Organic Farm Author: Farmer is flying

Chapter 66: The Journey

The next day, several people came to John Deere again, and today they were going to visit the entire agricultural machinery exhibition hall and the John Deere Development Museum.

Led by Bob, Tagawa and the others inspected other agricultural machinery that John Deere was selling. It's a kingdom of tractors, from a 20-horsepower miniature tractor to a 500-horsepower giant.

During the morning tour, Tagawa paid extra attention to several types of agricultural machinery that his company was about to develop, including fruit picking pruners, silage machines, irrigation equipment, feeding equipment and cleaning equipment in livestock facilities. During the visit, Tagawa continued the characteristics of the previous day's problem baby, and kept asking Bob all kinds of questions. Bob is a very talkative person and gives detailed answers to Tagawa's questions. This process made Wei Wenqiang, as a translator, hard, and a large number of agricultural and animal husbandry words and abbreviations made him almost crazy. He never thought that as a high-achieving student who studied machinery, he would also have to learn the special vocabulary of agriculture and animal husbandry. Unbeknownst to him, Bob was already trying to avoid using slang in order to take care of the foreigners.

There was no way, Tian Chuan could only make his English gradually proficient in the process of constantly correcting his translation mistakes, and finally abandoned the miserable Wei Wenqiang, and he and Bob began to communicate directly. Bob was amazed at Tagawa's linguistic talent, and yesterday he needed an interpreter for even daily communication, and today he is able to communicate directly with him about agricultural and animal husbandry machinery and production processes. Although it is not fluent, the pronunciation is very good, and the comprehension ability is super and the vocabulary is large. Tagawa's explanation for this is that he has studied English in China for many years and has read a lot of books on agriculture and animal husbandry, so he knows a lot of words. It's just that I lack the language environment for listening and speaking, and my spoken language is not good. After a day of communication, I am now slowly getting acquainted.

Eventually, Tagawa bought a fruit pruner and a corn planter. He felt that these two machines were very distinctive, and it was necessary to get them back and study them.

After completing the tour and procurement, Tagawa offered to visit John Deere's factory, but Bob politely declined, according to him, the company has a clear rule that it is not open to general purchasing personnel like Tagawa. Tian Chuan also expressed his understanding and no longer insisted on it.

Before noon, Tagawa said goodbye to Bob: "Our procurement is done, and now we will say goodbye to you." You are an excellent salesperson, shopping with you was a pleasant experience, I am very satisfied, thank you for your service. ”

Bob thanked Tagawa for his generous purchase, and the two parties parted happily.

At noon, the three of them had lunch at a nearby fast food restaurant, and in the afternoon they visited the John Deere History Museum, the Old Tractor Museum, and finally the Toy Agricultural Machinery Museum. There are a large number of agricultural machinery models displayed and sold in the toy hall, many children play here, and there are many people who buy agricultural machinery models. Tian Chuan bought two sets of agricultural machinery models in a series, and planned to give one to his niece Weiwei and the other to collect for himself. The model is exquisitely made, it is made to real scale, most of the moving parts can be operated, and it is a high-end product of the same level as the car model. In particular, several limited edition models are beautifully made, and of course the price is amazing.

Spend another night at the hotel, and tomorrow they will leave for a visit to the suburban farm area to get a feel for the big mechanized agriculture in the United States. Tagawa had already rented a large pickup truck and decided to take a road trip in the United States, driving from Maureen to Chicago and from Chicago to New York.

Illinois is one of the more densely populated states in the United States, with towns on both sides of the highway and large tracts of farmland between them. Since spring has not yet arrived, most of the farmland is barren, and only a small amount of wheat is waiting to turn green, decorating the land with a dark green color. Both the dark green wheat fields and the earthy yellow corn fields are very flat and huge, and the neat ridges show obvious traces of mechanized work. From time to time, you can see independent farm buildings in the fields of farmland, mostly in the style of single-family houses, and the roofs are painted in various colors. Surrounding the villa are a number of farm auxiliary houses, some of which can be seen as livestock sheds or tool houses, or houses where workers live, and some of which are completely unrecognizable.

There are not many vehicles encountered on the road, and there are fewer than those in China, which may be due to the relatively small population. Sometimes the people in the car will wave warmly, and Tagawa and they will also respond warmly, bringing a lot of joy to them on the cold and desolate road. The cars they encountered were usually driving fast, as if there were no police officers at all to catch speeding, but Tagawa stopped from time to time to see the scenery, and even when they were moving, the speed was completely different from the way the locals drove.

It was about 300 kilometers from the city of Maureen to Chicago, and it took them a whole day to get to Chicago in the early evening.

Chicago is the third largest city in the United States, located in the south of Lake Michigan on the Great Lakes of the United States, and is the largest business center and futures market in the United States. Chicago is a truly megacity with a staggering 600 square kilometers of urban size. Before the expansion in 2000, the area of China's capital was only about 300 square kilometers, and there was still a small amount of crop land in it!

After entering the city, they first took a taxi to lead the way, went to the hotel that had been booked in advance, checked in, and then took a taxi to the famous Alinea restaurant to enjoy the dinner that Tagawa had booked in advance in the country more than a month in advance.

Tagawa had been interested in this restaurant for a long time in his previous life, but due to shy pockets and long reservation cycles, he never had the opportunity to put it into practice. After this rebirth, he was rich and capricious, so he booked a seat when he decided to develop a cotton picker before the Spring Festival. Fortunately, at this time, the Internet was not yet developed, and the popularity of the restaurant was far from reaching the exaggerated level that it would have been twenty years later. As long as you book a month in advance, you will have no problem at all.

Alinea is known for its molecular cuisine, which, together with its excellent dining environment, allows people to experience something completely different from traditional food, both in terms of appearance and taste.

Tagawa was not sure how many people would be there when he booked, and he booked four places at that time. Now if there is another local friend, it is just enough to sit.

Several people were in shock from entering the restaurant to enjoying this special dinner, at least Tagawa felt that the total cost of more than 2,000 dollars for the three of them was worth it.

Professor Zhao and Wei Wenqiang could not agree with Tian Chuan's consumption concept. After all, Professor Zhao's current salary is only a little more than 1,000 yuan. Since Wei Wenqiang came to the United States, he has been working hard to eat enough in the past few years, until he went to graduate school and started to do projects, and he only had some income, and he only maintained food and clothing, and basically did not have much surplus. Coupled with a trip home, round-trip airfares and gifts brought home, almost all of his savings were consumed. For a Michelin-starred restaurant like Alinea, you can only hear and imagine.

As an emerging super tyrant, Tian Chuan's large-scale consumption for more than half a year has made him accustomed to spending one or two thousand yuan. In other words, he has gradually forgotten the consumption concept of the citizen class in his previous life, and he is no longer a civilian class.

The second day of the tour is a visit to several of Chicago's famous museums. Tagawa didn't know Professor Zhao's hobbies, and he didn't know if he was interested in visiting museums, but if tomorrow he was happy to see it, and Professor Zhao was exhausted in his interest, it would be boring.

So he said to Professor Zhao: "The main purpose of our visit to the United States this time is to buy cotton pickers and understand the knowledge of cotton pickers. My plan was to stay in Chicago for two days, then go to New York for another day, California for three days, Montana for two days, and finally return home from San Francisco. I went to these places to inspect the agricultural situation in the United States, on the one hand, and to deal with some personal matters of my own. Professor Zhao, if you are not interested in these, you can not come with me, let Senior Brother Wei accompany you, and go around as you wish. ”

He didn't wait for Professor Zhao to speak, and then said: "You don't have to be embarrassed, when you come to the United States, you always have to take a walk and take a look and buy it." As he spoke, he took out a card and said, "You have been working for me for more than half a year, and my machinery company has begun to make money in a hurry, and you still have a salary of more than 1,000 yuan, which is my negligence." Here's $20,000 to use as your pocket money in the U.S. during this time. You pay the accommodation fee first, keep the receipt, and go back to the machinery company for reimbursement. ”

Professor Zhao excused himself: "This is not good, you have already paid for my work, I didn't help me on this business trip to the United States, I have already spent a lot, I will be embarrassed to take this money again." ”

Tian Chuan said: "I'm sincere, don't shirk it." Let Senior Brother Wei accompany you for a good turn. He turned to Wei Wenqiang and said, "Senior Brother Wei, you must be a good guide for Professor Zhao." Your accommodation and transportation expenses will also be reimbursed, and your pocket money will depend on earning tour guide fees from Professor Zhao. Please note that hotels below 4 stars are not reimbursed. ”

Wei Wenqiang said: "Mr. Tian, don't worry, I will definitely accompany Teacher Zhao." You're all right, right?"

Tagawa said, "I can do it myself." You must pay attention to safety, call me every night after separation, where are you going, tell me in advance, we will report to each other, don't lose yourself. Professor Zhao, you must buy some things for your family, and then buy some souvenirs from one or two dollars to seven or eight dollars to give away, special handicrafts and other things, food, or buy some cigarettes in the duty-free shop at the airport. Be careful not to buy made in China back. ”

At the suggestion of Wei Wenqiang, Professor Zhao plans to go to Millennium Park tomorrow to see the famous Cloud Gate, go shopping in the shopping street in the afternoon, and go to the White Sox Stadium in the evening to watch the baseball game of the White Sox team. Tagawa was a little surprised that he, a pseudo-baseball fan, didn't notice that there was a White Sox game tomorrow. He asked, "Professor Zhao, do you still like to watch baseball?"

Professor Zhao said: "Where do I know baseball, I originally wanted to see if there was a basketball game of the Bulls, and it was a little unreasonable to think that I would come to the United States and not see the NBA." It was Wei Wenqiang who persuaded me to go to baseball, saying that baseball is more popular in the United States than basketball, and asked me to feel the atmosphere of the game. ”

Tagawa said, "What time is it in the evening? Buy a ticket and bring one of mine, and we'll go together." By the way, try to buy a seat at the front of second base, and buy me a left-handed receiving glove. ”

Baseball is a standard unpopular sport in China, and very few people know the rules. Tian Chuan is an outlier, he was a die-hard baseball fan in his previous life, but the level of baseball in China is too low, there are only four teams in the national league, and he may not be able to hit a home run in a season. He can only watch some major league games on the Internet to get a good time. This time I came to the United States, of course, I had to go to the scene to feel the demeanor of the strong team.

He bought gloves to sit in the front row so that he could catch the ball when he hit a home run in the middle of the court, and whoever received it could take the ball home.

Professor Zhao asked Tian Chuan curiously: "I remember that you are not left-handed, why do you want to buy left-handed gloves?" Tian Chuan had not yet answered, and Wei Wenqiang next to him couldn't help laughing: "My Teacher Zhao, I catch the ball with my left hand because the flexible right hand is used to throw the ball." ”