My wife Esther and I along with John Zimmerman and Jeanine Ingram hosted this year's Defiance Chapter's 42nd Farm Boys Tour June 7-10. The tour began at the Comfort Inn in Bellefontaine, Ohio, with registration on Sunday afternoon. Later that day we met at the Masonic Temple in Bellefontaine for our opening banquet. The delicious catered buffet was a great start for our three-day tour.

On Monday morning we headed to Jackson Center, Ohio, for our first stop. The staff at the Airstream Motor Home Museum welcomed us for tours of their collection and factory. Docents enjoyed taking us through their new museum and factory. Next we headed to Wapakoneta for lunch at the Wapakoneta Fairgrounds. Then it was off to our next stop, the Armstrong Air and Space Museum. Docents divided us into four groups. We rotated through individual galleries and displays as staff guided us through the museum and answered questions. The Astro Theater in the museum's dome was enthralling! We watched Apollo 11's takeoff, its landing on the lunar surface, and Neil Armstrong taking his historic steps onto the moon. From there we headed south to New Bremen to tour the Bicycle Museum of America. Three floors of bicycles encompassed the very beginning of cycling history through modern times. Our host was knowledgeable. On the return to our motel, we stopped at a Dairy Queen for ice cream.

We left the motel early on Tuesday morning and headed down the road to Marmon Valley Farm for a breakfast treat. We left the comfort of our antique cars and boarded four hay wagons. After a ride into the woods, farm staff prepared eggs, bacon, and potatoes on a wood fire stove. We made our own toast on another wood stove. Many members had never cooked breakfast like this before. This was far more fun than the motel's continental breakfast!

The day continued with a visit to the Honda Heritage Center Museum in Marysville, Ohio. The collection celebrates Honda's 60-year manufacturing history in the United States. Displays feature vintage cars, motorcycles, and racing accessories. They also had new Honda Indy cars on display.

After lunch we headed into Mt. Victory to visit Linda Houchins' Standard Oil Garage which was full of signs, parts, and cars for sale. Our busy day continued with a drive to Kenton, Ohio, for a stop at the Hardin County Heritage Center. They had four buildings and a caboose. (Train cabooses were made in a Kenton factory). A tornado had destroyed the roofs on two buildings two months prior to our visit. Heritage Center staff worked hard in order to open up for us. Our next two stops in Kenton were at the Friendship Gardens and Brim's Imports. Brim's has 200 motorcycles on display in their three buildings. Our last stop was to Defiance Chapter members Paul and Ann Roses' home to see their Custom Interiors and Restoration Shop. They have their personal antique vehicles in the shop and the cars they're working on for customers. Ann provided assorted ice cream bars and cones for a great ending to Tuesday's tour.

On Wednesday morning, we headed south on country roads to Urbana, Ohio. Our coffee stop was in West Liberty at the Lion's Club shelter house, where we had muffins, coffee, and orange juice for early morning energy. From there half of our group headed to the Champaign Aviation Museum where they're rebuilding a WWII B-17 Bomber. After many years they're nearly done. (New wings are yet to be installed). The other half of our group went to Gaslight Auto Parts & Museum where Bob McDonnel explained each of his cars in his collection. For lunch, we filled the Aviation Café near the Champaign Aviation Museum. After lunch, our morning and afternoon stops were swapped so everyone could visit both.

On the way back to the motel, we stopped by Stoner's Ice Cream Parlor for frozen treats. If that wasn't enough sugar, Marie's Candies was just down the street. Chocolate candy is their specialty. Our last tour stop was at the Logan County History Center in Bellefontaine, Ohio. Their collection is housed in the Orr Mansion filled with many pieces of original furniture and many rooms containing great collections of items related to the Underground Railroad, transportation history, and local history. Several blocks away, we arrived at the Masonic Temple for our closing banquet.

After dinner we headed back to our Comfort Inn to say goodbye to the 2026 Farm Boys tourists. There were 71 adults and 2 children with 39 touring cars present. Our earliest vehicle was Richard Staadt's 1911 Ford Model T Touring and the newest touring car was Mark and Beverly Kosin's 1997 Lincoln Town Car. The people and companies hosting stops enjoyed our large group and antique vehicles.

Photos by Dave Plassman and Judy Wright