Having a Hay Ol' Time

It's not always easy to meet the locals when you're a tourist, so we were very happy when an old Illinois farmer turned up to treat us to a hayride. Ken has been farming for over 50 years, and was happy to share some of his experiences with us. The odd thing was that we chatted whilst we went on a lovely trip, but it was around the Eagle Ridge golf course! Somewhat bizarre, but we could at least imagine we were trolling along the Galena hills.
As city folk, it puts things into perspective when you hear of someone having to put in a 15 hour day in the summer and 8 hours in the winter, every day of the year. Ken rears horses and cattle, and grows wheat and corn. The wet weather this year means corn will be more expensive, and many farmers are growing soy instead this time. Hope it doesn't mean we'll soon be chewing soy beans plants dipped in butter!

Here's me and Squeaky, one of Ken's dogs, who always accompanies him on his rides. The horses are 15 years old, which he also rose and trained himself. The scary thing was one of them had had a foal only two weeks before! (Still, she's probably not allowed to vacuum...)