Memories of childhood

[flamehothead]

There was a store near my Granmas house in Clay City, Kentucky called the Old Fernace. Like falcons Grandfathers store it had Wood Floors, Horizonta Coolers full of Pop, But they had one particular kind of Pop, It was called ALE8 and it can be found in just about ANY store now but back then you wouldn't find it anywhere except in Kentucky. They had old Bus seats for everyone to sit on and they had a few Pool Tables in the back. The funny thing was, They had anything & everything in that store but not alot of it LOL. I sure do miss my Dad, And the Old Furnace. I bet there is one in Heaven.

[sugar]

I remember a time before our house burned down and my dad discovered that there were other women in the world besides my mom, when we used to sled ride down the hill in front of our house - it led into the woods.  My mom and dad would pile on a sled and go screaming into the night, down the hill and into the woods, then come laughing back up the hill and take either me or my brother down.  We would have a big bonfire and all the neighbors would come.  Mom would make hot chocolate and we sometimes would roast weiners and marshmallows and just have a rip-roaring good time.  Man those were the days!

[Roswell]

We had a little store like that too, it couldn't have been over 14x20 ft. I remember the smell of the wood floors and the old red cooler with cold water in it filled with Coke and Dr. Pepper and Nehi. It had a tall glass case that sloped backwards and it was filled with penny candy in jars. Remember the old gas pumps with the big white glass balls on the top?
 I remember my Mom and I were sitting in the car while my Dad went in for cigs. It was cold and  Mom didn't have any idea how to drive. She started the car (stick shift) and it was in gear, it jumped backwards and knocked the gas pump over. Everyone came running out of the little store yelling for us to get out of the car. Luckily, it didn't catch fire.
 

[racin_girl72]

My Dad still wants to smack me for this one...

I was about 8 or so and had just got a Simon for my birthday (the game with the 4 colored lights and you had to follow the pattern).

Anyway, we are driving back from Kansas and it's dark outside.  Then all of a sudden my Dad pulls over on the side of the road.  My Mom asks him what's wrong, he said I don't know but some cop is pulling me over.

Uh... no cop!  It was the lights from my Simon flashing in the rearview mirror.  I'm lucky he didn't take the thing away and toss it on the highway!  LOL

My Mom still gets a kick out of teasing him about how I pulled him over with my game. 

[LeeAnne331]

Visiting my grandparents with my grandmother's homemade pierogies...her sewing us all sorts of stuff while talking on the CB to boaters with the name "Captain Moonie" and then going out to my grandfather and him having us straighten nails and pumping water from the lagoon into a bucket...into another bucket...into another bucket..and then into back into the lagoon!  oh to be a kid again and not mind the busy work!!  lol

[PlanoHarvickFan]

My Dad still wants to smack me for this one...

I was about 8 or so and had just got a Simon for my birthday (the game with the 4 colored lights and you had to follow the pattern).

Anyway, we are driving back from Kansas and it's dark outside.  Then all of a sudden my Dad pulls over on the side of the road.  My Mom asks him what's wrong, he said I don't know but some cop is pulling me over.

Uh... no cop!  It was the lights from my Simon flashing in the rearview mirror.  I'm lucky he didn't take the thing away and toss it on the highway!  LOL

My Mom still gets a kick out of teasing him about how I pulled him over with my game. 

ROTFLMAO @ racin_girl....that's too funny....but boy, you sure are young  (BTW, loved your postcard)

[Roswell]

I remember sneaking out  the window and down the tv antenna pole on Friday nights to watch the boys drag race on route 74 

[racin_girl72]

ROTFLMAO @ racin_girl....that's too funny....but boy, you sure are young  (BTW, loved your postcard)

I'm not all that young anymore!  LOL

Glad to hear she got the cards.

[skool]

I remember my first bike.
Parents didn't have enough money for a new one, so my dad found a  old, used 'girls' bike from somewhere and he and my aunt's then boyfriend, welded a bar across the top to make it a 'boys' bike. Fixed it all up and painted it blue.
I was 5.  It was the greatest.

[sugar]

I remember my first bike - I got this cute little read bicycle for Christmas 1963 - I was 7 and I was so excited!  It had snowed the night before - about 12 inches, but I had to ride that bike, so I decided to go down the hill to my neighbor's and show them.  Well, not only had it snowed, but there was ice under the snow.  I started down the hill and started sliding and ended up in this huge rosebush and got all tangled up in it, cut up on my face and hands.  Got myself out of it and slid down the hill to show George - my neighbor, school bus driver and jump rope coach.  He and his wife just laughed at me, but I was so proud of  that bike!

[IndyCarzGo]

A 1968 Dodge Charger Big block 440....  My first set of silver flake Ludwig drums with Zildjian cymbals and tons of chrome... But the funniest was surfing in a wet suit on the new board i got for Christmas/Hanukah....ON CHRISTMAS DAY!!!

[BrokenBow]

When I was about 7 years old we lived in the boonies in Arkansas. My grand mother brought down a small electrical gas generator, we did not have electricity, for Christmas along with 2 strings of Christmas lights. We put the lights on a small tree outside in the front yard and lit them up. Living atop a hill the lights could be seen for miles. We had more company that Christmas because no one could figure out what all of the light was.

[sugar]

I love reading these stories.  People have such great memories of family and experiences.  It's fun!

[Blu]

My Grendpa was a farmer and I grew up on the farm he owned .He raised corn, beans and wheat, hogs and Angus beef cattle on 200 acres here in NE IN near the OH line where I still live.

There was nothing he couldnt fix or do and I hung around with him all the time. I drove tractors, baled hay, feed livestock , and learned to drive a truck with his and my Dads guidance in the fields first of all.And later even got to haul corn to the feed mill to get feed ground and hual grain.

When I was 7 he was getting on a combine and slipped on the ice and took 3 fingers off his right hand when his hand got caught in the belts leaving only his thumb and index finger on that hand. (even though I had my kids believing that he was a Ninja fighter and got them cut off by a sword in a fight but he didnt like to talk about those days  ) It never slowed him down a bit.

He had a 1963 Chev. C60 with a 5spd 2speed rear end and an 18' grain bed on it and MAN I thought that truck was big and Id proudly go with him whenever he'd let me to pick up eqipment, or haul grain as I'd always con him out of a Choc-ola (anyone ever heard of that?)to drink at   the Adams County Co-op.  MAN! Was that good stuff!

BUT the biggest thril was this!! For many years before and after this they had a coal burning furnace, as did many others around here.

Every fall he and Grandma would head out to west Virginia and pick up a load of coal with that truck. Being a farm boy I never got to go too far and WVa might as well have been China to me and I bugged him from the time I was 6(1966) to go with them. But..it was always.."your not old enough yet, maybe next year" and id be down allthe while they were going thinking of all the sights they were seeing and the fun they were having.

Id ask every year and it was always the same...id never get to go! Then in 1969 I asked as always and..."no, maybe next year". But, then the phone rang at home about 8 that night and my Mom told me Grandpa said I could go and to go to bed so we could leave about 2 am.

Yeah right..sleep? Are you kidding!! I was getting to go see the world!!!

Ill never forget that first time going with them....My Grandpa could do anything and I was going along to see the world on a real important job too! I was sure proud sitting between him and Grandma as I covered up with the blankets Grandma brought, along witha Thermos of Kool aid, cookies and coffee for her and Grandpa. I was warm and safe as we rolled thru the night. I finally fell asleep leaning against Grandma even though I tried hard not to and when I woke up we were just crossing the West Virgina state line. WOW ..I was a Looong WAY FROM HOME!!

Grandpa stopped at a little truck stop and we had breakfast. Boy was I proud when he told the waitress I was his co driver!!

We got to the coal mine not long after that and got loaded up BOY did it seem like it was heavy when they loaded it as the truck was really rocking!!

Then we had that long drive home. I was sure proud when we pulled into Grandpa's and Mom and Dad were waiting for us.I couldnt have smiled any bigger when I stepped down out of the cab of that truck!

I went for several years after that but none was quite as fun as that first time when it was me and Grandma, and MY GRANDPA!!!

Can you ever feel again, as safe and warm as when you were 9 and riding down the highway at night with your hero?

[Blu]

Heres a neat lil true story that happened to me that some of you may enjoy.


In 1978-79, I was living in Cheyennne Wyo for a little while, and on my way to Laramie Wyo via I80 on a cold Feb day.
I was driving my trusty and fast 1972 Chevy Nova SS (327 ,4bbl,Hooker Headers, Hurst 4 speed) and was about halfway between Cheyenne and Laramie and had the CB on and I kept hearing this guy asking for help and ride to Cheyenne as his Motorhome had broken down.
 
No one would answer the poor guy and as I passed him going westbound I saw that he was indeed broken down on the eastbound side and felt a tad sorry for him as he was about 30 miles from the nearest help of any kind.
 
So I turned around in the median and went back and stopped behind him and he came walking back. He asked if I could possibly give him a ride back to Cheyenne to call for a wrecker, that hed been there almost an hour and although he was asking on the CB no one would stop and he knew it wasa long ways back to any town. (this was VERY pre cell phone days remember)
 
I said sure, I sure as heck wasnt gonna leave him there!!

So, he hopped in and started talking, said that he and his wife were just traveling around the country and the MH tranny had started acting funny and then just quit and wouldnt pull it anymore out in the middle of no where. Thanked me heartily for coming back and stopping to help, asked me about myself, where I lived, what I was doing and so forth.
 
I noticed he was listening to the car and kinda looking it over and then he finally said, "Nice car, it sounds real good!" and he just kept on asking about the car, how fast it was? did I race it any?, who had i beaten?, what kinda cars Id had? And then he spied a Hurst decal I had on the dash,...said he liked that!  O....K....
 
And, finally srated asking a few questions about the Hurst Competition Plus shifter (which I though was kinda weird) like, how did I like "that Hurst Shifter?", how was it working?, did I ever have any trouble with it?,How much did I pay for it??How long had I had it???,etc.
 
Told him it was a good shifter,  actually...the best Id ever had, and that Id had to replace the linkage bushings on it once, but that was it.
Told him,It was a smooth shifter and I really liked the close quick throws in it. (actually I kinda thought...this guy sure has a fixation on shifters!!LOL)
 
I asked him what he did, and he said he used to drag race a little (ok that kinda explains how he knew about cars and such), but was in manufacturing,had started his own company with another fellow, but had recently sold the company and was retired now, and he and his wife were just sightseeing now for a bit.
 
We just had a real pleasant conversation for the half hour or so drive back.Real nice, down to earth guy that didnt seem to talk down to an 18 yr old, long haired kid....and I liked that.
 
Anyways, he asked me drop him off at a pay phone and some place good to get a bite to eat (and something to take back to his wife) while he waited for the tow truck so I dropped him off at the Hitching Post Restaurant and told him they had good food and a phone, told him to go make his call and Id wait till he came back out and make sure he was all set before I took off.
 
He wasnt long and came out and said they were on their way, asked me my name,I told him and he told me his  as he shook my hand and handed me $50. (THAT was a LOT!!)

I tried to tell him I didnt want the $$ , was just helping out,but he insisted, was VERY thankful I stopped, he had enjoyed the ride and the talk,etc...and quite frankly I was kinda sitting there with my mouth hangin open after he told me his name...
 
 
Ohh...his  name???
 
 
 
 




 
Well this is what he said as he told me his name and shook my hand,
"George Hurst, inventer, designer and founder of Hurst Shifters. Thank You! I REALLY appreciate it!!" Winked  and walked away as I sat there  with my mouth hanging open.
 
Heres a few links about George Hurst and some of his projects during his racing heyday.And Im sure many of us here that are older will remember  "Miss Hurst" Linda Vaughn, and who can forget the famous "Hurst Olds" the factory produced 442's!
 
http://www.pwa-par.org/newsletter/Hurst%20heritage.htm
 
http://www.oldsmobility.com/hursthairy.htm
 
http://www.classicperformance.com/68hurstolds/history.shtml