Fridays are for road trips----

Wow, what a great day it has been here at the Flats. Things got started early as I left Mrs. PF and her sister at the train station at 1am and got back home at 2am. They are off on an adventure of their own as they visit the great Southwest.
As for me....I arose from my sleep eager to begin my day off from work. After a morning bike ride, I was "off to see the Wizard".
Today I was driving my small pickup truck with 2 wheel trailer in tow to look at some old car engines to buy. First stop was Lindsborg, KS not far away from home where I saw these two former gas stations that are restored and still serving the public but in different ways. One is a dental clinic and the other is a pizza place. 

Then I stopped at the locally owned NAPA Auto Parts store for some things I needed. Like most things in this town it has a Scandinavian theme with all things Swedish...

I only got a few miles down the road when I stopped at an old farmstead to look at some equipment from our farming past.
A pair stationary type grain thrashers that would have been powered by a big tractor or steam engine with long belts and big pulleys.

and this machine which would have bundled the stalks and tied them up to be ground up later for bedding and feed.

and a cool old late 30's International D Series truck for hauling wheat to town.

Back on the road I didn't get far before I spotted an old 1930's coupe down in a ravine in a pasture. I had to wonder if it had rolled over and over and wrecked only to be abandoned right in that very spot many years ago before the highway was paved.

It is barely visible from the highway at 60 mph and to the untrained eye it would go unnoticed. But I saw it and wanted to take the time to crawl over the barbed wire fence and shoot it's photo to preserve it's small place in history...

Moving on it was warming up nicely and I was really starting to enjoy the sunny skies and soon shed my jacket. T shirt weather in March.....ah yes....the good life. Then it wasn't long before I passed by one of the largest herd of mules and donkeys I have ever seen. I have driven by many times over the years but had never stopped so today with time on my hands I did. The owner was outside working on his truck and was friendly. All I had to say was I really like your mules and I had a new friend who proudly showed me around.

Here is a photo of a "Jack" donkey named "Ice" (born in an ice storm) and yours truly. 

  

And here is a photo of Gary the owner and "Rebate" who is another jack. 

and this very pretty "jenny" named "Jamie" who had a nice feminine head.

I would estimate the size of his herd at near 100 head of these fine animals and had a very good time looking them over and learning something new. It can be fun to leave your comfort zone and look around someone elses' world....

Now back on the road it seemed like I had the highway to myself. Not much traffic to share the road which changed from flat river valley to hills and curves....

and then the terrain turned back to flat fields of wheat on top of sandy soils with many oil wells pumping new wealth from the ground up...

and after driving the 80 miles or so I arrived at my destination to see my buddy Ken who is a swap meet vendor and buys old farm trucks at auctions and saves the good engines for me to buy. We have been doing business for many years. And even though he is camera shy, I did take alot of photos of part of his current inventory.

He had ALOT of engines for me to choose from so we made a deal on a few of them and then went to lunch right down the main street in his small town to a little grocery store that had a few booths and a cook in the small kitchen who was yelling and carrying on with all the customers who were yelling back. Everyone seemed to be having a good time and our cheeseburgers and fries were good. Suddenly my favorite brother in law Lawrence walked in unexpectedly having seen my pickup truck outside and sat with us. He is a sales manager at a grain storage firm and had a crew working in the area and I was glad to see him.

We all went back to Ken's place which is an old gas station that his dad and grandad used to run before him. Ken could be described as a ZZ Top looking dude who can curse and laugh and be grumpy all at the same time. He doesn't get far from home anymore as he stays close to his invalid wife so she doesn't have to spend her final days in a nursing home and I admire him for that. We started looking around again and here is a photo of Lawrence and myself.

and some more cool stuff on the property...

and some more...

and I also really liked this old welding truck that had a winch, a hoist to lift the bed, two transmissions with one of the shifters sticking up thru the seat cushion, and it ran good too!

and check out the front bumper worthy of a Bonneville Salt Flats push truck....

So, after loading my purchases and tying them down it was time to begin the journey home.

I stopped on the highway quite a few miles down the road because this sign struck me as very funny. "Trees for sale"

---ha ha ha---business must have been GOOD as there were no trees around for miles....lol.

I also took time to drive thru a small town not far off the road to have a look around and loved this old gas station....

and upon arrival back home at the Flats...it was time to scrape off the grease and dirt from my new engines and soak them down with degreaser so they can be power washed tomorrow. Now sitting in my easy chair and watching my KU basketball team I have to ask myself....could this day have been any better?

Perhaps not....

Thanks for riding along with me again on life's never ending journey....