The Auction

On April 24, we headed up to Warrenton, VA, which is in the northern part of the state. It is about a four hour drive.

We planned an overnight stay.

We headed up Interstate 81.



Our first stop was The Cheese Shop in Stuarts Draft so I could replenish my supply of cinnamon, dried mustard and other assorted spices.



After we topped Afton Mountain on Interstate 64, we stopped at the lower viewing area so I could regain my equilibrium. Driving over mountains makes me a little sick.



Here there is a memorial to Virginia Department of Transportation workers who have been killed while working. Drive safe, people!



We stopped for dinner at Red Lobster in Charlottesville and then headed on our way. I forgot to take a picture.

We arrived in Warrenton to stay at this Holiday Inn Express. It was full of farmers.



Early the next morning we woke and went to the local IHOP for breakfast before heading out to our distination:



We were attending a farm tractor auction. There was a LOT of farm tractors and assorted machinery there.



These little toy tractors were the first items up for bid, and they sold for about $200 each. It was my first indication that bidding would be on the high end at this sale.



This is what we hoped to buy: a cattle trailer. My husband was not impressed with the looks of this one, though, because it was kind of beat up.




He really liked this tractor.



He liked this one too I guess because of its age or something.



I liked this tractor because it looked like a big workhorse muscle tractor.



We watched the bidding for quite a while. It was very warm - in the high 90s. I finally found a shade tree and sat under it with a book while my husband watched the auctioneer move among the machinery.

In the end, we didn't buy anything at all because the prices were very high. There were at least 1,000 people there and we saw vehicles from as far away as Montana and Alaska! I had never seen so many people at an auction before.