If you have formed the opinion that people on the west coast don't know anything about the antique tractor hobby, I'm here to tell you that you've been mislead.

Recently I was invited to Washington state to see what the antique tractor shows are like out there. After taking a look at my calendar, I decided I could get away for a while before the deadlines of the next issue were knocking at my door.

For an entire week prior to this trip, I was living at our local show grounds in preparation for our annual show. The last week of July was a record setting one with extreme temperatures above 100 every day. After a week like that I needed a break. So on August 2 I hopped aboard a crowded airplane and made my way to Seattle, Washington.

Becky Franklin and Lisa Martinez were generous enough to meet me at the airport. We still had a good little drive to the show grounds in Lynden, WA so our first stop was a seafood restaurant where we chose a table on the deck overlooking the bay. My body had become quite accustomed to the 100-degree plus heat of the last week. Suddenly I found myself shivering the first week of August. That's unheard of where I come from. They asked if I'd like a blanket. I'm thinking “I'm not walking all the way back to the car to get a blanket. It's the middle of summer. Who would even have a blanket this time of year?” Much to my amazement, one of the girls asked the waiter for a few blankets. My jaw dropped as I watched him walk over to the wall where there was a chest full of lap blankets. Evidently this practice is as common as asking for a toothpick in the Midwest.

So, here I sit over looking the seawater in the middle of summer with a blanket on my lap. Naturally, I had to make a few phone calls to my friends back home who were still dealing with the high humidity and sweltering heat, to rub it in. For some odd reason, no one wanted to hear about the 70-degree weather I was enjoying.

Following a great lunch, we headed up to the northern end of the state to join the rest of the collectors. Once we got out of the sprawling city, mountains and really tall trees surrounded us. I'm thinking to myself, “There can't be any tractors up here because where would you use them.” As we got closer to the showground's, the land flattened out and the farmland was abundant.

As we got closer to Berthusen Park where the show was to be held I could see the glow of Oliver green ahead. Oliver was not even the feature tractor for this show but it was moved to the front of the field this year. Actually, it wasn't a field. It was a very nice historic park with plenty of big cedar trees making it a beautiful setting to shade all of those antique tractors. And there were plenty of them!

Read more on the excitement from Washington is the latest issues of Oliver Heritage!!