Tractorcade 2005: Bet you never heard of something like that on the East Coast

I was in "flyover territory" for a few days. My wife's niece was married on Saturday in Iowa and we spent a few days driving halfway across the country. That made me think, "Hey, there's a whole country out there beyond the East Coast." I was born and raised in the Midwest, so I knew that...just a travel note.)

Anyway, one of my wife's uncles told me about a three-day tractor ride he just completed with over 500 other drivers across Iowa called Tractorcade 2005. Honest to gosh, this sounds really cool. They have three major classes, with tractors going either 12, 15 or 18 mph depending on their age and provenance. Drivers travel over 155 miles in three days and are feted in towns across Iowa. My wife's uncle told me he likes the 12 mph class: "You get to see a lot more when you're going slowly," he said. Every once in a while it's good to remember that.