Blue Suede Tractor?

Check out this article from today's Times Journal.
It happens to be about one of my favorite people and favorite 4 wheeler ridin' buddies. I can't tell you the number of things I've seen this guy work on, ....and fix. Even as a kid! If he didn't have the right parts, you can always count on him riggin' something up in a most entertaining fashion.

This also happens to include his fireworks displays and I can personally attest to the fact that Aaron, my car, and myself were very nearly almost blown up in a failed attempt at a massive fireworks display. This of course was based on my limited understanding of exactly WHAT he/we was about to attempt and exactly WHY the manufacturers packaging states that you NEVER place more than one "bomb thingy" into the "launcher thingy" at a time......and if you do put say, THREE bomb thingys into the launcher thingy, then you should most certainly put more gravels around the bottom than I did....otherwise, it WILL fall over, and it WILL shoot directly at you, and your gas filled vehicle.....on the GROUND.

I am so proud of Aaron! He graduated this past week and is beginning what I'm sure will be a very successful career. With all that said, I am very confident that Mr Presley's tractor was in most capable hands....and have no doubt that the project began with these famous words.

"Okay, now what we're gonna do is........"


"---- native Aaron Jolley recently saw the ghost of Elvis in a round-about way.

Jolley is a student at Northwest Mississippi Community College in Senatobia, Miss. and is part of the agricultural technology John Deere tech program.

Jolley and three other students in the program worked for about a month restoring a 1963-model John Deere tractor.

Jolley and the other students are part of a “special project” class and are required to work hands-on with broken equipment so they learn how to deal with a variety of problems that tractors can have.

They do one of the projects every year.

The tractor was used at Elvis Presley’s Circle G Ranch in DeSoto County and Graceland for many years.

The students and instructor, Shane Louwerens, worked on the project for nearly 400 hours.

Louwerens knew what was so special about the tractor but for security reasons couldn’t let the students in on the secret.

It wasn’t until the tractor was complete that the students found out how special it was.

Louwerens, himself, was surprised when he found out the tractor belonged to Elvis.

“I was contacted by corporate representatives from John Deere’s Atlanta brand and asked if I would be interested in preserving an old tractor with the help of students,” Louwerens said. “They came to tour the facility, make sure it was secure and made sure we had the ability to do the job to their specifications. I was baffled when they asked me not to replace any parts unless absolutely necessary, and any parts that were replaced had to be saved, bagged and returned to them.”

It was after Elvis Presley Enterprises approved Northwest for the project that Louwerens was told of the tractor’s special history.

“It was hard to keep it a secret from the guys after a while because they knew that something was up from the beginning,” Louwerens said. “They wanted to know why I was being so tedious and careful with everything.”

Louwerens said the process of restoring the tractor was meticulous.

“The students were required to keep daily journals of any work performed on the tractor and I took photographs of the entire process from the time it arrived on campus until the time it was completed,” Louwerens said.

According to Louwerens, only about 10 pieces of the tractor were replaced.

“Some dents and scratches were left on purpose in order to preserve the tractor’s historical and sentimental value,” Louwerens said.

Once complete, the tractor was moved to a prepared exhibit space on May 8 at the Elvis Presley Auto Museum in Graceland.

The students took a trip to Graceland where they were treated to a VIP tour of Elvis’ mansion and auto museum and were also treated to lunch with employees from the John Deere Corp. "