Old Iron
The HoterMome
Ruth and I never thought we would have a motorhome. However, our long, long time friends, Randy and Margie Van Winkle got a GMC and Randy has always had a big influence on my life. We are now driving our second GMC motorhome and love it. Our coach is a 1974 Eleganza SE. GMC motorhomes are the only motorhomes built by a major automobile manufacturer. Our motorhome was made in the GMC factory in Pontiac Michigan. It was designed and engineered by GM, including the interior.
Fresh after the paint and wheels at our former place in Madera. We left the next day for Julian, CA, to work for three weeks on a UMC Nomads project.
With a great deal of help from our great friends the coach was painted, electronic fuel injection added, disk brakes all around and many other improvements. Our coach also has 16″ aluminum wheels. The original 16.5″ tires are getting hard to find. We added T skirts to the rear bogies.
GMC motorhomes have air suspension in the rear. They ride and drive like a dream. In parking lots, we only slow down for speed bumps because of pedestrians. We have driven the GMC over 65K miles.
When I brought this beauty home, the little neighbor boy asked his Papa, “Why did George buy such an ugly motorhome?”
We have taken some great trips. We love Northern New Mexico. Here is a picture of the motorhome hiding above Truchas. Look hard, in the middle.
Here the coach is at Angel Lake, NV. A professional center fielder could probably throw a ball across the lake. On the road up to the lake, there is more sky below you than above you, but it was a wonderful spot.
The GMC at Graestone. Notice that the storage pod has been removed.
As a boy, I learned to drive in a ’37 Ford pickup my dad owned. When I saw an ad for a ’37 Ford pickup I just had to go look at it. A couple of weeks later, I had the pickup. This is a before picture…
Twenty-five years later, the project was nearly complete.
One of my favorite pieces of old iron is the 1944 John Deere D. D’s were not made for culivating or close area work. D’s were made for pulling. The two cylinder engine has 6.75 by 7 inch bore and stroke. It has 501 cubic inches of displacement and runs at a whopping 900 RPMs. It’s a thumper. I call mine Richard the Deep Breather. My friend Bob said you shouldn’t name a tractor a boy’s name, but I got the name from a children’s book, The Mad Scientist’s Club, by Bertrand R. Brinley. In the picture above, we wanted to move the Locked Shed in Madera. We rarely locked it but could, so the name stuck. We put the shed on skids and then let the D do what it does best… pull.
The Fordson is a 1923. This picture was taken on the Madera place 30 years ago. We planted boysenberries in a pasture. This was our first experience with plowing. When working with the earth our friend David (foreground) was strong and willing. David passed away at 63 from Parkinson’s Disease. Hateful disease. As you can see, I was fighting the Fordson as it tried to jump out of the dead furrow. It was a tiring day but I think disking the ground into submission after plowing was the hardest job. The Fordson was like a boat bucking waves. When we got ready to move to Colfax, the Fordson had been sitting for probably 15 years. Would you believe I couldn’t get it started! We had to pull it onto the lowboy with the D. I felt like I should complain to Ford.
The berries turned out well. We picked and sold berries for over 20 years. Ruth could pick at twice the speed that I could. She did the majority of the work in the berries. I disked them with the Fordson until I got the John Deere D. The D whizzed up and down the rows with ease.