I was driving home the other day and caught this pic along the way (Poetic sounding huh?)
The picture quality is poor but you get the point. Do you know how hard it is to take a picture with a cell phone while driving? Thank goodness I was not texting, that is dangerous and illegal.
Here is a truck load of good ol’ boys going from one destination to they only know where. I believe the man in the back had the better end of the deal. Since their windows were down, one can only assume that the A/C did not work in the truck.
Other than this being a random picture, this scene struck some memories for me. I began to recall a time when this scenario was not only acceptable but the norm. It was common to see 1, 2, 3, or more people riding in the back of a pickup. Many times this crowd would be kids, dogs, and various other supplies or tools. Man, find a child restraint for the back of a truck. Anyway, times seemed simpler then in my mind’s eye. Obviously this is due to my being a child and not having any more worries than concern for Saturday morning cartoons and whether the president would make some speech and ruin the whole morning for me.
I can remember several occasions where my family loaded up in an old 50’s model pickup to go camping. The truck was named Old Blue. It was an old truck and it was blue. Creative name, huh? If you want primitive transportation, here you go. This truck had no power steering and large tires. Tony Little would have to break a sweat to turn this thing. You had to grind every gear to get up any speed. Did I mention that it had no brakes, that is a story for later. Once you did manage to shift you were rewarded with an exhilarating top speed of 35 miles an hour in 3rd gear. No four speed in this old truck. If you were lucky you could get it in the 40’s downhill. We had my brother, next door neighbor, 2 dogs, a tire (with a rope run through it and the dogs’ collars to keep them in), and myself in the back of the truck. Along with the living cargo was a large amount of camping and fishing gear. My mom never believed in going camping and wanting for something while there. She would make a boy scout blush with shame. To her credit we never did without on our trips.
Still, while blustered, cramped, and without modern day conveniences, all I remember of these journeys is pleasant memories. We would talk, or rather yell to be heard, make funny hand movements in the wind, and wipe the dog slobber off our faces when they wanted to be upwind of us while moving, Yech! Many times the journey to our destination was not highlighted by our trip along the highway. The best part was often the four wheelin’ through God-forsaken roads or trails and hoping we can still get as far as we did last year, lest we will have to carry our stuff even farther. The ride was bumpy. The times were lighter. The relationships were enjoyable. More importantly, the memories are never forgotten. With the introduction of the BSF, our trips became less and less. Now, there are few places that are passable or legal to travel to share this form of adventure with my children. I have an old beat up truck and it longs (or I imagine it does) for trips to create memories. I hope to be able to fulfill this for my family in some way, but it will never be like it was when you could ride down the road, bare backed, and simply enjoy the world through innocent eyes.
I owe a debt to these guys for reminding me of a valuable part of my past. I hope you had similar experiences.