LET'S GO FOR A RIDE

1950 Chevrolet

Until I was about 5 years old, our family didn't own a car. My father would take the bus or streetcar to work. My mother didn't know how to drive. We would walk to the grocery store or to the park or to school.
Our first car was a used car that my father bought from one of his friends. It was old--I think a 1939 Chevrolet--and quite small. When we first got it, it did n't have a back seat. My sister and I sat on little children's chairs that just were loose in the back. After a little while, Daddy had a small backseat installed and we sat there. My brother was a baby, so Mommy would hold him in her lap. That was before anyone had seatbelts or car seats or thought about safety!
About a year late, we got a 1950 Chevrolet. From the time we got the first car, going for a ride was one of our favorite family activities. In hot weather, we went to cool off, but at other times we just rode for the fun of it. We would drive out on the little roads that went into the country near St. Louis. There were still farms not too far from where we lived, so we could see corn growing or cows and horses in the fields. We would stop at roadside stands to buy tomatoes or corn or peaches and apples. Sometimes we would drive over a bridge across the Mississippi or the Missouri River.
We each had our place to sit in the car. Daddy always drove. Mommy sat next to him. My sister always sat on the right side in the back. I wanted to sit on the right side, because she did, but I always had to sit on the left side. And my brother always stood on the bump in the middle of the back. Eventually he wore all the carpeting off the driveshaft hump in the back seat, so you could see the metal driveshaft!
I still remember how happy I was and how ready to jump into the car the minute Daddy said, "Let's go for a ride!"