One more stop before we head of to the Flo-Rida portion of this story.
As I sit here typing this, I realize it's absolutely amazing what my parents taught me during my childhood. Just enough coddling to get me by, yet enough freedom to go learn on my own.
At this point, I began to actually notice those that made an influence on my life. Dad put a wrench in my hand at the age of 9, and taught me how to use it. I didn't realize it at the time, but Mike's Dad did the same thing. When we finally got together, oh my. And this is the next part of the Small Town story. This is literally when Huck Finn met Tom Sawyer.
I'm not sure how the actual introduction was made, We were young. Looking back on it now, I can tell you that whatever introduction was made at the time influenced both of our lives on a grand scale.
I came from a hard working middle class family, and was put next door to the same. This was the point in my life that I learned the value of hard work. That may sound like I had a horrific childhood, but no. We learned how to work.
Bill, Mike, Kerry, Dan, Dave, Tim, Crowe......
My Dad and Mike's Dad were literally at odds, they were both diesel mechanics. I was "Caterpillar", Mike was "Cummins." That was a different time back then. It was about John Deere Vs. International at the tractor pulls. It was Dodge vs. Chevy on the street.
All of this mechanical knowledge coming from our fathers, and a little bit of rivalry led to fantastic things! We built go-karts, we restored tractors. I was all about Gravely, but Mike was dead set on that David Bradley, and what a fine machine we made out of it.
Mike and I became fast friends. Our fathers did too, soon the Cat/Cummins feud was gone. It became a "standard" of school, farm work, and me and my buddy getting into trouble after homework.
We played War in the woods. We built scale models of roller coasters. We built our own gokarts. Sure, we had the occasional clutch come apart in our face, but that go kart went in the end. We built bicycles, we had a treehouse that we built to house bicycle parts. We bolted skis on the front tires, and studded the back tire. We had electronics in the treehouse to warn of "girls" approaching. We went to school together. And our parents actually taught us.
We repaired fences, we changed oil on tractors, we shoveled manure. Then we built our own dune buggies, snowmobiles, trucks, and dirt bikes. Mike's older brother was dating the hottest thing we have ever seen. We called her "Ginger-Babe" Well, at least I did!
We worked so hard on that farm year round. Selling Christmas trees in season really wasn't a "chore", but that's what we did to keep the farm alive. It wasn't a problem, it wasn't a nuisance, It was just us young adults learning to work on a farm, and provide for others.
I miss those days. I'm sure Mike and Rob do as well. Just past the German Immigrants, Mike's parents had a HUGE influence on our lives. Good wholesome hardworking people. My family lived next door, on a much much smaller farm. It was a treat to live and help on the big farm.
Little did we know, mostly because Mike's Dad never said anything, we were on the verge of a dead scarecrow. We listened to John Cougar Mellancamp's song, and although we never talked about it, I assumed that was a problem far far away from our muskrat traps over here in Small Town.
Scarecrow
We went to the largest county fair in the state. We helped on the farm, and other farms. We were "pickup truck and John Deere hat" before it was cool. We earned extra money by bailing hay on another farm. We drove trucks, and wore John Deere hats before it was cool. Actually, we got made fun of for it. But we were family. And that's all that mattered. Mike's parents were called "Mom" and "Pop" when I showed up, even though Pop wasn't around much, he was way too busy working a full time job and trying to run the farm.
John Cougar Mellencamp was way ahead of us. We heard his "new" song, and thought that's not about us. It can't be about us. We lived in Ohio, not Nebraska.
It was just a matter of time. Those baseball fields we built, fun in the snow, everything we knew. It was about to change.......
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