Journey started in B.C. and ended in Ontario
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com
It took them 17 days, but Urs Koch and his daughter, Claudine, managed to travel from Kelowna, British Columbia to the family’s farm in Plantagenet, Ontario in a 1957 F4L514 Deutz tractor.
The father-daughter team purchased the tractor online without knowing its condition and headed out west to pick it up. They decided to drive it back to Ontario.
They left B.C. on July 30 at about 2:30pm. At the time, Urs drove the tractor while Claudine followed behind in an SUV. The pair would take turns driving, and sleeping in the vehicle when necessary. They arrived home on August 16 around 5am after traveling about 4,000km at a top speed of 30km/h.
Urs said the journey allowed him to reconnect with his daughter, who’s been away for the last 10 years with the Canadian Armed Forces.
“We grew personally,” he told CBC Radio’s All In A Day. “We rediscovered each other again.”
“There’s absolutely no way to avoid each other,” Claudine said.
Deutz F4L514 tractor
Photo: Deutz-Oldtimer.de
Urs said the trip also felt like he was traveling through time, seeing how different people used to live in contrast to how people live today.
Claudine said the moment her father pitched the idea, she wanted to participate.
When the seller handed over the tractor’s keys, he told the Kochs it didn’t start. Urs said after being on the phone with his uncle, they were on the road in less than two hours.
The pair avoided highways and took in some of Canada’s backroads, receiving support along the way, including having lunch supplied for them.
“Once we told them it was a father-daughter trip, they were just very happy for us,” Claudine said.
Now that the tractor’s journey is over, Urs said its work isn’t.
“For sure we’re going to use it next year,” Urs said, adding he may attend a Deutz tractor festival.