Saturday, September 15, 2012

HCEA Show

Yesterday evening, at 5 PM, my family and I headed for Fort Wayne, Indiana.  We stopped for gas and supper at White Castle just inside Indiana, and finally arrived (exhausted) at a Holiday Inn in Fort Wayne at 12:20.  I went to sleep at 1 AM. 

This morning, I woke up around 7:45, got ready, went down to have breakfast (biscuit, cinnamon roll, cereal, and milk), and headed out.  Around 10:30, we arrived in Bowling Green, Ohio, the headquarters of the Historical Construction Equipment Association (HCEA).  The HCEA has an annual show where all those old-equipment lovers can come and have fun.  Like my mom said, it's big boys with big toys!  Last year, the show was in Penfield, Illinois, and we took our old 580 backhoe.  I got to drive it in the parade!  This year, it was too far and too expensive to haul anything, but we did bring ourselves and had a blast.  There were graders, tractors, old cars and trucks, bulldozers, steam shovels and tractors, and so many more pieces of equipment.  Some people bring their equipment/vehicle just to show off, others get really into it at the "work area", and nearly everyone participates in the parade, where you can see pretty much everything that's there and learn a bit more about it.

We arrived, watched all the equipment at work for awhile (there's just a big patch of dirt that the operators could plow, grade, etc.), looked around at some of the equipment/vehicles on display, and sat down to enjoy the parade.  After that, we had lunch -- I had an Italian sausage, fries, a White Castle, and ice-cold, sweet lemonade.  Next, we looked around some more at the rest of the equipment/vehicles on display, checked out the tents/building with all the sale items in it, and watched the operators a bit more.  My favorite part of the day?  I got to see a pair of sorrel Belgians giving free hayrides, a pair of fleabitten grey Percherons pulling a water tank, and an eight-mule team pulling a plow.  They were all so fun to watch -- old days indeed!

We left at 5:15 after enjoying a long day of exploring.  We arrived at 5:45 in Maumee, Ohio, at our Comfort Inn & Suites, showered, headed for Luna Pier, Michigan, and had supper there at Chateau Louise.  I had shrimp, barley-tomato soup, a salad, a baked potato, and pie...very satisfying.  The restaurant, which serves mainly seafood, is right near Lake Erie, so we got to go touch the white froth and gaze out at the big boats, little sailboats, and curling waves.  The beach was even groomed! 

Finally, we came back and are now ready to go to bed (it's 10:30 here).  Have a great Sunday!

~Anna~

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