"It's awesome," adds Lain Sidwell, one of Erickson's employees. "We work all year toward this weekend. But what's fun to see is the camaraderie that exists among all the friends in the clubs. And Dick has such a wealth of knowledge, and he's not afraid to share it. If you ask him something he doesn't know, which doesn't happen very often, he'll say, 'Let's go look it up together.' He's really something."

Proceeds from the show go to benefit the R.W. Erickson Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports his rustic outdoor museum. Although the collection is open to the public only one weekend a year, he brings in tours of senior citizens, nursing-home groups and schoolchildren on a regular basis.

The kids are a lot of fun, he says. "Some of them can hardly believe it." But that is one purpose of his collection, he says. "I want to educate young people about how people used to live. I want them to see the hardships involved in making a living, what it took to grow food."

For the older folks, he hopes it will bring back fond memories. "A lot of those who lived in this area especially will remember some of these machines."

And for those in between — well, he hopes they just have a good time. There's certainly a lot in his collection to appeal to all ages, including other reminders of his own youth.

Tractors are not the only thing that intrigued him. "I grew up in the hot-rod era. I had a hot rod, a 1954 Ford that I put an old motor in. I always liked things that go fast."

And slow — just as long as they go. While he has some racing cars from the Salt Flats in the '30s, he also has a lot of old cars that were built for less speed. After all, once you've tinkered with cars, you pretty much like anything on wheels, he says. His earliest car is a 1911 Model-T. But he also has other early Fords, Packards and more, all spiffed up and shiny. He has the '38 Lincoln Zephyr that Warren Beatty drove in the movie "Bugsy." He also has a 1954 Ford that has only 191 miles on it.

Over in the truck building, there's everything from an early ambulance to a bright orange 1941 Ford popcorn wagon.

Erickson also rode and raced motorcycles. "I worked at the Belmont Harley Davidson in St. Paul." He later competed in motorcycle hill climbing. So it's not surprising that he has an extensive collection of "Hogs," and, yes, they did call them that as early as 1912-13. There are later Harleys and other motorized cycles, as well.