March 19, 2024

Thanks for the memories

Dana King’s column “Just out for a Ride,” brought back memories of my childhood rides. Four other siblings and I sat in the back seat and the two youngest siblings sat with mom and dad in the front of our Chevy.

Car rides were always on Sundays and dad drove one speed which was slow. He earned the nickname “Sunday Driver.” These rides were educational as well as entertaining. We did not have to go far from home to see things and learn about places.

In the 1960s dad showed us a new nursing home which had been built in a nearby town, and that ended the culture of the youngest child staying home to care for aging parents. A few years later my youngest sibling was okay with that.

Once we stopped at a small isolated country church. It was not locked, and we went inside and enjoyed the quaintness of this church with just a few pews.

Sometimes the drives were long and sometimes they were short. On all day trips, mom would pack sandwiches which we ate at parks. Dad farmed and he liked to look at the corn crops. A city person thinks that all corn looks alike, but not dad, as in a dry year, he would mention in varying degrees how “fried up” the corn was.

In the early years of our marriage, the house my husband and I lived in did not have air conditioning. Luckily, our car had air, so we took drives to cool off during hot evenings.

Nowadays when driving home in the evening, most people have their lights on, and haven’t yet closed their curtains or blinds and their televisions are on.

When kids travel with their parents today, they have their smartphones.

Elaine Hammer

Baxter