Farmin' Country

You know you are in the Midwest when you open the drapes of your hotel room and see this:

This corn actually looks pretty good compared to a lot of the fields we saw along our route up through Illinois.  It's so sad.  The drought has really taken a toll on the corn crop this year.  That means that we all suffer as the farmers lose income, and prices on virtually everything will go up.  The soybean fields look much better though.  Let's hope that they are good producers.

My father was a farmer for many years, and I have fond memories of the farm.  My niece and her boyfriend both work for a German farm implement company, so we took a family meander to Moline, Illinois to go to the John Deere Museum.  Unfortunately, the museum closed about four years ago!!  That being said, we did find the John Deere Pavilion which is home to a showroom of various machinery manufactured by the company.  They also have a cool children children's area, which the children my sister and I enjoyed as well. The family just ignores my sister and I.  They know they can't take the kids anywhere!

There's some pretty big equipment in there!  They will let anyone drive them...uhum....I mean.... sit in them.....Next time I'm rethinking the skirt!  I didn't know we were going, or I would have put on my farming jeans!  My Dad told me that the combine we were sitting in probably sells for a cool $500,000 (maybe more!)

Sitting in the bucket of a BIG tractor!

The gift shop was almost as big as the showroom!  We actually got out of there without a purchase.  See, I CAN go shopping and not spend any money!
The guys did what guys do while we investigated the shop.

Umm...what is that shirt that my brother has on??  I believe it's a shirt from another (Shall we say, German?) implement company.  Shh...maybe no-one will notice!

Gratitude for:
- Growing up on the farm.
- The men in my life. (Including those not pictured!)
- Making memories.