Tractors, Back Roads and Old Farmsteads

Jim's perennial wheelin' and dealin' has taken a busy turn recently. This obsession with "trading" is apparently a genetic trait, notable in this generation in  both his brothers as well.  [J.'s cousin, a meticulous genealogist, has shared excerpts from family wills and transactions that indicate his fore-fathers were kept busy down there in Pitt County, NC swapping parcels of land, horses, mules and wagons.]

My part in the process these days is to post various items on craigslist or to answer

the phone occasionally.

It is also important that I willingly load into the car to go on various scouting missions or clamber aboard old Snort'n Nort'n for pick up or delivery ventures.

Monday's quest took us along a narrow road that twisted beside a creek swollen with water from the recent rains.  Few houses along the road were occupied.

We saw several of these swinging foot bridges. Rutted tracks suggested that in dryer weather the creek could be forded, although the old farmhouses beyond stood forlornly abandoned in their soggy fields. 

 

Note the house trailer standing alongside the old two story house.This seems to have been a trend in poorer rural areas.

Apparently when an old house became too derelict to justify the expense of renovating, a 'single-wide' was moved in nearby to take advantage of the electrical and water hook-ups.

Now the trailer houses are deserted as well.

 

It turned out to be the wrong road [we needed to head up toward Gravel Switch] but it was a chance to see parts of Casey and Marion Counties which were unfamiliar.

Old buildings intrigue me and this quiet road seemed to have more than the usual share of abandoned farmsteads and derelict barns sagging lop-sidedly toward the ground.

 

All photos were taken from the moving car as we meandered through rain that [almost!] thickened to sleet, then gave way to feeble sunlight.

 

The oddly constructed church sits near the traffic light in down-town Bradfordville.

 

The downside of listing items for sale is the spate of phone calls

during the first few days after items are posted.

The phone shrilled at 6:30 this morning.

We were awake, but still thinking about starting the day.

I leapt from bed, heart pounding. [After all, a phone call at that hour surely means death, dilemma or something unpleasant to be dealt with.]

J. reached the phone first and I quickly gathered this was a man calling about a tractor.

He lived two counties eastward and was in the earlier time zone.

A second call came while I was cooking breakfast.

I picked up the phone and managed to decipher that this caller also was looking for a tractor.

His actual words, spoken in the local vernacular were, " At ere John Deere yur sellin'--has it done went yet?"

I hastily handed over the phone!

Early caller # one appeared in due course, bought the tractor. J. was planning to pick up another tractor [!] which he bought on Monday's expedition, so agreed to deliver one on the way.

I have now spent the better part of two days "along for the ride."

An old hand at this, I go well prepared with several magazines, a book or two, clothing to meet any weather changes, my camera.

A stop for lunch somewhere is part of the package!

I make what I hope are appreciative noises while J. extolls the details of the latest swap.