Farm Progres Show 2011

The Farm Progress show was in Decatur this year and after the balloon ride, and dairy farm, my in-laws, Brad, the boys and I all loaded up in the motor home and headed to Decatur.  After a stop at the Beef House for dinner which was good, but a little stressful...2 small children in a restaurant is always a little stressful we headed to the camping lot at the Farm Progress Show.  Brad and Craig were getting up early to go on a bus tour with ADM.  It included breakfast, which I think was a big incentive.  

It was really hot on Tuesday, our stroller tires were on the flat side and we were in for a lot of walking.  Even with that I kept thinking it was going to be an ok day and afterwards we were heading to Kentucky for vacation.  My brother in law Bob met us down there and the original plan was that we were all going to walk along together.  I knew that wouldn’t last.  The attention span the boys and I have for each booth is a lot shorter than the guys and Craig can stay at the same booth for hours without moving on.  Honestly if they don't have equipment to play on or movies to watch the kids just don't have any interest.  After 5 minute we lost Craig.  About 10-15 minutes later we lost Bob.  We all met back up for lunch and after lunch Diane and I decided we were just going off on our own with the boys!  We had coupons for several of the booths for free items and we were on a mission to get to those booths.  Plus it gave us something to do and rewarded us for being good sports and hanging out at the show all day.  We ended up with free hats, gloves, flashlights, multipliers, pocket knives, safety glasses, and lunch boxes and more.  Along the way we also stopped at booths with free food, air conditioning, and booths where we knew different people who were working or people we regularly do business with.  My friend Jennifer was working the farm bureau booth so we stopped in there for awhile so I could chat.  That may have been the highlight of the trip for me besides all the goodies we picked up. 

At the Claas booth the video they made at our farm last fall was playing  ( http://youtu.be/g0jb-l4C6wI ) , we got to meet the CEO (the guys already knew him, but I was excited), and they had a huge decal on the side of a combine advertising the 10 hour challenge they did in one of our fields.  Craig and Bob, mostly Craig, spent a majority of his day at that booth!  I really think they need to just give him a Claas shirt he is probably one of their best unofficial salesmen. 

Brad was able to meet with some representatives of different companies whose products we have and talk to them about questions and problems and see their latest equipment updates and changes.  I am guessing Bob and Craig were doing the same thing when they weren’t at Claas. All of which is far more important than collecting the free gifts at the booths, but not nearly as fun!

As for Diane and I, we were exhausted from a long day of pushing a stroller, taking care of 2 kids who were hot and tired, walking all day and carrying 2 bags full of goodies.  Next time before I go I am making sure the stroller tires are inflated.  Or we could just do like a lot of able body people were doing and bring a golf cart or gator or other similar type of vehicle.  Well, we probably won’t be doing that the walking does us all good and makes for good sleepers in the car on the way home…me, not the kids!  The kids were in the stroller most of the day and were ready to run!