We’re camping tonight on the Missouri River on the Iowa side. The other side of the river is Nebraska. Before I leave Iowa behind though I have to share something we saw that is probably a truly midwest event and that’s a “Tractor Parade”! They do have them back east too but you rarely see them. So we were heading to a campground and we see a tractor coming down the road. Behind that lead tractor is about 20 others. Most are very old/rare tractors and many are adorned with American flags and decorations. One is pulling a small trailer with an outhouse on it. Apparently the parade is going to go about 30 miles and at 7mpg the drivers are going to have to hit the head eventually. So we quick pull off into a gas station off the interstate to get some pictures and the whole parade comes into the gas station to take a break. I got to spend about 30 minutes talking to all the farmer/drivers who are proud as all get out about their tractors, the year they were built, etc. One guy has a tractor from 1919 being carried on a 1929 flat bed international truck cause it goes to slow to be in the parade. I start talking to him, Darrel is his name, and he says with unencumbered enthusiasm and excitement, that he’ll start it up for me. So he jumps up on the flat bed, takes out a crank handle like they used to start up model T Fords with, gives the tractor two turns of the crank and sure enough that almost 100 year old tractor starts running and it’s loud as a volkswagen without a muffler. All the guys are gathered around and having a grand old time. It was truly a blast to witness it and to get to talk to these guys. They were just out on a Sunday afternoon having some fun and camaraderie and man, were they proud of the machines that their livlihood depends on. Thank ya Iowa.