-DeNihilist
*****
The best I can do to beat that was my mother put me on a Trailways bus by myself in Tacoma and shipped my troublemaking ass to my grandparents in Hughson, CA during the summer of my7th birthday.
Friday, April 01, 2022
The Abernathy Boys Go for a Ride
If you want a single dramatic example of how much America has changed in the last century or so, stop talking about trips to the moon and super computers and start talking about this: in 1910, two brothers, Temple and Louis Abernathy, saddled up a pair of ponies and rode alone from their home in Frederick, Oklahoma, to New York City, almost 2000 miles away, to see Teddy Roosevelt give a speech. At the time, Louis, called “Bud”, was 10 years old, Temp was 6.
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I was 5 when my folks sent me to the Seattle area to stay with their best friends, my Unc and Aud (Uncle Ray & Auntie Audry.) Left from Salem, Oregon, I was immediately adopted by a man and wife who saw to my every need. Such was the way in 1963....man, how we've fallen.
ReplyDeleteI remember as a small kid (maybe 6 or 7) being put on a bus in South Texas to see my Grandmother in Colorado. Long trip. I also rode my bicycle all over town as a pre-teen (roughly 8-12 years old), going several miles down the highway to the city park to go fishing on a regular basis. This was in the 70's. As a teen in the late 70's early 80's, I road tripped all over, driving several hours to the beach (no map just memory). Nothing like what those kids did, but my parents never seemed to worry.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great story. It should be taught in schools these days instead of the disgusting stuff that I read about daily.
ReplyDeleteSadly, these days some busybody will turn an adult in for leaving their children outside, alone, unsupervised, to play at whatever the kids want in their own yard.
When I was a kid growing up in the 50's and 60's, unless it was pouring down rain or snowing hard, we weren't allowed in the house unless it was time to eat. If it was snowing, we had to keep the driveway and walkway shoveled between snowball fights. In the warmer months, it was racking leaves, keeping the lawn mowed and the garden weeded and watered and feeding the dog and rabbits.
After those chores were done, we could pretty much do as we pleased, except get into mischief, for which the punishment was a spanking that left no doubt that what you did was wrong.
Nemo
Did you ever hear about the Martin brothers, ages 15 and 12, riding away from Sioux raiders while being pinned together by an arrow?
ReplyDeleteHere in Chicago, we call that ridin' the dog, but I'm not sure that applies to Trailways.
ReplyDeleteNot quite the same, but my buddy and I rode our ten speeds from the basically Detroit to Sault Ste Marie when we were 15. A round trip of about 750 miles if I remember right. Six days of riding to get to SSM, about 350 miles. We took our time coming back and ended up being gone 21 days. We stayed in a variety of overnight locations, from friends and relatives to campgrounds and strangers yards. No phones of course back then and only those orange flags for safety gear. I always wondered what my reaction would have been of my son had asked to do the same.
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