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Festmas '96
12/12 Chris Barton, Ethan Caless, Matt Ciampaglia, Brett Freedman, Medora Hackler, Andy Jones
Tonight the tractor's speed was restricted by the deep wet snow that had accumulated last weekend. Yard tractoring was highlighted only by the discovery of a power line down in the field and the cops speeding by with their blues lights on. A drive-by snowball fight began which was somewhat reminiscent of the classic cross country team Tractorfest of December '92. The slow tractor speed gave those on the tractor such a disadvantage that they used sleds and cardboard for shields. The tractor was eventually shut off and the snowball fight continued. After 80 minutes of throwing snow, everyone was pummeled so we adjourned for the night.
12/13 Chris Barton, George Barton, Ethan Caless, Matt Ciampaglia, Brett Freedman, Medora Hackler, Andy Jones, Graeme Robinson, Mike Veasey
A bit of rain combined with warmer temperatures lessened the snow which allowed us to tractor down the truck driveway and do laps of the yard. During the yard tractoring a flare was lit to light the way. Matt was ejected from shotgun in a tight turn while holding the flare and a drive-by snowball fight began. Chris dismounted from shotgun and ran directly into the line of fire to place the flare at the top of the hill. This lit up the yard enabling those on the tractor to see their targets. During the fest the tractor backfired several times and released bright flames out the muffler while doing so. The snowball fight was ended prematurely for the viewing of "Mars Attacks" on its opening night. It got good reviews from Tractorfest participants, so it is destined to be a classic.
12/14 Chris Barton, George Barton, Ethan Caless, Matt Ciampaglia, Jeff Hnatio
More snow melted overnight allowing us to extend yard tractoring boundaries. The first attempt at making a lap around the pond was slowed by the off camber turn near the blueberry bushes. We slid hopelessly down the bank towards the swamp. After we recovered, tracks were successfully blazed in the opposite direction. The new tracks allowed us to tractor sled for several laps around the pond. Chris exhibited his car sledding skills while it was obvious that his brother has some practicing to do. Ethan showed some promise by making successful maneuvers during his first time on the rope. In the interest of not creating ruts in the yard, we tractored to the woods. It took about twelve minutes to travel from the road to the top of the short steep hill by way of the trail. The tractor clawed its way through the wet snow ever so slowly and was aided by human power, including George rotating the right front tire with his feet while sitting shotgun. When I was doing the same to the left front, we had four wheel drive. This actually makes a difference because it rolls the tire over the snow rather than force it to plow through. Progress was slow and the motor got hot, so we stopped two thirds of the way to the turnaround to let it rest. During this time we journeyed on foot to TV cliff. The TV was still there, so we amused ourselves by throwing snowballs at it. Count Ethan was the first to hit the target. We returned to the tractor, descended to the road, and did some baja on the way. The snow allowed the tractor to slide around but reduced the bumps and speed. Once on the road, we jetted to the barn and concluded the fest.
12/15 Chris Barton, Ethan Caless
Today's fest opened by driving up a snow bank to view the Tractorfest attendance data without leaving the comfort of the tractor. A few yard laps were completed to allow time for late arrivals, but no one else showed. Then we took a quick jaunt in the woods. Traction was a little better in the snow than experienced yesterday, but we didn't bother to ascend the steep section. Instead we took a right and went over to a small swamp for some bare ground. A superabundance of rocks was encountered and we narrowly escaped getting in a jam. In fear of bottoming out, we navigated back to the road. We decided to do a bit of road tractoring because none had been done sense the classic blizzard fest of '95. We traveled towards the highway, made a U turn, and went to the intersection of Century Mill road. During this time Chris proposed the idea that somewhere there is a swamp with no rocks because someone took them and put them in the swamp we had just encountered. We ran over some snow banks to mark Tractorfest territory and went back to the yard for a lap around the pond. After the lap was completed, we traveled on foot to examine the old Plymouth that is rotting in the woods. We concluded the fest with a viewing of the tunnel that goes under the highway.
12/16 Chris Barton, George Barton, Chris Baylis, Derek Boyer, Ethan Caless, Matt Ciampaglia, Brett Freedman, Medora Hackler
After putting up the tractor sign, we lit a flare and rolled strong down the driveway. We drove the front wheels up onto the stone wall via a snow bank where we ran over a washing machine during Octoberfest '94. Festmas carols were heard such as "falis navi tractor / I want to wish you a merry festmas", and Chris Barton chanting "making festmas" berzerker style. A drive-by snowball fight started during some laps of the yard. The flare was placed at the top of the hill and the pummeling began. Those on foot opened their usual boundaries to include the stretch along the road which took the tractor team by surprise. Mid fight the transmission was lowered to tighten the belts to send more power to the wheels. This was necessary to get through the mud section next to the house quickly, to avoid absorbing too too many snowballs. The motor got hit in the air filter and carburetor with a massive snowball so we dried it off with an air gun. At this point it was decided that it was time to obtain food, so went to a food place in street leagel vehicles.
12/17 Chris Barton, George Barton, Medora Hackler
The weather tonight was 53 degrees with some mist, quite warm for this time of year. A dense fog created a four foot thick blanket that floated over the melting snow. We rolled strong in first gear through this majestic Tractorfest setting for 12 minutes to meet the minimum duration requirement. Medora and George enjoyed the comfort of lawn chairs in the dump body while Chris sat shotgun. George opted to fest tonight in formal attire. It took the full 12 minutes to travel down the driveway from the garage to the road, up the truck driveway to the barn, and back to the garage via the same route. Then we split to tend to other pressing activities.
12/18 Chris Barton, George Barton, Ethan Caless, Matt Ciampaglia, Medora Hackler, Joe Sparks
Tonight's fest began with a trip to the mud bog at the bottom of the steep ascent. We did not have a flashlight to continue into the woods, so I demonstrated that the turning radius of a left turn is smaller than that of a right turn while doing doughnuts at the end of the driveway. After running over the snow banks at the Century Mill road intersection, we went to watch the instrumental portion of the Nashoba festmas concert. Once we had returned to festing grounds, we journeyed up to the turnaround with the aid of a flashlight. The return trip was exciting as we bounced down the rocky descent through the thin fog that was scattered throughout the dark woods. The fest was capped off with a short period of baja by flashlight which pushed our nighttime navigational skills to the limit.
12/19 Chris Barton, George Barton, Medora Hackler, Joe Sparks
Tonight's rainy fest opened with doughnuts at the end of the driveway including some in reverse. Then we followed the same route in the woods as last night to analize the performance of the govenor that was installed today. The climbing of the hill was somewhat slower due to the muddy conditions. During the steep ascent the rear wheels created a rut that stopped forward motion. After further observation with the flashlight Chris stated that, "we got stuck on a root that is normally buried". Just before the turnaround Joe was ejected from his shotgun/flashlight position. The descent of the rocky trail was quite a thrill. The govoner allowed me to keep the trottle on the floor and in better control of the tractor which ultimately resulted in more speed. The tractor bounced excessively and everyone almost fell off, especially George who was hit by a tree. Chris reacted quickly to the situation and grabbed George which prevented him from tumbling out the back of the dump body. Joe did an exceptional job lighting the way while sitting shotgun, but he was eventually ejected and caused a slight delay in the return trip. The ride was painful but very humorous. A brief section of baja by flashlight and trail formation followed to conclude the fest.
12/20 Chris Barton, George Barton, Ethan Caless, Medora Hackler, Dave Yesue, Vinny Yesue
Tonight's fest, on the last day of fall, was the fifth Tractorfest held at night in a row. We followed the same route as yesterday except for slight variation during the baja by flashlight section. Vin successfully lit the way with the flashlight while sitting shotgun. During the baja we got stuck because a snow chain fell off. Snow chains are a vital component for tractoring in the woods, so we parked the tractor and went to watch "Beavis and Butthead do America" on its opening night. The movie received a tremendous positive response from the sold out audience.
12/21 Chris Barton, Ethan Caless, Brett Freedman, Medora Hackler
Todays fest, on the first day of winter, was the first with sunshine in the past 11 Tractorfests. My sister drove a few yard laps to begin learning tractor driving skills. Then we went to the woods for an afternoon of epic baja. Soon after the baja began, we crossed the stonewall and Ethan successfully rode the bull. The governor allowed the motor to run at a constant speed which enabled us to baja in fourth gear for extended periods of time. Eventually the tractor got hung up while running over an oak tree. Attempting to drive off of it just dug ruts, so we used the come-along to get it unstuck. We did some trail blazing and encountered another oak tree. This time the drivers foot peg broke off and the seat cracked. We bajaed our way up to the stonewall and crossed it in the ascending direction for the first time in Tractorfest history. After ascending Chris and Matt's path, we attempted to ascend Mount Tractor via the steep west side. The motor stalled because of the same problem encountered on 11/23. The gas was not able to travel uphill to the carburetor due to the extreme slant that we were ascending on. After restarting in a less slanted location, we made an attempt to go straight up the hill rather than traverse the whole way. To our surprise this worked quite well until we encountered a big pine tree. The tree caught the left rear wheel and swung the front end to the left. This jammed the seat up against the tree and caused further damage to it. The lid cracked in half and jammed shut which presented a problem; we needed the come-along to get out of the jam but it was stuck in the seat. We blocked the wheels and lifted the rear of the tractor to allow access to the come-along and chains. Once we were out of the jam, we bajaed back to the trail and ascended Mount Tractor via the same route that was successful on 11/30. At the top we took a break and made a monument out of a pile of rocks to signify that the tractor was there. It is a pretty lousy monument. After enjoying the view on this fine day, we descended to the pine trees. We created a direct route to Chris and Matt's path which included a section that is about a 50 percent grade. It was a thrill to go down. We descended Chris and Matt's path, crossed the stonewall, and Brett rode the bull. The future plan is to tractor this identical route to establish a new trail. A brief period of baja capped off this epic fest.
12/22 Chris Barton, George Barton, Matt Ciampaglia, Medora Hackler, Ian MacFarlane, Carl Mueller, Jay Mueller, Toby Mueller, Matt Vitale
Today's epic five hour fest began with some baja. After the arrival of half of the Mueller family, we went back to the woods. We found a giant puddle and amused ourselves by driving through it. The thin ice on the puddle broke and gave us poor traction, so we went and crossed the stone wall. Matt V. rode the bull and we bajaed back to the road. At the barn we adjusted loose V belts and a loose snow chain. During this time George, Matt C., and Ian went stonebreaking. Once the tractor was operational again, we ascended to the summit of Mount Tractor and enjoyed the view. The descent was highlighted by the new steep "drop off" section discovered yesterday. I fell off while driving down this section (the missing driver's footpeg didn't help), leaving Ian (shotgun) to make a brilliant recovery which possibly avoided a catastrophe. Chris and Matt's path was descended in fifth gear and the stone wall was crossed. Ian got ejected while riding the bull and I accidentally knocked the transmission into neutral. This gave us a fast baja descent just after the bull. Up to this point Carl Mueller (seven years of age) had spent the entire fest riding bravely in the dump body making him the youngest participant to endure such conditions in Tractorfest history. We returned to the summit and made an alternate descent to Chris and Matt's path. Matt C. almost fell off while tractoring the new off-camber section. He recovered with the aid of a tree. The stonewall was crossed and Matt C. was ejected on the bull. Then George led a breaking-the-dead- branches-off-pine-trees expedition to prevent injury to passengers while tractoring this area. This was a great idea and we spent quite a bit of time trimming the trees. Ian and Chris were drawn to the Highway fence and began manipulating it. Ian drove the tractor over the fence and we began trail blazing through very thick plant matter. Eventually we encountered a concrete drainage ditch that was overgrown with trees. We proceeded trail blazing up the ditch and found it to be a difficult task. There were so many small trees that it was all but impassable, especially in the dim light. It became obvious that the come-along was necessary to exit the ditch via a bank. The Bartons successfully bent over another section of fence, and after much effort we were on Chris and Matt's path once again. Navigation in the dark without a flashlight was difficult, so we took it slow over the stone wall and down the hill. We bajaed without flashlight back to the road and concluded this stunning enduro-fest.
12/23 Chris Barton, George Barton, Vanessa Bartsch, Ethan Caless, Matt Ciampaglia, Medora Hackler, Matt Vitale
The twelfth day of festmas opened with the new lap of Mount Tractor. It was highlighted by a fifth gear descent of Chris and Matt's path and the stonewall crossing. Vanessa exhibited her horse riding skills by successfully riding the bull while sitting shotgun. Once we were back on the trail, forward progress was delayed by the mud when new ruts were dug. Just before the turnaround the right snow chain fell off again. It was hung on the frame with some of count Ethan's Nynex brand electrical tape and we descended the trail in fifth gear. The trail was especially bumpy in the upper muddy section where the new ruts had exposed some more rocks. Matt V. got splashed with some mud while tractoring through the big mud puddle just before the stonewall . We paused for a quick laugh and noticed that the V belts were steaming because they got wet. After traveling through the lower mud bog in third, we went to the barn. Rather than fixing the snow chain for the third time in the past few days, we opted for some ice canoeing. The swamp water was high which gave us good conditions. After breaking some ice and examining the beaver dam, we went back to the yard to check for more arrivals. There were none, so we rolled one yard lap strong. While pulling out of the barn, we ran over the old transmission that was sitting in the way. The yard lap, which included the trail around the pond, was done in first gear and took sixteen minutes to complete. During the lap we noticed a note attached to the tractor sign which read, "The wild Polizotto says hello, sorry I couldn't stay. -Matt". Sorry we missed your arrival Matt, we were probably in the woods at the time