Day One:

Saturday, June 4th started with a breakfast of rolls and coffee before we headed out to Plymouth. Ron Moormeier had a camera from the National Parks mounted on his tractor to give the rider's perspective of the drive. Check the National Parks Facebook page to see this. We arrived in Plymouth where the Ladies Auxiliary greeted us with fruit and water at the city park. While in Plymouth we also say Lonnie Wiegel’s collection of cars and tractors. We drove on to Daykin for lunch at the American Legion. After lunch, we traveled to Juliann Endorf’s to view her IH tractor collection. Then we visited the Lazy Horse Vineyard and Brewing at Ohiowa. We left the vineyard and traveled on to Geneva for the night where the Legion Post served us supper.

 

Day Two:

Sunday, June 5th we had breakfast provided by the Geneva United Church of Christ. 42 tractors left Geneva and traveled to Dr. Carroll Verhage JD collection. We left there and drove through the Fairmont Air Base. We then traveled on to Grafton then on to Sutton for lunch at the American Legion. After lunch, we traveled on to see Wes Schliep’s IH Collection right outside of Clay Center. We then headed on to Glenvil for a break at the American Legion. We then drove on to Hastings where we drove through the Hastings College Campus and College View Retirement Home. We parked at the Tractor Supply for the night with supper at Rivals.

 

Day Three:

Monday, June 6th we had breakfast in the parking lot furnished by Russ’s Market and served by Hastings Legion Post. After eating we headed to Doniphan and drove past Prairie Winds Assisted Living and then had a break at the American Legion Post. We left our break and drove past the Veterans Memorial Park. We drove down 9 Bridges Road and proceeded on to Grand Island where we toured Bill Baasch Wagon Collection. It is the World’s largest collection of Dray and horse-drawn wagons. It is quite an impressive collection. We left the wagon display and traveled on Stolley Park to our delicious lunch prepared by the Shelton Historical Society. After eating we drove on to tour the Hornady Bullet Plant. After the tour, we drove past the Nebraska Veteran’s Home and traveled on to St. Libory for a break. We then drove to see Dave Zumbum’s IH collection. Dave has a Pink “Cancer” tractor that has cancer survivor names on one side and memorials on the other side. We left there and drove on to St. Paul for the night. Supper and entertainment were provided by the American Legion Post.

 

Day Four:

Tuesday, June 7th breakfast was at the Sweet Shop in St. Paul. We traveled drove on to Farwell and then on to Ashton for an ice cream break. We then drove on to the Sherman Reservoir where we could view the dam. It is a beautiful lake. We drove on to Loup City for lunch at the fairgrounds served by Ken’s Equipment. As we left Loup City for Arcadia we drove through the Rest Home. We had a stop in the park in Arcadia with treats sponsored by the Trotter family in the park by the Loup River. We drove to see Art Anders place to see his baling operation and have snacks. The Legion Riders escorted us into Broken Bow where we stayed for the night. We had supper at the One Box Convention Center. The State Legion Commander was in attendance.

 

Day Five:

Wednesday, June 8th we left Broken Bow and traveled to Merna where Perry and Carol Myers provided breakfast and a tour of their JD collection. We left the Myer’s and traveled on to Leonard Lindley’s for a break and tour of this JD tractor collection. We left there and headed for Dunning for lunch at Norm’s Auto. After lunch we headed on the Nebraska National Forest. We had a break at the office and then headed up to Scott Lookout Tower. The tractors then left for the Natick Campground and on a winding, rough road on to Thedford. We spent the night at the fairgrounds with supper provided by the America Legion and entertainment.

 

Day Six:

Thursday, June 9th we had breakfast at the fairgrounds before heading to tour Pearson Manufacturing. After the tour, we drove to Mullen for lunch provider by Twila Phillips. From Whitman we drove to Whitman for a break at the Community Hall. After the break, we drove on to Hyannis for a delicious roast beef meal at the American Legion club.

 

Day Seven:

Friday, June 10th we left Hyannis and headed to Ashby and the Congregational Church for breakfast. We went from the church to Calinda’s Pot there in Ashby. It used to be a restaurant but is turned into a pottery shop. We then traveled on to Bingham for a water stop. On to Ellsworth, we went for a break at the schoolhouse museum and the Morgan Store which was the Spad Ranch headquarters in the 1900’s. Then it was on to Lakeside where the United Methodist Church served us a meal. We then traveled on to Antioch where we stopped at the potash historical marker for a break. We then headed west to Alliance to the Knight Museum. They have a great military museum. Mike McGinnis and Kevin Howard helped put on supper for us there.

 

Day Eight:

Saturday, June 11th the Methodist Church provided us a great breakfast before we started our journey to Scotts Bluff. After we ate we headed to Carhenge. After Carhenge we traveled to Rhino Linings for a break. After the break, we went 15 miles to Angora where the Christ Covenant Church had lunch for us. We then headed down Hwy 26 and stopped at the Kidow’s Ranch corner for another break. Then on to Minatare where we drove past Marvin Schanman’s tractor collection and then drove to Ron Ritschneider’s and viewed his antique car and tractor collection. On we went to Fairview, past the Sugar Beet Factory and into Gering to the Legacy of the Plains Museum. We were shuttled to the Fairfield In and Suites in Scotts Bluff for supper put on by Panhandle Concrete owners Craig and Cindy Hayward.

 

Day Nine:

June 12th we left the Legacy of the Plains Museum to travel to the Scotts Bluff National Monument for breakfast and shuttle to the top for sightseeing. It is quite a view from there. We then traveled to the Centennial Park in Mitchell for a break and snacks. From Mitchell, it is 54 miles to our destination. We enjoyed a box lunch along the way provided by Hayward’s. We traveled on the rest of the way to Agate Fossil Bed Monument. Agate welcomed us with a large tent set up with entertainment. We enjoyed the entertainment, said our goodbyes and proceeded to load up our tractors and slowly trickled out of the parking lot.

 

Over 80 different tractors were on the 2016 TRAN tractor drive. Twenty‐six people made the journey from Beatrice to Agate Fossil. $6100 was collected for OCW. Special thanks to all the segment leaders and event sponsors for the time and money that you each put into the drive. Without people like you, there would not be a tractor drive and it would not go so smoothly. As Pat Penner said, “I didn’t expect to have so much fun!” As long as everyone had fun and are thankful they made the journey... it is worth all the hard work! TRAN 2017 is almost planned and we are part of the Nebraska 150th Birth Celebration and want to be in Lincoln with 150 tractors. Submitted by Brenda Edson