by NeverReady » Wed Jun 29, 2011 10:16 pm
In the late 50s, early 60s my dad had an International Harvester van with a short seat behind the driver's seat and a detachable full-size seat in the back. Seatbelts, of course, were unheard of. During the summer, the back seat would come out and every Sunday the folks would load the van with eight to eleven kids, the family dog, and a ton of food for a picnic somewhere in western Montana.
Once, the old man was tearing down some back country road with me and a couple of other sibs in the short seat, the rest of us jammed in the back with the food, and Heyboy, the dog, hanging out of the rear passenger door window. At the base of a steep climb, the van hits a pothole. Heyboy goes out the window and I fly off the seat, crack my head on the roof, and come down on my behind on the floor. I'm down there howling, the other kids are screeching, and the dog is chasing the van up the hill while dad is looking for a place to pull over.
Ah, golden days of my youth...