On our recent trip to the States for the holidays we took a road trip from California to Durango, Colorado. I did this many times during the summer with my father and my brother. My father was born and raised in Durango and loved to go back in the summers. We would drive through the hot desert sun in the blue VW bus.
My dad made some of his own alterations to that van to make it somewhat of a camper. He used bungee cords to strap a Coleman cooler, that sat upright and was designed like a refrigerator, to the back of the passengers seat. Then on top of that sat a heavy plastic gallon water tank that when laid flat worked as a sink. It was a pretty ingenious invention. The sink was molded into the side of the water tank. I hope you can imagine what I am describing. The faucet was a pump and it even had a little soap dish molded into it as well. It also had a drain with a plastic plug. My dad took a clear PVC pipe, hooked it up to the drain and threaded that through the back of the seat (but not through) and down through a hole that he made in the bottom of the van. When we pulled the plug, the water would drain out into the street below. He never allowed us to use it while he was driving, though. We were only allowed to use this when we were safely parked at a campground.
That was back in the day before it was law to wear seatbelts, so we never did. If one of us kids were sitting in the front seat and he had to slam on the breaks, out would shoot his arm to prevent us from lurching forward. Of course, if it were a real accident or emergency, his arm really wouldn't have done much. But out it went anyway.
I also remember curling up in the shade and falling asleep because the desert sun was so hot. It was the only relief I could get from the smoothering heat. The van had no air conditioning.
My dad was a huge napper. One day when we were in Durango and it was pouring down rain. My dad decided he needed a nap. So there we were parked on Main Street, Durango with my dad asleep in the back of the van and the rain pouring so hard against the van windows that we couldn't see out.
At this time I was a huge fan of the Brady Bunch and had taken my trusty tape recorder and taped one of my all-time favorite Brady Bunch episodes. The one when the Brady kids (Greg, Marcia, Peter, Jan, Bobby & Cindy) became a music group and sang in a contest to buy their parents a silver platter for their anniversary. Anyone remember that episode?
Anyway, I brought my tape recorder and that tape on this trip, so the way my brother and I passed the time while my dad was sleeping was to write down all of the words to those songs and memorize them. I can still sing almost every word to those songs to this day. SUNSHINE DAY.... everybody's laughing! SUNSHINE DAY... everybody's singing! SUNSHINE DAY.... everybody seems so happy & gay! It's a Sunshine Day!
How did you pass the time when you were a kid before the age of endless gadgets we are in today? Though, I guess that portable tape recorder was the very beginning of the gadgets we have at our disposal today, huh?
I wanted to link up to storytelling Sunday (the first Sunday of every month at Sian's blog), but I keep forgetting to have my post ready by then so I decided I would publish this to my blog any way and if I forget on the first Sunday of February, I can link this story up anyway since I love the idea so much!
It's a great story Margie. I did love the Brady Bunch and definitely associated myself with Marsha as the oldest girl in the family. But my favorite character was Cindy.
Posted by: Cheri | January 22, 2012 at 05:53
Myfav was Cindy too! But then I was the youngest (though I only had one older brother).
Posted by: Nihao, Cupcake! by Margie | January 22, 2012 at 07:11