Season

Do the years seem to go by faster all the time for everyone, or is it just us? 2001 was an extremely busy, but satisfying year.

Just before Christmas 2000 – on Dec. 16, to be exact – we bought an acreage at an auction. It’s 3 acres just a few miles north of Eldon, right along Highway 16. Although it was a mess when we bought it, we really didn’t know how big of a mess it was until the snow melted! With a lot of help from friends and family, we were able to tear down the barn, demolish another old building, cut down some trees, and clean up/burn/bury a lot of the debris. Once the land was cleared of everything but the house and some trees around the perimeter, it looked much better. At the bottom of this "letter" are pictures of the way it looked when we bought it. If you want to see what it looks like now, you'll just have to come visit us!

Once the weather warmed up, we started work on the new shop for our business, McDaniel Racing Enterprises. Bert designed a 48-foot by 96-foot structure on the computer while we were at his mom’s house in Phoenix over Christmas. (He’s never spent that much time on the computer before … or since!) We got several bids and Pro Line Building Co. out of New Sharon ended up doing the construction. We’ve been really happy with it, too. Bert did a lot of the wiring and plumbing with the help of his father and father-in-law (and no blood was shed during the whole ordeal – amazing!).

The house was another story. It’s a single-story ranch house – pretty basic; it's just 3 bedrooms, a bath, living room, and kitchen. But all the flooring had to be replaced and all the rooms got a fresh coat of paint. Sue’s mom came down early in April and was a huge help in getting the painting done – especially the kitchen cupboards. In fact, Sue’s parents have made several trips to Eldon over the course of the spring/summer/fall and have provided much-needed support and elbow grease for the project(s).

We moved all our belongings to the acreage the last weekend of September. It took 3 days, 20 people, 5 trucks and trailers, 6 pickup trucks, 3 cars, a skid loader, and a forklift. Whew! Since then we’ve been trying to find where we put everything! But we love living in the country. We have some of the most beautiful sunsets and sunrises (and yes, we’ve seen them getting out of bed, not going to bed!); we’ve learned to “tune out” the sounds of the cars going by on the highway and the trains a mile and a half to the north of us. But the wind really blows out here on the prairie! Now we just have to get the house in town sold …

What else have we done this year? Not a whole lot, considering the time we spent trying to keep up with two pieces of property and our business. For nearly two weeks at Christmastime last year, we stayed with Bert’s mom and stepfather in Phoenix. The weather was beautiful down there and we even managed to snag tickets to the Iowa State bowl game there, much to Sue’s delight. That's where the picture at the top of this page was taken.

Bert didn’t race as much as he usually does this year, but he did manage to pick up a couple of feature wins at Bloomfield in the middle of the summer. We traveled to Beatrice, Nebraska, the first weekend of October, for a special there and to see Sue’s brother, who lives out there. Bert had a shot at winning before a lapped car got tangled up with the leaders; he did manage to finish 8^th.

Sue also got a taste of motorsports competition this year, pulling our dually in the pickup pull at the Davis County Fair. She won the 2-wheel-drive class – and picked up a nice little plaque – but we won’t talk about how many other pickups there were!

As the holidays approach, we tend to reflect on our family and friends and what those relationships mean to us. If you’re receiving this message from us, it means that you have a special place in our hearts and we’re grateful for your friendship. As the Garth Brooks song says, “If tomorrow never comes, will she know how much I loved her?” – know that we love and cherish each and every one of you.


These are some pictures of what our acreage looked like earlier this year after we bought it. If you want to see what it looks like now, I guess you'll have to come visit us!