I've been brainwashed and I'm seeing red...tractors, that is!

A few weeks ago, my husband and I traveled north to LaPorte, Indiana. It was the site of the 21st Annual Red Power Round Up hosted by Chapter 33 of the International Harvester Collectors Club. Funny, my eyes were seeing red everywhere, but it was one of the most pleasant experiences I've had this summer!

From the left: A 450, 230 and an A.

What is a Red Power Round Up, you ask? Well, it's not a rodeo where cowboys favor the color red in their apparel. Red Power Round Up is the showcase for equipment made by McCormick Deering, Farmall, International and Case IH. In short, it was 2,000 red tractors (not those green JDs) lovingly displayed all over the beautiful LaPorte County Fairgrounds. 

A 1940 Farmall H

These are not new tractors. The newest ones on display that I noticed were mostly from the early 70s. These are tractors carefully restored with great care...sometimes brought back to life from the brink of junkyard death to show their glory with even finer grace and dignity than when they were brand new.

Orion Samuelson, left, and Max Armstrong,

talk to Miss America 2009, Katy Stam,

at the 2010 Red Power Round UP.

This two-day excursion had been planned for months, mind you. We booked a B&B. Scheduled time off work. Our two-day trek over the fairgrounds included parts for the 1950 Super A at home, Farmall t-shirts for the grand kids, and lots of tractor photos, with a few International truck pictures mixed in. We also caught a show from those agricultural media icons, Orion Samuelson and Max Armstrong.

As a city girl, I had absolutely no idea what a Farmall, Case IH, International or McCormick Deering anything was until I married my husband. I thought "Oliver" was a boy's name, not a cherished tractor from his boyhood days. And I certainly didn't realize that the color "green" is an invitation to war (or words of war) here.

But...I've realized I have been willingly brainwashed. I loved the second Red Power Round Up I've been to in my married life. I found myself truly admiring all of the beautiful tractors. Hats off to all collectors who capture a piece of American history each time they restore a tractor or piece of farm equipment, or those who purchase and protect an already restored piece. It is another way to talk about where we came from, we where are today, and hopefully, where American agriculture will be in the future.

God is good!