One day the guys and I were leaving a Rexall Pharmacy where we had just finished a graveyard soda from the fountain.
As we were walking I noticed a bunch of bikes in the front yard of this old house. It turned out to be a bicycle shop tucked away at the far end of the block so we went in to check out the new bikes. As it turned out, it was a Schwinn bike store. Have you ever heard the phrase… “love at first sight.” It was the first time that I had ever seen a ten speed bike and it was a Schwinn, the Cadillac of bikes at the time.
When I got home all I talked about to my parents was Schwinn this and Schwinn that and that it had ten speeds. I probably sounded like that kid in the movie Christmas story. The boy in the movie wanted a Red Ryder BB rifle. For me it was a Schwinn ten speed! Dad said maybe for Christmas, and that was that, end of conversation!
For the next few months I would walk up to the bike shop and checkout the new bikes, look at the accessories and take home the latest information about my ten speed bike, and of course I’d leave the information mixed in with the mail on the dinning room table. I did that for months.
Finally December and now Christmas; I can’t wait till it’s morning to ride my new Schwinn ten speed. Tossing and turning I just had to get up and take a peek so around 3:00 AM I slowly opened my bedroom door and tiptoed into the hall and shined my flashlight onto the tree to get a glimpse of my new bike. The lights on the tree made everything look so magical and beautiful, and under the tree…. PRESENTS… but where was my bike? I couldn’t see it! ….But then ….I saw something shinny and red from behind the tree, it was a bike! I tiptoed with a big smile back into bed to wait till morning.
Time to get up, rise and shine. No one had to tell me twice. I got up and ran into the kitchen for breakfast, no presents until after breakfast; that was the rule.
After breakfast we all went into the living room to celebrate Christmas. Dad always handed out the small presents first; I think to build up the excitement and anticipation. After Rick and I opened our small presents, Dad said we each had one left. I could see some of my present peeking from behind the tree. After Rick opened his last present it was then my turn!
After months and months of talking, hinting, and dreaming, it now was going to happen! I can still remember it just like yesterday. I was so excited! Dad got up and rolled from behind the tree
a freshly painted, shinny, candy apple red…OLD CLUNKER!
Yep, that’s right, an old clunker with white finders. No Schwinn, no ten speed, and no new bike!
To say the least I was devastated, but I managed to say thanks anyway. Kaye says she can read my face like a book; I hope that it wasn’t the case then, but it probably was. Rick came up to me later and said that he helped Dad paint the bike. I looked at the bike and said, “It is a cool color.”
Later Christmas day I took the CLUNKER out for a ride. I noticed It had new tires, seat, and the wheels had been polished up, probably with an SOS pad. It also had new handle grips. Just as I was thinking that the white finders had to go two of my friends showed up. They each had a new bike, one had a new Schwinn Sting Ray.
It was really cool with a banana seat with high handle bars; he showed me how he could do a wheelie. My other friend had a new Schwinn ten speed, it was a candy gold color with white handle raps and the wheels had the quick change levers. It looked fast! It was Just like the one I wanted!
Then they said lets ride!
As we were riding around I started noticing things about my OLD bike. I could do more things on my bike than that new ten speed could do! Like, I could jump curbs, go through mud puddles, I could climb a mud hill, I could go down a mud hill, I could slam on my breaks and slide maybe 20 or 30 feet, I could ride someone on my handle bars, I could peel out in gravel, I could pull 2 wagons tied together. Heck, I could even ride down the steps on our front porch on my NEW bike! Plus I could go just as fast as that old ten speed.
Thanks Dad and Rick!
Grandpa Tom
When I was in 7th grade most of my friends and I were playing tetherball and shooting marbles, but unlike the rest of the guys I had a car. Yes you read it right, my very own car. It was a 1935 Chevy four door standard;
it was built before I was even born.. I got the car because I asked the right question at the right time.
You see it all started when my brother Rick got a call from my cousin Steve in Longview WA. Steve said that he had too many cars and had to get rid of some, so he thought of Rick. Steve told my brother if he could pick it up it would be free. So by Saturday Dad, Mom, Rick and I all got in Dad's Rambler wagon and off to Longview we went. When we arrived at Cousin Steve’s home it was time for lunch. After lunch Mom and Dad started visiting with Mom’s sister Vivian and her husband Uncle Mark, so Rick, Steve and I went out to see Rick’s free car.
The car was a lowered blue and white 1956 two door Oldsmobile, it had a couple of dents here and there but other than that it ran good; inside the car there was a lot of chrome, plus it was the first car I had ever seen with electric windows, it looked really cool.
Soon it was time to go so Rick thanked Steve and then drove his free car away. As I was getting in Dad’s Rambler I yelled out to Steve, “Hey Steve, you got a car for me?” To my surprise he said, “Yes!” Then Steve told us this story, “When I went to college over in Pullman I drove an old car to school every day, then one day it wouldn’t start so my buddy and I pushed my car into his backyard; its been there ever since; it’s a 1935 Chevy; it might make a neat hot rod so if you want it, it‘s yours; I’ll even let you use my trailer to pick it up.”
After a couple of weeks Dad, Rick and me drove back up to Longview to pick up Steve’s trailer. Then off to Pullman we went. As we left Longview it started to rain; it rained and rained all the way there and all the way back.
When we got to Steve’s friend's house, Dad backed the trailer into the backyard so the car could be loaded. Seeing my first car in the shape that it was in was still very exiting, even though it had four flat tires and years of debris inside.
Dad opened the hood and said it didn’t look too bad; Dad removed the old battery and replaced it with a new heavy duty one; Rick and I started filling the tires up with air and going through the debris that had been accumulating over the years. Then dad got a gas can out of the Rambler and poured some gas down into the carburetor; Dad said, “Lets see if it will start.” To our surprise it started right up and stayed running. We were all quite excited but sopping wet from the rain. Rick said, “Now we can just drive the car onto the trailer, we don’t have to push it.” After my car was secured it was time to go home.
After driving for sometime Dad and Rick started talking about the temperature on the Rambler, this was the first time Dad had towed anything heavy, Dad seemed concerned about the hills ahead of us. As we started up the grade I could see from the back seat that the needle on the temperature gauge was moving higher and higher but by the time we reached the top the needle had leveled off and was well below hot. Dad was a happy man; the Rambler made it to the top without having to stop for a cool down. I think I heard Dad make a little giggle! It also made Dad a Rambler man for life. After the hills it was onto the freeway and then into Portland.
As we backed into the driveway at home the trailer made a spark in the night as the tongue gouged a mark into the sidewalk going up the driveway. Then silence, we just sat there a moment. For Dad and Rick the adventure was over but for me it was just the beginning.
Grandpa Tom
