Tractorfest '98 began with an afternoon on the swamp ice. The V Belts were tensioned by lowering the transmission and the motor was started with the aid of starting fluid. Then we hooked up two sledding ropes and journeyed onto the swamp. On the way Brian found a frozen grapefruit while sledding and we tossed it amongst each other. After pulling a couple of laps on the clear ice, we ventured into the brush and the left front wheel fell through the ice; almost ejecting Medora from her shotgun position. As soon as we backed the tractor out of the hole, a rear wheel fell through. Apparently the ice was not safe in the brush, so we crossed the swamp and got stuck at the other side. The ice collapsed while approaching the edge and the tractor had to be pulled onto land with the come-along. Baja on the other side was quite uneventful, so we returned to the edge and attempted re-entry onto the swamp. The tractor got royally stuck on our first try, so we pulled it back onto land with the come-along and crossed the original hole with the fest planks. Once on the ice we experienced an extended period of epic tractor sledding. Everyone took turns on the sleds and enjoyed some bumper sledding which included the strategic use of cat-of-ninetail seed pods. All of us ended up covered in seeds. When someone fell off their sled the tractor was effectively decelerated with reverse burnouts. Brian drove while Chong and I did some excellent sledding and we capped of the first fest of the year by tying the tractor to a tree and doing a burnout until the right rear wheel wore it's way through the ice.
1/6 Chris Barton, Jeff Hnatio
Today's temperature of 60 degrees was abnormally high for this time of year, so Chris and I decided to fest. We journeyed to the summit of Mount Tractor and descended the north side into some un-fested territory. Some off camber baja in a westerly direction brought us to the off camber trail and an exciting neutral drop at the start of Chris and Matt's path. We crossed the stone wall, Chris rode the bull, and we bajaed on the lower slopes of Mount Tractor. Then we returned to the barn, gassed up, and repaired a snow chain. Eventually Jeff arrived and we set off for the washing machine monument. Then we bajaed for quite a while until we arrived at the network of trails that took us to the Country Cupboard. To our surprise no one took interest in the tractor as we did a lap of the parking lot and parked in a space near the videos. Chris bought an eclair and a gatorade and we jetted for the woods because the sun was beginning to set. On the way Chris noticed a potential trail; so we checked it out and found an old picnic table in a clearing situated above a pond. The clearing didn't go anywhere, so we returned home via our usual route with one variation to save time. The trip was fast, bumpy, and sufficiently jolted our bodies. The tractor was parked at the barn and the fest concluded just as it got dark.
1/10 Chris Barton, Jeff Hnatio, Gerry Holtorf, Brian Jones, Graeme Robinson
Today we met at my house and drove to Gerry Holtorf's to see the two other tractors that were built by Mackie Clouter, Gerry, and my dad. The two tractors were built in the seventies and both featured four wheel drive with ample ground clearance. The first one had a gear reduction motor identical to the one we use. It's clutch appeared superior but it had a larger turning radius. The second tractor had a center pivot which separated the machine into front and rear halves, rather than the standard front axle pivot. This particular one had two transmissions which provided an excessively low forward gear when "double reverse" was engaged. The only drawback was the lack of a motor. After pictures were taken, Gerry took us for a spin around his yard (on the one with a motor) and the machine proved to be quite impressive. Too bad there wasn't enough time to go baja.
1/11 Chris Barton, George Barton, Matt Ciampaglia, Medora Hackler, Brian Jones, Shannon Paul, Les Polizotto, Matt Polizotto, Graeme Robinson, Noelle Wise
Today's fest opened with the short lap through the stone wall gap at the roadside which was a foot deep in water from recent rain. While returning on the road we met up with Matt P. and his dad, Les, who was driving him to school for the semester. We gassed up and did some good baja on the lower slopes of Mount Tractor. Then we returned to the yard to allow the Polizotto's to continue onward to Rochester NY. At this point we took a break while I finished making some mock tomato sauce with assistance from Matt C. The Bartons arrived and we loaded seven passengers onto the tractor and ascended to the turnaround. We went baja and approached a pine tree. Contact was made and the tree lifted the front end off the ground dumping everyone out of the dump body. More forward progress allowed the back edge of the dump body to contact the ground suspending the tractor in full wheelie position like the incident on 1/12/97. Meanwhile Chris fell backwards from his shotgun position, through the dump body, and onto the ground. The tree collapsed after a while so we loaded up and continued. A bit more baja brought us to the main trail where all seven passengers were strategically positioned for the pounding descent to the road. The epic descent was capped off with a neutral drop at the bottom of the steep section. The deep ruts and large rocks caused the tractor to rock like a boat sending the rear wheels airborne one at a time in alternating fashion. During the excitement I got ejected while driving and the tractor came to a stop at the bottom. Then we returned to the yard and Chris departed to catch a plane to Denver. We decided to make one more trip through the woods so we journeyed to the washing machine monument. We ran over many dead pine trees while on the other side of Mount Tractor. The trees were quite large and they resulted in the best forest clearing expedition in years. Then we returned to the yard and I went for a bike ride on this warm sunny afternoon.