There is no foreseable way for me to have a country adventure and not talk about the green machine most Americans know to be a "Deere". I grew up on them in South Dakota. In fact my family moto was "If it aint green, don't drive it". I really wanted to add a container slightly west of here at the local tractor shop, but someone beat me to the location long ago. Still this seems to be more fitting for a country wild, when I placed this cache, they had huge rigs sitting at the lot, so it looked from GZ like they were farming the land instead of just sitting there. I get homesick just looking at them. I decided that I would leave you with 10 fun facts I found about the man/the company behind the green tractor!
1. At age 33, John Deere worked as a blacksmith and designed his first plow for Midwestern farmers. The polished-steel plow became popular due to its ability to cut through sticky prairie soil and resulted in demand to build more over the next five years.
2. John Deere only officially managed his Company from 1852–1858. His 21-year-old son Charles took over as manager in 1858, when economic panic struck the U.S., and he continued to run the company for the next 49 years (43 years longer than his father).
3. In 1894, a bicycle craze swept the country and the company jumped at the opportunity. For the next few years, three unique bicycles were manufactured but production stopped when the fad lost steam.
4. In 1912, the company went international when a manufacturing entity opened in Canada. Starting in 1956, the company decided to build plants in Mexico, Germany, and Spain. Over the next few years, France, Argentina, and South Africa were thrown into the mix. There are now 104 big green tractor locations across the globe—43 in the U.S. alone.
5. Since his very first plow in 1837, approximately 596 different tractor models have been designed, produced, and sold. This number includes 38 backhoe-loader tractors, 31 industrial tractors, 8 Waterloo Boy tractors, and 68 Lanz farm tractors. Woah!
6. As of 2010, the big green tractor company employed more than 56,000 employees worldwide.
7. The Industrial Equipment Division was officially established in 1958, although they had been doing business in that industry for decades. The factory in Dubuque, Iowa rolled out the first industrial-yellow crawler tractors designed specifically for industrial applications.
8. There have been eight variations of the official logo. In fact, the leaping deer design was altered several times before arriving at the modern green and yellow image.
9. In 1998, the company hit a historic financial landmark when it hit $1 billion in sales. This was a first not only for the company but for the entire agricultural equipment industry.
10. The big green tractor company started out as a manufacturer of farm tractors. It now produces equipment for multiple industries, including agriculture, residential, golf and sport, commercial construction, forestry, government and military, and landscaping.
(If you are a fan of my Country Wild Series, you have then noticed that there is nothing normal about it. If this is your first find in Country Wild, welcome! Congratulations on discovering a Country Wild Cache!! There are some things you should know about my Country Wild Series however, the most important is that this "power trail" isn't the quick park and grab type. In fact if you are a true power trail series fan looking for fast numbers, you probably wont like Country Wild.
Country Wild will take you on a drive, share with you funny stories and make the series more about a day out enjoying caches and the road, then focusing on pure numbers. But for those of you wanting to know what kind of numbers Country Wild will give you, here is your answer. When completed Country Wild will cover 4 states, Starting in Arkansas, then Oklahoma, Kansas, Mossuri, and then back into Arkansas. (you can start at any cache) In it's completion( and providing you find all the Country Wild Caches), you will have traveled over 250 miles, and have gathered around 250 caches, and about half a dozzen counties. You will also Complete your D/T grid, your alphanumeric challange as well and fill in all your atributes both negative and positive.
The point of my Country wild is to do one if not all of the following. Inspire, Entertain, and Inform. I do so hope you enjoy my cache. Please remember to practice Cito when you can, place the cache back where you found it and tell me of your adventure. As I hide caches, I keep in mind what you have written in my logs, if you only write TFTC I will take it as it wasn't interesting and will quit hiding them. For those of you that would like to try and find all my Country Wild Caches I have made a list. Scroll to the bottom for more infomation. I wish you best of luck in your adventure today, be safe and happy hunting --CnD)
Along the way I encourage you to check out the random caches and power trails that others have hidden. (also another reason why I made this series). This route will take you through several small towns with a lot of history, take time to enjoy some of the shops and parks that you may see, or just to take note of when you really want to go on a weekend adventure.
Things you will need to bring with you:
*Click Stick
*Geo-tool (some of these pesky nanos may be a little hard to retrieve )
*Geosense (some of these caches even though granted permission by land owner are on private property)
*Stealth( some areas are very muggle heavy, or traffic heavy, be sure to practice safety first)
*Wadeing boots.
*Gloves
*Favorite Music, (enjoy the tunes and the views, maybe not so much some of the smells ;) as you will discover).
*Camera (some of these places you will want to take a picture or to of).
Most importantly have fun. This series isn't meant to be anything other than a nice country drive.
I have made a Country Wild List for you to access easily to complete the whole series.