Roadside Fun

In the summer months, on weekends, we often went  for rides in the country.  Grandma, the one who lived with us, just loved to go for car rides.  She sat in front with her window down and her arm always rested on the rolled down section of the door.  She loved to have her hair blow in the breeze.  Her hair was white, soft and she was fair, light complected.  We never left home without food or drink.  Usually the gallon Coleman jug held iced tea, water, or kool-aid.  In the trunk we often packed the Coleman cooler with things like homemade potato salad, sandwiches, pop, coleslaw, chicken, bologna,cheese and crackers, pie, cookies and what ever mom wanted to pack.  Once in a while, we had a bag of Cheetos or chips in the car as we traveled to munch.  In those days it was easy to find roadside picnic tables, or roadside parks.  The parks had several picnic tables, usually small grills, a pump for fresh cold water, and his and her restrooms.  I guess you could call them restrooms.  They generally had a wooden structure that had a turn or two so anyone outside could not see you use the facilities.  Sometimes there was a roof and inside a cement floor and was usually a one seater.  That is the same as an outhouse.  These had a huge hole dug in the ground that smelled horrible and don't look inside, yuk!!  Some had a wooden bench built over the hole with a hole or two cut into the top to sit on and go.  Some had a toilet that sat on top of the hole for convenience because it did not flush, it was just the seat section, not the tank part.  Either way it was gross but necessary.  Mom would get so upset with me, I took so long before setting down.  Well, I wanted to look things over real good for bugs, bees, spiders and things like that.  Even inside the hole!  I wanted no surprises!  If it did not look safe, I would pee on the cement in front of mom while she watched for bugs.  You had to bring your own toilet paper and paper towels to dry your hands after washing them at the pump in cold water.  Sometimes I refused to go at all, because it was to unclean or buggy.  Some had enough mosquitoes to carry little kids away, I swear.  Once, we got KFC took it to a roadside table, sat down to eat, and at first there was a wasp or two.  Suddenly we were swarmed with bees, I was the first one in the car.  That day the bee's had the picnic, we could not salvage anything that was opened.  It was funny to see the adults hurrying to the car swatting at the bees, until they had to get in the car.  Man I prayed no bees would get inside with us and thank the Lord they did not.  So we stopped at a store for bologna, crackers and cheese.  Going home mom and dad would stop at roadside stands that sold fruit and veggies in season for canning.  We all enjoyed these little get aways, we never stayed overnight, unless we were on vacation, but it was always fun.  It was a family activity and of course the price of gas was 20 cents to 25 cents a gallon.  Which back then was high compared to dad's wages.  Thanks mom and dad and grandma for giving us such good warm memories.  Maybe I could be a tour guide when I grow up?? Certainly not a bee keeper!!!