The Miller Family Visits the Tri-State Engine and Tractor Show

By Staff
Published on April 1, 1993

Age 10,307 W. Franklin Street, Berne, Indiana 46711

Submitted by Ken Doherty, President, Tri’ State Gas Engine
& Tractor Assn., Inc., 505 West Line St., Geneva, Indiana
46740.

Mindi, Jeremy, Kerri and Christopher Miller had been waiting all
summer for the Tri-State Engine and Tractor Show. Now it was
August, and they were about to leave for Portland, Indiana.
Nine-year-old Jeremy was the most excited because he loved engines
and anything on wheels. Christopher, who was only three, was
jumping around and saying over and over to Mom and Dad, ‘I
wanna see da twains now!’

Five-year-old Kerri, however, was not too thrilled.
‘Who’d wanna see a bunch of dirty tractors, anyway?’
she complained. ‘I’d rather stay home and play dolls with
friends.’

‘Come on, Kerri! It’s fun! I’ve been there before
and there are other things, like crafts,’ coaxed Mindi, who was
twelve.

Finally the excited Millers got into their RV to drive from
their home in Orlando, Florida, to Indiana. On Friday afternoon,
after two long days of driving, the family arrived at the Jay
County Fairgrounds.

‘There are so many cars here!’ Jeremy declared, looking
out the window. ‘This place is crowded!’

‘Yea,’ scowled Kerri, ‘there are too many people
here!’ Jeremy and Mindi laughed. ‘Don’t laugh at
me,’ Kerri protested.

The Miller’s RV pulled into an empty space where the other
campers, tents, and RVs were parked. As the kids piled out,
Christopher asked, ‘Where are da twains?’

‘We’ll see them in a little while, okay?’ answered
Dad.

As the Miller family was walking toward the engines they saw the
smoke before they could see the engines! They walked past a saw
mill on their way to the threshing machines. Straw, clover, and
oats were flying everywhere. Mindi and Kerri sneezed. ‘This
stuff is getting me all dirty!’ Mindi exclaimed, sneezing
again.

‘Yea,’ complained Kerri, ‘it’s getting me all
dirty too!’

‘Watch what these people are doing, kids,’ Dad told
them. They all watched as people kept shoveling hay onto the
conveyor belt.

‘Wow!’ said Christopher, fascinated. When the threshing
was over, he noticed several steam engines. ‘Twains!’ he
cried happily. The family went to look at the steam engines.

‘These are neat!’ Jeremy exclaimed. Mindi agreed.

Kerri disagreed. ‘Boring and dirty. I want to see something
interesting.’

‘Then let’s go to the crafts tent, Mom,’ Mindi
suggested.

‘This crafts tent is a lot interestinger than those engines,
Dad,’ Kerri told Dad.

‘More interesting. Not interestinger,’ Mindi
corrected.

‘I tink da twains are better,’ Christopher said.

‘Are not!’ shouted Kerri.

‘Are too!’

‘Are not!’

‘Stop that, you two,’ Mom commanded. ‘It’s fine
if Christopher thinks the engines are more interesting, and
it’s okay if Kerri likes the crafts better. But you don’t
have to fight.’

‘Look,’ Mindi told Mom. ‘Some people over there are
crocheting cloth. I could do that if I had a big crochet
hook.’

‘Let’s take a look,’ Mom answered. She talked to the
lady teaching the class and bought a big crochet hook. ‘I would
like to see the antiques now,’ Mom suggested.

‘Who are the Antiques?’ Kerri inquired.

‘They’re not people,’ Jeremy and Mindi laughed.
‘Antiques are things that are very old,’ Jeremy
explained.

‘These antique washing machines are neat,’ Mindi
exclaimed, ‘but I’m sure glad we have electric ones.’
Mom agreed!

‘Look! There are some toy tractors over there! Let’s go
look at them,’ Jeremy said. So they went over to look at the
toy tractors.

‘Neat!’ said Christopher.

‘I never knew there were so many kinds of barbed wire,’
Dad observed, looking at a display of barbed wire.

‘Come over here, Dad,’ Christopher and Kerri cried.
‘Can we make ropes, Dad, please?’ Dad gave them each fifty
cents to put into the donation box.

‘What color do you want?’ asked the lady who helped make
ropes.

‘Pink,’ Kerri replied promptly.

‘Just keep turning the handle the same direction,’ the
lady instructed. After Kerri’s rope was made, Christopher made
a blue one. Jeremy decided to make one too, so Dad got out another
fifty cents.

‘Okay, let’s go now,’ Mindi said impatiently.

‘As soon as I finish looking at this barbed wire,’ Dad
said.

‘More twains!’ Christopher shouted, spying more
engines.

‘I’ll take the kids to see the engines while you finish
looking at the wire,’ Mom suggested.

‘I’m hungry,’ whined Kerri.

‘I’m t’irsty,’ added Christopher.

‘There’s a concession stand over there,’ Mindi
pointed.

The family hungrily ate the sandwiches, fries and pop that Dad
ordered for them. ‘This is yummy,’ Christopher said with
his mouth full of food!

‘Oh, my!’ Mom exclaimed, glancing at her watch.
‘We’d better get over to the saw mill if we’re going to
see the logs being cut!’

‘Let’s go then!’ Jeremy cried.

‘That’s neat how they cut logs!’ Jeremy exclaimed as
the family stood watching the demonstration. Mindi agreed.

‘I’m tired of standing,’ whined Kerri.

‘Hey, I see some empty spots over there in the
bleachers,’ Mom said as she pointed. ‘I’ll take
Christopher and Kerri up there. You can either stand or find a
place to sit.’

‘I’ll sit here,’ Jeremy teased, as he sat on the
dirt.

‘I did not say sit on the ground. Get up!’ Mom
commanded.

‘I was just joking, Mom,’ Jeremy chuckled.

After watching the saw milling, the Millers walked over to a
tractor area.

‘Can you imagine anyone farming with these tractors?’
Mindi exclaimed.

‘Your great-grandpas used tractors like these,’ Dad told
the kids.

Jeremy said, ‘My goodness! I can’t imagine anyone using
those! They’re so old-fashioned.’

‘Well, that’s the way it was,’ said Mom.

A very tired Miller family walked back to the RV. Mom carried
Christopher, who was asleep, and Dad carried Kerri, who pretended
to be asleep, too.

Inside the RV, Dad pulled out the beds that were in the wall.
They all got changed into night clothes, brushed their teeth, and
said their prayers, except for Christopher, who was put right to
bed.

‘Tomorrow we will see the things that we didn’t see
today, like the old cars, and also the tractors and engines we
didn’t see yet,’ said Dad.

That night every single Miller fell asleep thinking of the
exciting events that happened that day and of what would happen the
next.

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