It's that pulling feeling...

I've been shooting photos for The HOOK Magazine for a while now and I thoroughly enjoy it. And I am making new friends. Left and Right. North and South. East and West.

Making friends is what I like best about traveling to the pulls, and I love to travel. Bit by bit, I am learning about the folks who make the tractors what they are. A tractor can win every class and shine in the sun, but the puller is who I want to get to know.

Part of making friends is first being friendly. I've never had a problem with that 'cause I love to talk...

Talk about my husband.
Talk about my boy.

Talk about my southern Kentucky style raisin'.
Talk about growing up on a dairy/beef cattle farm.
Talk about managing the family livestock market.
Talk about my brother and my sister.
Talk about my Dad who has already gone on and left the rest of us to worry with all this fine mess.
Talk about my mom who re-married a very nice man who hauled her off north.
Talk about my multiple nieces and nephews.
And, about our little Allis and JD B.
 
I'm no mechanic, and I don't pretend to be. I sure don't know much about what's under the hood of a tractor (or a vehicle of about any sort, for that matter). However, I appreciate a quality tractor when I see one and I sure like to hear about it.

As much as I enjoy the actual pulling action during an event, the human and journalistic part of me absolutely loves people. I yearn to learn from other's successes and failures. I want to hear stories about kiddos and grandbabies. I love to learn about personal histories and accomplishments. I could listen all day to what makes a puller's heart tick.

I am at a pull, camera in hand, to document the action. But, while I am there, I take advantage of the opportunity to let my soul (and sometimes camera) capture the events that make tractor pullers the group of people who keeps the sport alive.

It's watching Chad Queck from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma work to zip tie a baby doll to the front grill of his tractor. His sweet daughter wanted her doll to go for a ride down the track and he was going to get that baby doll on that tractor somehow. Because he is a daddy. And a daddy just does things like that. No matter who might look at him odd, that doll went for a ride.  

It's watching Barry Wright from Lewisburg, Kentucky sweat and work as he helps his son tweak the Farmall 560. They are intense, focused on the task at hand. Barry walks along side of Adam's tractor, the pride and support more than evident as he watches another full pull. They stick together like bread and peanut butter. A father and a son.

It's seeing Matt Reidenbach of  St Charles, Missouri hone his driving skills and hear about his track winning pulls. When Matt isn't drumming in the school or church band, his dad encourages and takes him to the track weekend after weekend, knowing that he will glean knowledge from his elders in the pulling circuit. The "learning" Matt receives from other pullers can't be bought. It has to be experienced, and Matt is blessed with a father who understands that.

It's seeing Bulls Gap, Tennessee native Bill Hooker's huge smile, snapping eyes and hearing his booming, infectious laugh. The feeling that he breathes life into a tractor pull is not far from being actual. He is adamant that the annual White Pine, Tennessee pull pause in the middle for small scale pulling. Children gather around pedal tractors and for a few minutes, each one is the center of attention as Bill's work hardened yet tender hand pushes their tractor toward the finish line. Little ones are important to Bill, and everyone knows it.

It's conversing with seasoned pullers like Illinois resident Fred Grahlherr, who travels all over because he just loves to pull. It's seeing him and his brother Bill at the same pull - finest of family competition.  The enjoyment received from hearing Fred tell of his thankfulness, his family, travels and accomplishments can't be measured.

It's leaning my tired back against a tractor tire and spending 20 minutes with Bill Lester from Gracey, KY tell me about being a member of the 101st Airborne at Ft Campbell and how Margie made him the happiest man on the earth when she agreed to be his wife. And how he misses  her so since she passed a few years back. He smiles quickly, tells me he dotes on his great-grandbabies and he is so blessed it scares him. And that he really looks forward to pulling, but doesn't like to be gone on Sunday because he is dedicated to his faith.

It's seeing grandpas and grandsons, grandmas and granddaughters, father and sons, mothers and daughters, wives and husbands, brothers and individuals whose love spans generations - all making tractor pulling what it is.

It's about hearts. It's about friends. It's about family. It's about camaraderie. It's about learning and sharing. Oh, and it's about tractors - that mutual interest that brings such a great group of people together to celebrate this thing we call life.