Tuesday, February 15, 2011

February 15, 1963 The Frances Hubbard Diaries

February 15, 1963
Fri high, 8 above.  Blustery day with intervals of sunshine,  cold and very windy. Clifton and David started the bookcase in afternoon they had trouble starting Davids car in the a.m. David went out at night and stayed at LaVernes because of drifting snow. LaVerne was sick with bad cold. Clifton and Wayne finished book case at night.
Comment:  The hills up out of Flat Creek and up around Earl's pond were always a problem in bad weather.  They are quite steep and have several blind, sharp corners.  Many's the time I've had to back down the hill almost to the Five Points intersection to get a running start at the hills.  The toughest one was the one just beyond the Clarence Ellis or Huber's place and just before Earl;s pond.  The fifty-one Ford we used to have had a straight transmission and the problem was you could not get it going fast enough in second gear to make the hills.  And in third gear, you had to go up so fast that is was a major driving challenge to keep it on the road around the curves.  And if you let off the gas for a second to keep it on the road, it did not have enough power in high to continue so, you had to shift to second and the tires would start spinning from the lost momentum.  Then you had to back down the hill and try it again and even backing down in the windy dark was quite a risky proposition.  We usually made it, but the "bail-out" was going down to LaVerne's to stay the night.  All the kids drove like demons and passengers not used to the narrow roads would be terrified at our driving...and most of the us kids had wrecked a car at one time or another.  Here is the fifty-one Ford  I used to drive.  I think it is Doug and Wayne in the background and we were working on the garage.

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You're always young in your mind it is said, No matter the face in the mirror, That you see with surprise then say to yourself, "What is that old man doing here?"