I always loved watching Fred stop the stone wheel car with his feet. During every episode I would anticipate the scene when Fred would throw his heels to the ground and literally stop the vehicle disobeying all laws of physics. Imagine no floorboards in your car and traveling at 30 mph or even 10 mph and jamming your heels to the ground stiff leggin it. Oh that would be messy.
In the early 80's my father owned, maybe borrowed, a white rusted dodge station wagon. For some time I got to ride shotgun without a seat belt! I could feel the heft of the vehicle sailing down the road. I remember thinking how solid the car was how unstoppable it was.
Well, I don't remember the exact circumstances but I do remember having to get the car from point A to point B without brakes. Yabba dabba doo! In we go and stay up the flagship rolling down the street. my dad explained that we still had the emergency brake so we would be fine. I was approximately 9 or 10 and really had no concept of what he meant. Simply push the brake down with your foot and pull the release lever when you want to move.
Not until later in my life did I realize the skill involved in stopping a 4000 lb vehicle with rear brake drums.
Anyway, probably the most boring post I've written but hope you enjoy! Leave a comment below if you are so inclined.
Tad, what I find truly wonderful and beautiful about that story is your father's willingness to take that risk with you, to want to share that experience with his son, without a seat belt, without brakes, and with total confidence in his ability to bring you both safely through that task/adventure, without a cell phone. We (in the very general cultural sense) are so often afraid of the what-ifs these days, and for sure, things can happen, but some of the best memories I have involve somewhat risky situations that turned out just fine. Builds character, IMHO. Thanks for sharing, my friend! ~Cail
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome and thank you for the insightful comments!
DeleteTad, just to let you know, we do that here pretty regularly. Just last year I set out to take an older guy back to town because he was ill (better to be close to a hospital or doctors if life turns abruptly south). We set out for the 25 mile trek to town and I realized we didn't have any brakes about 1 mile into the trip. None of us wear seat belts here, the roads are too bouncy and the seat belts keep cinching tighter all the time. So we drive into town, drop him off, absolutely no brakes (emergency brakes here never work properly). As we leave town I turn to Marge and say,"good, all up hill from here, we won't need brakes for the next 25 miles". I had to then explain we had no brakes at all since we started!
ReplyDeleteSo, life for some is still the same. You need to work your machine to its limits when you have to. Know what you can do with the machine. It is just a machine, learn it, use it, stay safe!