A couple folks have asked how the benefit went Saturday?  To give a little background for those unfamiliar, the preacher at the local Baptist Church has stage 4 lung cancer.  He's been getting treatment, in fact he was at Mayo Clinic today to get poked and prodded and looked at.   Anyway, the men of his church came up with the idea of a benefit for him.  Don would only agree if some of the proceeds went to help others.  The idea of a tractor drive came up. The first tractor Don drove on the family farm was a John Deere ... I forget if it was an A or B.  Someone donated an A John Deere to be restored to give to Don  After Don lead the drive with it, an auction would be held to sell it.

51 tractors turned out for the drive.  I'm not sure what the oldest was.  I know there was a 1939 H Farmall and a 1939 M Farmall.  Newest was a MFWD Versatile with less than 10 hours on it. One of the most unique was an M with a V-8.  Someone tracked down and brought the actual tractor Don had first driven!

After the drive there was a free will offering ham and bean dinner, an auction of donated items and the John Deere A, and a concert by the Angella Lily Trio.

Oh, the A?  It sold for $10,000. Here is Don on the tractor.

I'm told (and I haven't tried to verify this) someone gave his secretary a blank check and told her "Whatever the highest bid is, bid one more time."

There are a few more pictures on my blog http://agtalkplus.com/?q=node/16720