This Cub started out being advertised on a tractor site for $2400.00. With only a mower deck and an incomplete grader blade the seller was very high with his price considering the condition of the tractor.  In following weeks the price had dropped to $2200.00 then 2100.00 and again to 1900.00.  After considerable time being advertised the seller kept dropping his price.  Finally, after about six weeks the price came in at $1250.00.

I decided to give the seller a call and take a look at what he had.  He said it ran good and he used it all the time to cut grass. He said he lived near Brookville Indiana and gave his name.  I told him I had relatives in that area by the same name and asked if he was related to them.  He said he knew them but was no relation. As it turned out, he was cutting my aunts lawn at her farm. He was about forty minutes away so I told him I would be out to see it after work the following day.

As soon as I got home from work I was hooking up the trailer and headed out. I got about 20 miles from home when the radiator in my truck goes south on me as I exit the expressway. A guy stopped and pulled the truck and trailer into a vacant lot next to a gas station to get it off the road. I know I can get AAA to tow the truck but what about the trailer. I hated to leave it in an area I was unfamiliar with. I called a friend of mine and hoped he would be home. He had just walked in from work and I told him I was broke down. He said to give him time to change clothes and he’d be on his way, then he asked where I was. He didn’t ask where first, he simply said “I’m on my way”. I told him I had AAA coming for the truck and all I needed was the trailer towed. I told him I was about 45 minutes from his house and he said “See you in a bit”. Where I was didn’t matter to him, what mattered was that I needed help.

Almost an hour later the wrecker pulled in with Doug right behind. The timing was perfect. I gave the wrecker driver directions to the barnyard and jumped in the truck with Doug. Doug pulled out and headed for the highway and I figured I could make the Cub Run when my truck was fixed. Just before getting on the highway Doug asked what I was doing out that way and I said I was on my way to pick up a tractor. He asked where it was and I said about 20 miles in the other direction. He turned the truck around and said we were going to bring that tractor home, no sense making another trip. The guy drives 45 miles to rescue me and then offers to go another twenty miles to finish what I started.

We pulled into the sellers drive and there sat the Cub along with the mower and grader blade.  We checked it all out and found the tires weren’t really all they were supposed to be. Once started the little tractor sounded pretty good,  I knew the fella had kept lowering his price over the several weeks, but he still had this thing priced a bit high for its condition.  I made him an offer and he thought for a second and then said yes.

We got everything loaded and headed for home, happy that another Cub was headed to the barnyard.  I have no idea how this one will be used as yet.  It has been sitting in the barn waiting patiently for me to make a decision.  I am in no rush to do that.

After thinking a while as to what to name it I thought about how unhappy I was that the truck broke down, but I did get a laugh out of it later, and my buddy who rescued me kept my spirits up with his wonderful sense of humor.  The way he has of making folks laugh always made me think he would have been a great court jester. Hence the name, Jester.