The Day I Had to Drive Home From Up Caney

I've been thinking a lot  lately about when I was a kid and went places with Ginger. 

She had Sue and Venessa who was 2 and 4 years younger than me, respectively, and I loved loved loved playing with them. 

Ginger, Sue and Venessa lived with us a few times, I don't know if it was days or weeks or months at a time, probably a little of all, but I loved it when they were there. 

Ginger was always going somewhere, to the movies, to visit somebody, stuff, and she asked me to go quite a bit. Looking back, I don't know if she really wanted me to go, if Sue and/or Venessa wanted her to take me along, or if she felt guilted into it, but those were some of the best times of my childhood.

I remember a time, I was probably around 12, we went up to Grandma Mary's old house. Dad had moved Grandma Mary  in with us a few years before, and Ginger was thinking about living there in her house. 

Grandma had an old wood cookstove in her house, and Ginger was determined to move it out. Of course, Sue and Venessa and I were determined to help her as much as we could, but none of us were up to the task.

Ginger threw her back out trying to move that heavy old cast iron stove, and was walking all bent over. 

We started back home and got maybe halfway back to 76 highway and Ginger pulled over.

She declared she hurt too bad and couldn't straighten up, so I would have to drive her Renault car home from where we were. 

Grandma lived about 4-5 miles up Caney. We were about halfway to Highway 76 so that was around 2 miles plus 6 more to Bradleyville.

I was excited and scared to death also. Ginger's little Renault had a 5 speed and I hadn't really driven much at all, and I didn't know if I could make it that far or not.

Ginger told me I had to, because she couldn't so goof that I was/am, I did it. 

I was really afraid I didn't know how to shift so Ginger told me when she said push in the clutch to push it in and she would shift for me. So that is what we did.

I did a pretty good job of driving if I do say so myself. We WERE in Ginger's little Renault, so that made it so much easier, like a tiny toy car...it looked something like this one....

I don't remember a lot of that trip home, I do remember coming up the hill past Maude Floyd's house and glancing out the passenger window as I was driving past.

It seemed that I could see clearly all the way down the bluff into Beaver Creek for the first time in my life, and it was big, and we were very high up on the bluff. No higher than it had ever been, but I was driving this time! 

We got home just fine. Everybody was glad we made it home. Nobody thought it was too unusual that I had driven home and all was well. 

Just one of many many times I was out with Ginger and the girls.