Exploring Colfax

Every farmer within driving distance of Colfax, Iowa, knows what is so special about the town (other than their well known sheep sales, that is).  Just mention the word and farmers' mouths start to water, eyes get glassy, they get all tingly and the stories (and gasps at the end of the stories) begin....

For right along the northern edge of the town is a not-so-little equipment junkyard.  Don't be misled by the term "junkyard" though.  The place has an enormous!!!!! collection of equipment that has seen its better days.  But even on the oldest machinery are parts that still work just fine, even if the whole machine doesn't work as a whole.  Sometimes a piece of machinery has caught on fire or has had a break down that would cost more to repair than just to get a new piece all together.  In all these cases, there are still parts that would work on other still used machines.  So when a farmer has a breakdown, from the simplest to the most complex, they can check places like this junkyard in Colfax to see if they have a usable used part for a fraction of the cost rather than buying a completely new expensive part.  The owners of the place also buy still very usable pieces of equipment at farm sales and then put it back on the market, meaning that there's more than just the "junk" to look at, too.
 
Colfax is on the route we take to visit Josh sister, Kristin (or as the kids call her, Aunt Sis).  Every time we head that way, Josh is treated with a drive through the junkyard.  Sounds lame, but its actually kind of interesting.  You never know what you'll see or what kinds of deals/ideas you'll come across!



This is how it starts: they get mesmerized at an early age...



...and then thirty years later, they're still looking!



Sometimes looking out the car window just doesn't cut it and you've got to hoof it through the narrow pathways.



If you look REAL close, you can see Josh's head in this picture.  Its my Colfax version of Where's Waldo:  Where's Josho?



See?  What did I tell ya?  That's just the biggest grin!  He just discovered something he'd been looking for for quite some time.



This manure spreader is filled with planter wheels... still perfectly usable to anyone needing a replacement!



And this combine bin is filled with planter boxes!  You can say what you want, but they ARE creative with their storage areas!

Josh has his fun looking around and I'm glad he can enjoy it.  I hear plenty of  "Wow!"s, followed by an explanation of why I should be impressed , but the discovery I enjoyed most was the one I found on our way back out to continue on to our destination:



One day, I'll get Josh to get me a truck like this, complete with wooden sideboards.  We'll restore it (sparkly purple, or maybe sparkly blue and of course with a bucket seat and old timey radio!) and cruise up and down main street in  Eddyville looking hip in our old age, making our children SO very proud of their dear mommy and daddy!  I. Can't. Wait!