Big Bikes and Pumpkin Chunkin

Monday Sept. 28, 2009: While I'd love to share wonderful pictures of the Adirondacks Mountains in Northeastern New York, three days of rain is playing havoc with my photographic efforts.  Despite some bad weather luck, I still managed to grab a picture or two of some interesting things along the way.  This bigger than life chopper complete with "ape hanger bars" was especially build for somebody like Doug........haaaaaaaaa

"Pumpkin Chunkin"  Steady rain for most of three days now has prevented me from taking a lot of pictures but I was able to stumble upon something interesting in the New York countryside. Somewhere on a lonely road in the middle of nowhere, I came upon the Glosser family farm and their trusty John Deere green "Pumpkin Chunker".  A device custom build for the sole purpose of sending 10"-12" pumpkins great distances using a large volume of compressed air.  How far you ask?
Funny, I had the same question.  When the operator informs me he could send it over the line of trees in the distance, I'm thinking to myself.........."no freakin way mate, that treeline is at least a 1/4 mile away.  With a sly grin the Glossers were happy to demonstrate.


They tell me their longest measured shot to date is 3,200 feet!!!!  To put that into prospective, a mile is only 5,280 feet.  Now that's what I'd call a "Punkin Chunker"  These guys also tell me that the record holders have cannons at least 3-4 times as large as this one, some with barrels as long as 100 feet.  Apparently those monsters are approaching shots of a mile long.  Pumpkin Pie anyone? For more information, go to http://www.punkinchunkin.com/