Todays fest was Colin's first fest in five years. He arrived with Derek and Naama, and was reintroduced to the tractor which had been modified many times since '94. Once the Robinsons showed up, we went for a jaunt in the woods. After ascending halfway up the main trail we went baja for a while. A patch of small pine trees needed to be thinned out in the interest of maintaining the environment. The tractor did the job and we eventually found ourselves back on the trail. We ascended to the turnaround with Colin sitting shotgun. Then we enjoyed the jarring "high" speed descent of the main trail. Graeme fell out of the dump body and Colin was ejected at the end of the rockiest section. After a good laugh, we returned to the yard and filled 24 balloons with a helium tank that Graeme had bought. The balloons were installed onto various tractor components with ribbon such as; the clutch, motor, bumper, snow chains, gear shift, seat, steering wheel, and front axle. However, most of them were tied to the dump body and they all floated above the tractor. The Balloons tangled together as we departed for the woods again, and they also obstructed our view at times. Some popped when they got tangled in the trees or contacted the muffler while others became detached and floated away. During the ascent of the main trail we batted the remaining balloons at each other. Then we continued on to the washing machine monument. Tree destruction was good in that area and the tractor eventually got lodged on one tree while running over another. I repetitiously engaged and released the clutch in a last attempt to continue without getting stuck but that resulted in a hopping tractor (as if it had hydraulics) and a lot of laughter. Eventually the right rear wheel dug a hole, so I shut off the motor and we walked the remaining few meters to the washing machine. Then we returned to the tractor and Graeme balanced the camera on a log for a group picture. The tractor was freed and we climbed to the summit of Mt. Tractor on the north side. The steep sections caused us to push at times, but we didn't get stuck. Then we descended Mt tractor on the east side which provided us some excitement. I offered the option to bail as we approached the steep section. Unfortunately everyone bailed that was sitting on the right side (leaving Colin and I on the left) just before the right rear wheel ran over a stump. Contact with the stump and passenger weight on the left only caused the right side to bounce high off the ground. This complicated navigation as we continued to descent the steep grade. Control was recovered and we came to a jolting stop when the front axle lodged on another stump. The steering wheel caught my hips like a seat belt and prevented me from being ejected over the motor. Everyone got back in and we rolled strong back to the yard for a break. On the way we found Matt who had been looking for us for forty minutes. After we rested a bit, we took Matt and Medora for a short ride. First time Tractorfest participant, Naama, brought a dress to run over with the tractor. She wove it through the snow chains and we went for a road trip to the intersection down the street. We did some laps around the road sign and returned to the yard. The dress proved to be quite durable, only minor wear and very little dirt accumulation was visible. The tractor was parked and thus concluded octoberfest '99.