Personal History #12

What form of transportation did you have while growing up?

In a nutshell, cars, bikes, and feet.

When I was very young, I can vaguely remember some kind of blue car that was parked in the driveway - not in the garage. I don't remember driving in it at all; I just remember it being there. 

The earliest family car that I can remember driving in was a brown station wagon. The back seat of that station wagon faced the rear of the car so we could see and wave at the people in the cars behind us. I remember some times when we wanted to leave to go on vacation early in the morning, my parents would put the seats down flat, and we would sleep in our sleeping bags in the car over night so we could get an early start and not have to wake up to go out to the car. (Those were the days before seat belts were required.)

Eventually our family reached a size where we needed a van, and I think we had a series of blue or grey vans (Ford 12 passenger type) that all kind of blur together in my mind. I don't think it was until my older sister turned 16 and got her license that the family got a second car. We lived in temperate southern California and usually my dad would ride his bicycle to work so my mom would have the car during the day.  The second car, was smaller, and I think we had a series of those too. One might have been a blue Nissan. I never paid much attention to the cars we had; I didn't care to get my license until I was 18 and preparing to leave home to go to college so I didn't drive them much.

I found this picture online - it looks just like the bike I had as a child!

For my birthday one year (maybe my tenth?) I got a bicycle of my own. It had purple flowers and had "Desert Rose" printed on it. I remember riding it to school on occasion: whizzing down a steep hill and trying to get enough speed to get up the steep slope on the other side. I usually had to get off and
walk it part of the way up the slope. Sometimes I would pretend that my bicycle was a horse.

About that time, my siblings and I had a game we would play in our driveway, where we would make traffic signs and post them in various spots around the driveway. Then we would ride our bikes or big wheels or tricycles around the driveway pretending they were cars, and obeying the traffic signs.

I lost my Desert Rose by the time I turned twelve. I think I left it in the school bike rack over night because it rained or something, and when I went back for it again it was gone. I didn't get another bike of my very own until just a few years ago.

Due to lack of license and/or bike, mostly I walked where I wanted to go. I walked to school and back through eighth grade. In high school, I got a ride to school because I went via seminary which was too far from home and school to walk. After school I usually walked home, although occasionally I got rides from my friend who had a car. (Thanks Tabitha!)

Once or twice my older sister and I took a public bus to the mall, but that was a very rare occurrence. Mostly we walked if our destination was close enough, or got rides in the car if it wasn't.