For a while, they were everywhere in our community-
Hal S. had one.
Joe R. had one.
John T's oldest brother David had one, then passed it on to John's other brother Richard.
Bonnie R's brother David had one.
Bill F. had one. (It's how I met him.)
Gary P. had one but his was different... his was Robin's Egg Blue.
One summer day we heard a clatter and a loud scraping noise on Morgantown Road in front of our house and when we ran out to investigate we found Gary had clipped a mailbox, fallen, and had broken his collarbone.
Artwork... they still have a sort of "timeless beauty" to my eye though the basic design dates back to just-post WWII. I wanted one so bad I could taste it. I'd still like to own one if the price was right.
What freedom they provided to the kids that owned them then!
The only thing that approached the coolness of the Vespa was the Cushman Eagle. (Hawkeye had one very similar to the one pictured at that link, only his was gleaming black and had more chrome, and with a kind of Harley Davidson attitude, appealed to a different crowd than the Vespa.
Me? All I could afford was an old Cushman putt-putt and I often planned what I'd have to do to steal Hawk's Eagle.)
It's another of those hard-to-imagine memories...
Most of us were 12 or 13 years old, riding around on public streets on our scooters, knowing the chance we'd see a Deputy Sheriff on patrol was virtually nil. (And even if we did encounter a law enforcement officer, most of them turned a blind eye, not wanting to go to the trouble of citing us. I never heard of anyone ever getting a ticket for riding without a license.)
Those were Norman Rockwell days.
I'm glad we lived 'em.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chatting via email with Mr. L. I made the comment, "Since Echo and Shifty no longer are in Edinburgh, Vandy's Kids have nothing on the horizon to look forward to."
We need to fix that.
Got any ideas?
24 comments:
I thought there was some discussion about doing a "Valley Walk" this fall. Mid-October would be a great time.
Thanks for the reminder, Rita.
The weekend of the 9th and the weekend of the 23rd are best for me.
Discussion, PLEASE!
(And Rita, I had to re-size the photo of the Vespa on this post to make it work.)
The 9th would be best for me. My granddaugter's birthday is the 26th and I may try going out to Virginia the 23rd for her birthday.
How's everyone doing? Is everyone keeping warm?
Ferdy
Not sure what happened to the comment I thought I left, so forgive me if this is a repeat.
Oct 9th works for me, posted the date on the family web to see if the rest of our clan can work that date.
Me too. My knees should be in good working order by then--if not, someone can push my wheelchair around...or maybe I'll call the Scooter Store.
My brother Mike sez..."There is an older man that lives across the street just east from where the Branams lived. He was really interested about the Valley. He has a landscaping business there. We need to stop and talk to him. He was really interested in things I told him about the Valley. He would be interested in anything he can find out."
Jack Williams up on the hill had a vespa, seat a little different, but he was like so cool. They came in like VW colors, mint green, lt. blue.
Max H.(end of Max Ave) had a scooter; but I was thinking that there was an "Allstate" scooter that was the same as vespa but had a sears name on it? Yes GH most of them were that mist green color but Jerry B's was the blue I think. They lived up the road a house or two from us on the east side of Morgantown.I recently saw two vespa scooters on display at Sams Greenwood and it seems like the top end with the chrome and nicer seats had a price tag of around $6500-$7000. Quite a change from the scooter packages advertised in popular mechanics a "few years back". I really preferred the sears catalogue with all of the horse equipment in it. Always was amazed that you could buy a pony through the sears catalogue complete with cart and harness / saddle and bridle. Seems like the Frontier Trading Post down on old 37 was a supplier for Sears (carts etc.) years ago.
Saturday Oct. 9th I won't be available until late afternoon 4-5-6 but let me know what the schedule is and I will be there if possible.
dj
FYI, The EUB church in the valley is having a community festival this Sunday evening 29th from
5 to 7 P.M. They will have game booths and Hot Dogs / other food available. Open to all if you want to attend.
I just returned from the Vet; lost my "Buddy Boy" this morning. Really hurts to loose him but what can you do. He had a tumor that went undetected and them went out of control so there wasn't any other decision to be made. I will miss my old Buddy (he was a stray I picked up on the way home from the Horse Barn about 10 1/2 years ago). He was running out in a bean field coming toward me along side the road and all you could see were his eyes glowing bouncing up and down as he ran. It was pitch dark, no moon, and raining, I stopped the car knowing he would run away and that would be the end of it. . . at least I tried to help. But, he came over to the car and laid down in the road next to me. The rest is history and full of memories; he was funny and loving and he was a little onry sometimes; a one person loyal friend. If you have a dog or cat be sure to love them to pieces and spoil them rotten, so when you loose them ( I Will see him again) you know that you gave them the best you could. God Bless you Buddy Boy, I will miss you terribly . . . . . . . already more than I imagined.
dj
dj, my daughter and son-in-law are looking for a home for their female chocolate lab. She is eight years old and very well trained. They are looking for another home because Libby sheds some and their baby crawls now and gets hair on him. This doesn't bother my son-in-law; but, it drives my daughter crazy! Libby has been spayed and is current on her shots. She's very friendly and has never bitten any one. If you want her, or want to see her, let me know. Mr. and Mrs. Hawkeye have my phone number.
Ferdy
dj, I'm sorry I forgot to mention "Buddy Boy". I am sorry you had to have him put down. I know how hard it is to give up a loved pet.
Ferdy
Oh, it's so tough DJ to try to smooth the pain. I'm sure you've seen this, but if you haven't, I hope it brings you some comfort. If you have, watching it again will.
Click it and watch.
Be well my friend. I hope to see you soon.
Ferdy , thanks for your thoughts, will keep Libby in mind, but not ready to do anything right now.
GB, Thanks, I hadn't seen it but I do believe we will see our loved ones again including all of Gods creatures. Next time I see you, ask me about the double rainbow in Kansas.
dj
Oh...
And yes DJ, the Vespa was marketed by Sears as the "Allstate Cruisaire" I believe. When you went to the "Good, Better, Best" Motor Scooter page the Vespa/Cruisaire was listed as "best".
That page on our household's Sears catalogue was well worn.
DJ,
I am sorry for your loss. Our dogs are so important in our lives.They listen to everything we have to say and never complain. They give comfort without even knowing it. You were blessed to have such a friend.
DJ,
We are both so sorry for your loss.
Buddy Boy was looking for you and was lucky to have found you. You came into his life when he needed you most.
A man/boy's pet is truley a Buddy.
Sometimes, they listen when no one else will. Growing up, I had Susie (a beagle) and she was my Buddy, as well. And at times, I thought she was the only friend I had. Your heart will ache for Buddy Boy. You will need to fill the void. She/He will not be Buddy Boy, but you will love them, just the same. There is just nothing better than a beloved Pet, but, when you lose them, there is nothing worse.
When you arrive - look for him - he will be there waitng for you.
Love to all of our VandyKid's friends!
TwoDogs and Cinders
DJ
I am sorry about Buddy. I had a couple of Buddy’s I have had to have put down. I know it really hurts. Our pets are our family members.
Motor scooter, I had a Cushman Eagle. It would go 49 M.P.H. we tried everything to get 1 more mph out of it, never did. I did have a state trooper take me home one time. He told my mom that I should stay off the roads. That was right before I got my drivers license so I was not off the road long. I remember Jerry B. was on his Vespa at Steve W. house. The driveway was gravel (or gravels, right Ralph B.) and Jerry took off spinning in the gravel then hit the black top flipping the scooter and throwing him off. The scooter was still in gear and running when Jerry picked it up, it flipped him back over the other side. He was ok, just bruised ego and skinned forehead….. Helmet?… Heck no!
Mrs. Hawkeye and I came upon Joe R. and Elaine R. (‘65) at Paddock Road and Olive Branch Road, this area was still gravel at this time. Joe was trying to get his motorcycle out of the fence. Elaine said Joe was showing her how he could do donuts in the gravel.
GB
The kid you got your scooter from was Larry something, lived on Russell Lane. I remember one night we had the idea that if the standard plug had a .035 spark gap, then the bigger the gap the faster it would go. We opened the gap and started running up and down Morgantown Road, then came in make more adjustments and try again. We finally had the gap so wide we were kicking our guts out trying to get it started. This of course was all after 2:00 or 3:00 am. I think your dad finally shut us down. All the engineers at Cushman had spent thousands of dollars and months of work to figure out the .035 was the gap for maximum power. But we knew better, we 13-14 years old. We had to try.
Oct 9th is good date for us. I thought that it would be nice to have a pitch in at the community center before or after our walk. But I went down there to look for a phone number or maybe run into someone there for information. The outside of building is in bad shape, the inside? So we need to find something else.
DJ,
Just read that Buddy got so sick and that he passed away. Oh gosh, don't we love our pets? My heart and thoughts are with you.
Bo
Rhoda I think, Hawk.
I paid $50 cash for it, saved from my Indy "News" route.
Your Eagle would go 49mph. My centrifugal clutch "slushomatic" would do exactly 35 unless I was downwind in a force-5 hurricane.
(But I've written before, with a terrible rear brake and no front brake at all, that was probably for the best.)
Yeah, we were just sure the changes we were making were "cutting edge" weren't we?
But we DID learn from that tinkering! Ask any 13-15 yr old today how a reciprocating engine works, but have a camera ready for the puzzled expression!
Wonder about the old EUB church in the Valley? Anybody know of anyone there we could ask?
I have a friend (CG alum) whose mother is helping put on the festival on the 29th at EUB church. I will ask Jeannie if she can check with her mother about the 9th.
If that's OK with everyone?
dj
dj - That's fine with me.
Ferdy
DJ
Ask about the EUB if you would. Any thing I can do let me know.
Hawkeye,
I asked about EUB today and should have some word back by Sunday or Monday
dj
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