matt, who was trapped beneath the dump body. The tractor was upside-down so we flipped it back on its wheels. The only damage found was a flattened steering wheel which apparently acted as a roll cage for the engine. A bit of engine oil leaked out and presented the only noticeable problem. Then the flashlight died. Matt and Jeff departed to get some flashlights while the rest of us took a break. When they returned, we went back into the woods and could not locate the tractor. After some searching, Brian found it and we all went to work. Oil was added to the engine, the gas tank was filled, the steering wheel was remolded, and the tractor was successfully started. More baja brought us to the decent of the steep embankment where many bailed, and we returned to the yard on the road. After parking the tractor Matt Polizotto exclaimed, "This is the best! I haven't had this much fun in so long."
12/21 Kevin Blanding, Matt Polizotto, Mike Stevenson, Matt Vitale
Day ten began with some exploration into previously un-fested territory. Instead of continuing up the hill, we took a right just before the stone wall. This area included a steep descent and a small water crossing. Then we journeyed for familiar festing grounds. During some forest clearing the tractor ran over a tree which landed on Mike. This was followed by some exciting baja that lead us back to the trail. We returned to the yard and fueled up with pasta for the Nashoba festmas concert.
12/22 Chris Barton, Jeff Budzinski, Matt Ciampaglia, Nicole Hanson, Jeff Hnatio, Andy Jones, Greg Previte, Christine Ricard, Pat Sweeny, Mackensey Tomer
Day eleven began with a wheelie while ascending the steep hill. This was followed by some intense baja back to the road. During the tree wrecking I got squished between a tree and the seat while driving. Each time the steering wheel contacted a tree it got deformed. This did not inhibit the handling of the tractor, so tree dodging was effective at speed. After another baja descent, it was getting dark so we returned to the yard for some yard tractoring. It began with a fishtail and a trip around the pond. Then the cops drove by and checked out the scene from the road. An intentional wheelie concluded the fest and first time Tractorfest participant Christine Ricard said, "I haven't had this much fun in a wicked long time".
12/23 Derrik Albertelli, Jeff Budzinski, Matt Ciampaglia, John Crafts, Brett Freedman, Jeff Hnatio, Jazz the Cat, Andy Jones, Brian Jones, Craig Lengyel, Don MacFarlane, Ian MacFarlane, Liz Mancuso, Missy Motew, Mike Stevenson, Pat Sweeny
On the 12th day of festmas we had the biggest turnout of the festmas celebration. After putting the original tires with snow chains back onto the tractor, we went to the woods. We crossed the mud bog and ascended the steep hill. This was followed by some tree wrecking. Then we attempted to ascend to the summit of Mount Tractor. Today we were successful because the smaller rear tires with snow chains gave the tractor a lower gear and more traction. The tractor stalled at the top because of the extremely high altitude of 512 feet. We pushed it down hill to the path, but the loss of the engine didn't prevent us from mowing down some more trees. Brian took over steering and bottomed out on a stump at speed which tossed him on the engine. While in this awkward position, he skillfully dodged a potential tractor stopping tree. Then I took over for the steep part and was forced to bail because it was being pushed to an excessive speed. Hnatio gave navigation a try and demonstrated his ineptitude by managing to crash the tractor on the driveway. After the pit stop, we went for some more baja. It started with a huge wheelie on the ascent. Then we tractored the newly explored area to the right of the trail before the stone wall. The decent on the hill was great, but the throttle disconnected. We took a break and when returning to the tractor we met up with Mr. MacFarlane, so we took him for a spin. In a desperate attempt to total 12 new Tractorfest participants during the celebration of festmas, we gave Jazz the cat a 12 foot ride to make him an official participant. Thus concluded festmas '94.