Feature Article January 22, 2004
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Tractor odyssey puts Fernleigh on the map
Paul Bryer didnt know what he was getting into when he decided to bring a tractor home from Alberta so he could get winter wood for himself and his parents. Three weeks after leaving Alberta, hes endured sleeplessness; a diet of pre-packaged hamburgers; an infected foot that left him in a Thunder Bay Hospital for four days; temperatures in the 40s in Cochrane that froze up the tractors hydraulics; the impounding of the tractor once he returned home; and national publicity that would make aspiring Conservative Party leaders envious.
When talking to the News last Sunday, Bryer expressed surprise at all the attention. I had no idea any of this was going to happen, he said, but he clearly enjoyed it, and said My father and I have been talking about going across country on a lawn tractor later on.
The story was featured on CBC radio, the Ottawa Citizen, and other newspapers. Last week, here at the News, we received two calls, one from the Edmonton Journal, and the other from the Times of London, England, requesting a photograph of the tractor.
There really are two stories: the trip, and the status of the tractor.
The trip
The trip began on January 1, with Bryer driving the 2003 Case tractor 25 miles and 24 hours a day, from Evansburg (which is west of Edmonton) east towards Fernleigh. The tractor had a CD player, but Bryer didnt have any CDs, so he switched from country station to country station as he went along. Fatigue was a factor, and he admits to having hallucinations at certain times, but all along people were quite helpful. Bryer was stopped several times by RCMP members, curious about what he was doing, but was always allowed to carry on, even receiving a police escort through Manitoba.
He cut his foot when first setting out and it became infected as he travelled, finally forcing him to stop and go to a Thunder Bay hospital for treatment. He finally pulled into his parents house on January 10.
The tractor
Acting
on information, OPP Constable Peterkin of the Sharbot Lake detachment,
visited the Bryer property on Monday, January 12. There he found the
fire engine red 2003 Case 4x4 Cab Over Fuel Duel Wheel Farm Tractor
parked. He checked the
serial number on the tractor, as many police officers had before, and
it came up clean. Peterkin then took the matter further, phoning the
dealership where the tractor had been sold. The dealer led Peterkin to
a third party, who indeed had reported the tractor stolen. Bryer was
then arrested and the tractor impounded.
This is where the story gets complicated. Paul Bryer told the News that he had returned to Alberta to pick up a 2000 Case tractor that he had purchased a while ago, and had stored in a friends barn. When he went to get the tractor to drive it back east, the friend told him the barn had burned down and the tractor with it. The friend, or former friend as Paul Bryer describes him, had made an insurance claim, and since the tractor in the barn was no longer being made, the insurance company gave him the 2003 tractor as a replacement. The friend then said the tractor was his and wouldnt let Bryer take it. According to Paul Bryer, he then had to get help from the RCMP to get the tractor from the former friend. By rights the tractor I rode home is the replacement tractor, and its mine, Bryer said.
The Sharbot Lake OPP said they wouldnt have laid the charges and taken the vehicle unless they were convinced it had been stolen. The matter will go to Court in Sharbot Lake on February 16. As to the fate of the tractor, no one seems to know right now where it will go, and when it will go there. The tractor is valued in excess of $100,000.
