Can you believe it is June already? We are half way through the year and it hardly seems possible!
How well I remember the excitement of June appearing on the calendar as a child! That usually meant we were out of school for the summer and that we would soon be taking a trip north to visit our relatives in Ohio and/or Pennsylvania. My sister Doris and I would pack our little suitcases with as little as possible since there wasn't much room to take very much stuff.
Thankfully we weren't traveling in a car like this one all the way from Florida to Ohio...but it would have been fun to take a ride in one...
If our whole family was traveling, there would be six of us crammed into a not very big car, like a Ford Falcon...much like this four door sedan below,
except ours was a very ugly shade of green, like this one:
And when I say there were six of us, that included my parents, my two big teen-aged brothers who were about 6 feet tall, my almost teen- aged big sister, and then there was me, a gangly 10 year old who was prone to car-sickness no matter where I sat in the car, especially going through the mountains, which we always did. And remember, back in the late 50's and early 60's there were no interstate highways yet through the Smoky mountains, so we had to go around every mountain curve, up and down every valley, look out over every precipice and "scenic overlook" on the very narrow, winding mountain roads, oftentimes following semi-trucks who were belching out their thick, putrid diesel fuel exhaust directly into our open car windows (because this was before air-conditioning), as they slowly climbed the hills and maneuvered the hairpin curves at a snail's pace. There were few, if any, passing lanes to get around the big trucks, and so we were stuck behind them all the way around the mountains, through the tunnels, over the bridges, and into the small towns...where we hoped there would be a gas station with a clean restroom and a place to get a soda or something to tide us over until supper. Or for me to try to overcome the constant nausea of motion sickness. Sometimes we had to stop at the first "scenic overlook" we could find so that I could...well, you know, if you've ever been car-sick in the mountains. Yes, the memories of those trips aren't always pleasant...but if I can stick to the overview of the whole trip, it really was much better than that!
Here's a few pictures from one of our trips north. This particular year I was 12 going on 13, and instead of our oldest brother going with us, my sister's best friend was going along for the trip. So it was my next to the oldest brother Clifford, who I think had just graduated high school, my Doris and her friend Mary Jane, who were most likely juniors going on to be seniors, and then me, who was probably in 7th or 8th grade., and then of course my parents. My oldest brother Russell had already graduated and left home by this time and was already in the Air Force, so that's why he wasn't with us.
We always stopped at this same place every year and had our pictures taken on tis old horse. I think this was in South Carolina. Note that my sister and her friend had their hair in curlers. This helped keep it in place in the windy back seat of the car since all the windows had to stay open. Oh, there's our Falcon in the background! You will notice that there is a box tied on top of the car. That is where we put all the camping equipment...our tent(s), air mattresses, Coleman Cook Stove, blankets, etc., because, yes, we camped all the way up and back. My Dad would take a different route almost every year through the mountains so we could stay at different state parks where there were campgrounds. That was the only way we could afford to take the whole family on a vacation.
Here we are at one of our campsites, having breakfast. How we managed to get all of that stuff in that little car and box on top I will never know...plus our suitcases in the trunk and all six of us people! My Dad was an excellent packer, but this really blows my mind to think of doing this every time we stopped for the night!
This picture above might have been at a roadside park, having lunch while traveling, because I don't see the tents. Yes, we stopped at roadside parks to eat lunch, because there were no "McDonalds" or other fast food places through the mountains. My mother was a whiz cook and planner as well. She knew just what to pack to prepare our meals as we traveled. Again, I am in awe of both of my parents and their skills in making our trips both fun and memorable, as well as thrifty!
By the way, I took these pictures with my own little camera back then, so that is why I'm not in these pictures.
This was the reason for our trip to Ohio...to visit our relatives. Above is:
my sister Doris, my cousin Cheryl, who is just a couple of months younger than I am so we always looked forward to being together every summer for a week; my mother and her sister Belle, my cousin Robbie, who, at that time was a little pest to us "big girls". Sadly he died in his late 30's from leukemia. Next is my Dad, and then there's my Grandpa Tedlie, holding his black cat "Monkey". My Grandma Tedlie was in the house. She was not well and was often bed-ridden when we came to visit, which made it hard for me to get to know her very well...and also we had to be quiet when we visited. Sadly, she passed away a couple of years after this visit, in 1965.
I usually stayed over at my cousin's house during our visits.
This picture was actually a year earlier. Here is my cousin Cheryl with her little puppy, and me.
I was only 2 months older than Cheryl, but you can see she was a petite little thing, and I was, well, I was me...LOL. I think we were dressed up because our mothers were going to take us downtown Columbus, Ohio, to go shopping. The highlight of this shopping trip was to go to the big Lazarus department store and ride up on the escalator to the top floor for lunch. They had a lovely restaurant up there, and they had live models walk around modeling pretty outfits while we dined. We also always had their luncheon special of Turkey Stuffing with Gravy. I don't think there was any turkey, just the stuffing with gravy as I recall. Not sure what else came with that, but it was a lunch special plate and I remember my Aunt Belle and my mother just oohed and aahed over it and the lovely outfits the models were wearing. It was a treat for us young girls as well. It was a big deal for us almost 12 year old girls.
Oh, speaking of black cats.. I think my Grandpa Tedlie's black cat "Monkey" must have a lot of descendants down this way. Lately we've been visited by the neighborhood black cat quite frequently on our porch:
It wants to come inside in the worst way, and when I go out on the porch she won't let me back in the door...She's not hungry. I know a neighbor lady is feeding her.
But, wait a minute! How did you get up on this table so quickly when you were just at the door???
Yikes! They are multiplying right before my eyes!
There's two of them!!!! They are identical twins! Gee wilikers!
Good grief!
I will end on these wonderful thoughts from God's Word, found on one of our other calendars for June:
Amen.
Have a happy Wednesday!!
