An Unexpected Surprise

Monday I left Spencer in between groups of tractors. I decided I didn't want to go to the first break place and decided to go to Laurens and wait for them there. This was the town for their dinner (that's right - dinner) break. (it is breakfast, dinner and supper, lunch was in between dinner and supper when you were baling hay or something like that as a break).
I drove over to Ayrshire and waited for a while and no one showed. This was the first time I discovered that hurry-up and wait was a lot of waiting. Driving 10 miles an hour it takes a long time to cover 20 miles.

I figured that backtracking was a good idea, so I checked my map and from what I could see I needed to start driving west out of Ayrshire. I slowed down a bunch when I went by a place where there were several old cars outside. Just the kind of place I wanted to stop. But I had bigger fish to fry and I kept on going west. That is until I got to a gravel road and knew they were not coming this way. They told me they didn't ride on gravel roads. So I turned around and decided now was the time to stop at the yard with the cars.

I pulled in and knocked on the door of the big metal shed but no one was home. So I started taking some photographs. This 1953 Chevrolet was looking good and trying to hide in some tall grass, but no matter I found something to start with.

I had just got started when a pickup pulled in. So I stopped and went over to ask the person if I could take some photographs of the cars. Melvin said,"Sure, I don't care. Why would you want to take pictures of old cars?" We visited for a while and I went off to take my photographs.

After I got done I found Melvin in the shed working on a riding lawn tractor. We visited for a while and I found out he is 90 years old. I hope I am in this kind of shape when I am 90. He works nearly every day on something in the shed. The cars outside belonged to his nephew (I think) and he bought them to restore but then got busy with other things. Life happens that way sometimes.

I ask Melvin if I could take his photograph. He was really wondering what the heck I was doing then because, "Why would you want to take my photograph." Because you are somebody and because you are 90 years old. That is worth something. So he agreed and I got a photo of him working on the lawn tractor. The shed was pretty dark and I probably should have used flash, but overall I like the photo.

Thank you for allowing me to take your photograph Melvin. It was a privilege to meet you and visit you.

For about 45 minutes I visited with someone that had an interesting story. We didn't visit about a lot of stuff but we got to know each other a little bit.

I hope to have an opportunity sometime in the future to go back and see if he is still working on engines and such. Anybody that has been around 90 years isn't going to let a lot of things get them down. I find myself thinking that this type of photography is worthwhile. We capture landscapes and old cars but we forget the people that built, bought and repaired those old cars. Everyone has a story to tell, so I am going to start listening.

Take some time to visit with people whenever you get a chance. Ask them about themselves and you never know what you will find out.

Thank you for stopping by the Iowa Farm Boy blog. I appreciate your time. I know there are thousands of blogs to choose from so I am glad you stopped by mine. Come again.

Have a great week. You can check out all the photographs I took at the WHO Great Tractor Ride Across Iowa 2011 at Zenfolio. Give it a click and enjoy over 500 photographs of tractors and the tractor ride.