Fall Festivities

We got back a little while ago from the trip to Lena for the Fall Festival parade and various other activities. I think I enjoy it more every year. Not because it's innovative or trendy, but for the complete opposite reason - it's always the same. Well - nearly always. One thing they haven't had for a number of years is kids riding their decorated bikes. My friends and I did that a few times. We'd weave crepe paper through the spokes, usually with no discernible theme, and dress in costume (in keeping with the theme of our decorations, if there was one.) There were prizes! I don't remember ever winning any.

But anyway - back to 2009. One of the great things about small towns is how nice people are. We were not able to get near to where we'd planned to park, due to roadblocks and hundreds of cars. I was backing up slowly on a very full street, intending to go look for parking elsewhere, when a man came up to my car and said, "You can park in my driveway". And he didn't mean for $10! So we parked right there, and my MIL did too, for free, and we were mere steps from the parade route. So sweet.

Tons of candy was thrown. Some politician even threw dog treats. He won Gunther's vote, although I'm not sure Gunther is registered to vote in the state of Illinois. All the high school bands from anywhere within an hour radius were in the parade, playing songs that ranged from painfully recognizable (when did Come Sail Away by Styx become parade fare??) to tunes that were not...tuneful. Pics of Gunth enjoying his first parade, Betty, Kev, dad and Aunt Jeanette (Behind her is the house I grew up in. So strange to be sitting by what was my home for 20 years and not go inside.)

Off to the pork chop dinner. Yes, we still miss the chicken, though the pork was tasty. Then we admired old cars and tractors. For quite some time. Dad ran into a guy he knew, Nevin Kryder. Very nice man - I knew his sons in school. Ever hear two 80ish farmers talking about tractors? It's a lot like a conversation between two wine aficionados. "We used to have a Farmall like that little one. Small, but gutty. Could pull a two-bottom plow." (note to self: google "two-bottom plow") I almost expected to hear "with notes of melon and oak undertones" at the end of that sentence.

Eventually we had to stop looking at tractors when the owners drove them away, though the tractor portion of the day was not yet over. More on that later. The big sensation this year was the Home Makeover going on just outside of Lena. We drove out that way hoping to see something, though we were warned that the roads were blocked off. And they were. We saw a silo and a crane - that was it. Back to town to cruise main street and the booths, and we happened across Paige Hemmis interviewing people for the show. We couldn't get very near but I took a few pics. She's the one holding the camera and wearing pink gloves.

Off to the cemetery to view my great-great-grandparents' grave. And then back to dad's house, where what do you think occurred? Yes. A parade of tractors, right by his house. Apparently they do a lap around Lena, for fun. We got to see them all, again...and maybe some different ones. Who can tell?

Back to Madison. Uneventful road time, just the way we like it. More pictures on Facebook soon.