I was sitting in the living room on the avocado green couch watching daytime TV when I heard the back door open.
I was the only one home, but I didn’t even turn around to see who it was. In the mid-1970s in Arkansas, you didn’t worry about who was coming in your house. People just let themselves in. Especially if it was a relative.
I heard my uncle’s voice.
“Hey,” he said. “I need you to drive a car home for me ...
Continue Reading →Lying on the deck behind the backseat and staring upward through the rear glass of a Buick gave a kid the perfect view of the sky and clouds. A cloud could look like a bear one moment, and a crocodile the next.
Family road trips of the 1960s and 70s obviously did not have safety at the forefront, but boy, were the car rides memorable.
No family I knew had enough money to ride in airplanes to their destination. So we, and ...
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It was the car I’d always wanted. A 1971 Oldsmobile Cutlass 442 Convertible.
I found it one morning while cruising (pun intended) on eBay. The guy who owned it and had it for sale lived just east of me, a few miles across the Louisiana line.
It was red, with large white stripes on the hood. From the photos, it looked to be in great condition for a 32-year-old car. I stared at it on the computer screen.
I wanted this car.
My love ...
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A few days ago, the oldest child in our family announced that he was looking for a truck. His current vehicle, which was born during the first George W. Bush administration, was ready for retirement.
Our family is one that drives vehicles until the proverbial wheels fall off.
He looked at a number of different trucks, and surprisingly, even though I thought he was a devout Ford man, he even considered a Dodge. Ultimately, he stuck with a Ford.
He sent us a ...
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How someone can lose a shoe and not notice is beyond me. But, it isn’t uncommon for me to see one shoe in the middle of the road.
The lone shoe is just part of a much bigger phenomenon that I call random road debris.
Random road debris is anything that you spot in, on the edge of, or near a road that doesn’t belong there.
Stripes in the middle of the road belong there. A striped tennis shoe in the middle of ...
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I’ve witnessed some pretty amazing technological advancements in my lifetime. But just when I think I’ve seen it all, I see something new that’s mind-boggling.
Recently, as my wife and I watched YouTube on our television, which in and of itself is pretty mind boggling, we came across a video about a proposed system whereby neighborhoods would be designed so that the streets would include wireless charging stations for electric cars.
When a car is finished charging, it ...
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We got into my friend’s car and Billy Joel came on the satellite radio.
I began to sing along. It was an album cut. Not one that had been played much on the radio almost 40 years ago.
I knew all of the words. My friend pointed that out.
For Christmas in 1977, I wanted Billy Joel’s new album, “The Stranger”. Specifically, I wanted it on 8-track. I’d been driving for about a year, and no self-respecting teen left home without his or ...
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We bought an electric car.
First, let me say that I do not consider myself a hippie, tree hugger, environmental whacko, or anything of the sort. But I do believe that being a good steward of my little piece of Mother Nature is the responsible thing to do.
And being a cheapskate helps. Buying less fuel is always nice.
In 2003, my wife and I bought our first hybrid car. Cars that were both gasoline and electric were not common then. I considered ...
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