Things we accumulate...

Bridge on the Allegheny River - Clarion County, PA

With G gone for the next few weeks I have already fallen into a familiar evening routine acquired from her previous visits with her sister in Nevada.  A light meal paying bills a TV if anything seems interesting then study, or reading, followed by exercise and sleep.   It tends to develop introspection with often unexpected recollections.

Yesterday I wrote a Facebook post about a favorite old movie "Mystery Men" in it I mentioned the Mystery Men's sleek daily driver a well worn 1959 Rambler Rebel Station Wagon.  This humble vehicle reminded me of the long gone Studebaker's my Mother's family regularly drove.  I particularly remember several of them, Uncle Paul's 1953 Studebaker Starlight Coupe, Uncle Don's Model A touring car and Aunt Betty's 1950 Studebaker Champion Starlight Coupe.

Uncle Paul's cars were always perfectly maintained.  Neat, clean, not a scratch to be seen and in this piece of rolling perfection he would take us on a ride through the forests in the hills above the Allegheny River telling stories and scaring us with tales of the ferocious "Indians" hiding behind the trees.  It was all terribly frightening for youngsters and we would scream and laugh afterward.  And for Paul seeing the children have fun was far more important than his perfect automobile.

Uncle Don's Model A was a faded green with no top or windshield and torn upholstery.  The starter didn't work and he had to crank it to get the ruin running.  As with Paul the favorite activity was driving through the forest no, tearing through the forest, with the car full of siblings and cousins all jumping up and down in the back seat while Don drove like a mad man.  We would get back to the house in West Monterey exhausted and laughing.

Aunt Betty had the 1950 Studebaker.  It was a funky green coupe with a bullet nose and turret top.  Betty also drove like a nut through the countryside and her favorite habit was racing the trains from Parker to the family home in West Monterey.  The distance was around 5 miles at river level but 8 by road.  You could hear the whistles from the trains echoing up the Allegheny River in Parker when the trains were below West Monterey.   The back seat of her coupe was filled with happy screaming children as we knew what was coming on the final speedy plunge down Doc Walker Road into West Monterey.

The road wound through the forest bursting into the sun in the final quarter mile to the railroad crossing at Smith's General Store.  Imagine, if you will, the rush to the crossing only to see this...

speeding directly toward you a scant 100 yards away.  Was it imprudent?  Well, yes in our time but, in those carefree years we weren't in the shadows of later years.

The last memory of a speedy drive was a ride with my Mother in her Toyota Corolla - similar to the one in this picture.  Mother's cars were always a mess festooned with dents and filled with cigarette butts and trash.  She drove the 15 miles to the family home as the sun was setting.  Careening through the forest, cigarette in hand, she cackled while fumbling for the light switch, which she didn't find - it was terrifying.  But, this isn't my memory it is that of my children. 

My Mother met us in Emlenton when our family was returning home to Alton, IL from a visit in Connecticut.  Mother's home being on the way, G and I left the children with her for a short visit while we drove on home.  A few days later we drove back to Pennsylvania to bring our children home and that is when we heard the story of a mad drive in the dark.  This is the last memory of Mother, a few short years later she died.

It's funny how objects bring back such powerful memories.  For me a this picture of a quirky Gremlin is a reminder of the joy and completeness of family - We brought home our first two children in a car very much like this.

Tonight I will continue my studies and perhaps find a good movie to watch along the way.  In the weeks that G is away I will again find items that spark memories - the things we accumulate along the way which fade as our visit to this place comes to an end.