Friday night hay rides at the lake
We pulled it with a 44 Massey, the old style tractor with 6-volt electrical system, a generator and governor which all seemed to have minds of their own. You never really knew if you were leaving the yard or not. On occasion you may have to enlist an alternate person to pull on the governor rod bringing up the RPM, fortunately that was not often. With the younger children, teenagers and occasional adults loaded on we would head over to the camp ground picking up kids in each row. Then we would head down the old road and out into the pasture land - we would tour there for a while then head back dropping the kids in the campground first. Many times on our return parents would have to retrieve their sleeping children from the rack. It must have been the rocking action putting them to sleep. It seems some of the older crowd also had a desire to go on hay rides. Over the years several all night rides took place. On one ride early in the trip we lost the air in one tire. By the time this was communicated to the tractor driver the tire was destroyed, not having a spare anyway the ride continued. I can only imagine how uncomfortable the rack must have been each time the wheel went around, it must have bounced the rack from side to side and perhaps that was part of the fun, which would have lasted a long while until the tire fell off the rim. I recall on that trip everyone wanted a long ride, so we followed some old trails which we had not been pre-scouted. There was dead-fall across the trail and each time the rack was pulled over it would lurch forward then relax backwards plus the sway made for some interesting trail riding. Arriving back at camp, with dawn approaching, some participants just slept on the rack while others headed back to their campers and the gatherers went out for the early morning bite on the lake. Without a doubt many good memories and friendships were made during these events. |
