Your parents didn't miss nearly as much as you thought they did...This would have been about 1973...OMG that was 50 years ago. WOW! Anyway, I would have been 15 years old and living in Red Oak Georgia with my Dad, my Step-Mom and my 5 Step-brothers. My Dad was working in Radio full time by then and many times him and his wife would travel on the weekends because my Dad was also a popular after dinner speaker and us 6 boys, 2 were 15, 1 was 14, 1 was 13, one was about 11 or maybe 12, and 1 about 9. In today's world parents would go to jail for leaving 6 small boys to fend for themselves over a long brutal weekend alone probably starving to death. In 1973 we said..."Have fun, see ya when you get back.
It probably would have started Friday night, I would have been depressed and lonely stuck in Red Oak with 5 other boys and I was going to do something about it. I worked at the National Triple Theater on Old National Highway at the time so I had some money but there was no where to spend it on Will Lee Rd and I was going to remedied that. I had a motorcycle but it was a dirt bike with no tag or headlight so that was out. So I picked the only other option I could come up with...I'll take one of my Dad's cars...That sounded like a swell idea but there was a small problem with...Being 15 I only had my learner's license. I was not worried about my driving ability because at 15 I already knew everything especially how to drive.
I decided that would be a good night to take the Dodge instead of the Orange & White VW Bus. My Dad must have been going through his mid-life crisis because in 1968 he bought a brand new Dodge Coronet 440 and it was a true hotrod.
Anyway I waited long enough so I could be sure the old folks were truly out of town and were not going to sneak back to try to catch us at something.
I knew where he kept the keys so that was not a problem. So at about 6:30 or so I hit the road for a wild Friday night on the town. It was not going to be too wild because I was a good boy and didn't smoke or drink or do drugs. I just liked to drive.
I was gonna head to where all the action was on Old National Highway. On my way there the temperature light came on and it was up to about 220° after about 5 miles so I pulled into a gas station and popped the hood to take a look. It looked like an easy fix, the upper radiator hose had a crack in it and it wouldn't hold water. I let it cool down and added water and drove straight to a parts store and bought a hose and replaced it in the parking lot, nothing to it.
Overall it was an uneventful weekend cruising all around Red Oak, East Point, and College Park.
Back home safe and sound in plenty of time before the folks got home Sunday.
The next day my Dad took the Dodge to work and that was unusual because he liked driving his Skylark.
When he got home he came straight to wherever I was and he said he wanted to thank me for fixing the busted hose on the Dodge. You see he had driven it the week before when the hose broke and he had an appointment to get it fixed Monday morning. I said alright which kid told you I drove it and he said nobody said a word, he just knew it was me.
It makes me wonder just what else they knew about...I don't really wanna know.
