Aussie tractor trekkers wander in

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. — “G'day,” Dick Garnett said as he peeked out from beneath the hood of his tractor early Wednesday and welcomed a visitor to his camp set up in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Scottsbluff.

Not the most likely of camping venues, but considering his crew had three orange tractors, each pulling a trailer, and two large motor homes, the asphalt slab suited the visitors from Australia just fine.

The traveling group of “Tractors Across the USA 2009” was just passing through, having spent some time in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Then the group kind of wandered off the planned itinerary and came through the Nebraska Panhandle on its way to Colorado.

Five tractors, all Australian-made Chamberlain Champion 9Gs manufactured in western Australia between 1955 and 1966, started the trek in Baltimore.

Two were recently in the Salt Lake City area, and the three that were last seen heading south on Nebraska Highway 71 continued their journey. All five will reconnect at some point and finish in Los Angeles.

According to the adventurers' Web site, www.transworldtractortreks.com, the 2009 outing in America is the first venture into a country other than Australia.

If the group had stuck to its initial itinerary, after visiting Dubuque, Waterloo and Des Moines in Iowa, it would have been in Omaha before heading south and then across northern Kansas.

One of the nice things about the adventure, Garnett said, is that the route can be adjusted to accommodate sites and events.

For the Colorado leg, they planned to use a motor home to wander around the state, then eventually end up in Loveland for the Oregon-California Trails Association's national convention.

Garnett said they are glad not to be traveling on Interstate highways, because of the average 27 mph speed the tractors and trailers maintain.

“We're here to see America,” he said. “It's nice, because we meet a lot of nice people and see some very nice places.”

Asked for a favorite thus far, Garnett said he could not answer that question because it has all been wonderful. “The people we meet and the places we see, it's all great.”

The tractors being used on the trek have all been retired from service after many years of use, totally rebuilt, and prepared for shipment to America.

Garnett said the members of the group grow wheat, barley, canola and lots of sheep on his Australian place.

“What we did with these tractors was very hard,” he said. “We cleared a million acres of brush a year with them.”

Evenings are spent in parking lots or at farms and ranches along the route.

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