Tractor

The Road Way Less Traveled

I will start with a story I couldn't make up if I tried. For no reason that I can adequately explain, we decided to take the Roman road, (said to have been walked by Charlemagne), instead of the road more traveled. No towns, no services, lots of rocks, desolate, no water spigots, little shade. No actual sign of an old Roman road.

Walking along for many kilometers with little company (apparently, not many are interested in walking where Charlemagne did).

We ate lunch in an abandoned bunker-like building (the only shade around), with the latest graffiti being from 2018, empty except for the large black ants carrying away breadcrumbs as they were dropped (not an exaggeration).

Not the actual bunker-like building, but close

Tractor, stock photo

While walking after lunch, I watched a green tractor, with yellow hubs, and a red plough (very similar to above only dustier, again, not actual photo)  a few meters ahead. 

Since there wasn't much activity along the way, it caught my attention. It was big, maybe the size of a monster truck from my vantage.

Monster Truck, stock photo

Then I noticed a young man, running next to the tractor. My first thought, "I wonder why they would have someone run next to the tractor like that?"

Immediately, I looked into the driver's seat, and there was no one there. As the tractor moved closer to the road we were walking, this young man ran at top speed, as if his life depended on it. Then I understood why. Or I thought I did. Just at the moment when this realization hit me, he grabbed ahold of some part of the tractor, hoisted himself into the driver's seat and with little room to spare, turned the tractor around and began hoeing the next row.

Whatever might have happened had he made a misstep; disaster averted.

Surprisingly, no one thought much about this incident. We walked on, mentioning it in passing and he tractored on without much ado. 

I didn't even think to take a picture.

From the Ten Commandments of Tractor Safety, Number 7:

7. Never jump off a moving tractor or leave it with its engine running. A runaway tractor can be extremely dangerous.

Amen to tractor safety.