Trips I remember as a child

When I was a boy, the most notable trips were the frequent trips my family took from Sellersburg to Hyden and Neon Kentucky. In the sixties, my dad had 'family cars', either a larger sedan or later, a station wagon with a seat in the very back. (my brother and I rode there.) In the sedans, all four children rode in the bench back seat. The trip to Hyden was memorable. It was before the interstate was built when I was a boy. We traveled down State Highway 60 ...through Frankfort where my mother would always point out the grave/memorial of Daniel Boone. It also always involved a stop at Rebecca Ruth's candy shop where she would buy chocolates to bring to her family. As we got further down into the mountains we would turn out at London Ky. We would take State road 80 to Manchester and then 421 to Hyden. Those mountain roads were windy and scenic. Around 1970 the interstates had been put in and the trip became just a 4 hour drive. Not as memorable. Once, my dad took our dog, Bowser, with us. Bowser rode in the trunk. He didn't mind a bit but when I tell the story people seem shocke VIRGINA My family traveled to Virginia once, to see my Mother's Aunt Ida. Ida was famous for all the men she had married. I guess she outlived a few. As a result she was "well to do". She lived in a huge house with three stories. I remember the staircase was a play area for us. Outside she had a farm with a mule on it. I met her current husband. A rather silent, gray, older fellow. We also traveled to Abingdon Virginia. It was historically significant (don't recall why) and my dad and mom took me to see a real play on a real stage. It was Tennessee Williams' "Summer and Smoke". I was entranced and that was my start of loving theater. It was at the "Barter Theater". So named because they would barter tickets for farm products. That was back in the depression when actors had it tough. *************** At some point my family was doing well enough to take vacations. Trips for sheer pleasure. Once we went to Florida but mostly what I recall about that was being in St. Augustine and visiting the old fort there. Which, as a kid, was very impressive. Usually our vacations were to Myrtle Beach in S.C. We would stay in a beachside family motel. Everyone in ONE room with two double beds and a rollaway. The motels were fun because they had a swimming pool and an elevator! The elevator was an adventure. I recall that we once stayed at a motel that was across the street from and old style boarding house. It was actually a hippy hotel. There were lots of twentys there with vw's and vw buses. Long haired hippy guys and gals. Fun to watch and somewhat exotic for a Sellersburg boy. The first time we traveled to Myrtle, we arrived in the night. Before we went to our motel, my parents drove down to the beach. My mother had us take our shoes and socks off...and she led us down to the breaking waves...we waded in the surf..'to feel the Ocean' for the first time in our young lives. ****************************** I remember when our family went to the North East coast. We went via Washington D.C. The funny thing was we had made reservations at a modest 'family style' motel ...like Holiday Inn. However, when we arrived there'd been a mix up and there were no rooms available. To accomodate us, the motel put us in a fancy pants five star HOTEL with a doorman and a big ritzy lobby. The funny thing was that because we didn't or couldn't afford luggage...a lot of our clothes were simply backed in brown paper grocery bags. It was funny to see us carrying our stuffed grocery bags through the fancy lobby to get to the elevator to reach our room. This was during the LBJ presidency. A famous family story is how I got the phone book that was in the room and was quietly sitting at a table looking through it. My mother asked "what are you doing David?" and I replied, sincerely, "I'm looking for President Johnson's phone number". For some reason we had the treat of piling into a taxi cab and riding to one of historic sites. The driver was an older african American fellow. I got place in the 'shotgun' seat' while everyone else was in the back seat. During the ride I conversed with the driver. Later, my mother told me how proud she was that I was able to make nice conversation with this guy who was, probably, the first African American I had ever met in my life. ********************************************************************************* MAINE: It may have been that trip when we wound up driving up to Maine. Mother's best friend from college was Joyce Haggard. Joyce was married to Hugh "Bud" Haggard and he taught at a local college in or near Kennebunk Port Maine. We had a great time going down to the rocky beach and swimming in the ocean. I was the only one of us "southerners" who could bear the frigid waters very long. Kennebunk Port looked like a magical place to my young eyes. We had a babysitter. She had red hair and she marvelled at our barely intelligible accents (to her ears) and we marvelled at her barely intelligible Maine accent. Joyce and Bud had two children, Merle and Stephanie. Merle was a couple years younger than me and Stephanie was a year younger than Paige and just older than Stacy. Throughout my childhood, the Haggard family were recurring guests in the "Mosley" world. Later we visited them in Holland Michigan. They would come and visit us at our old house that Dad built on Poplar Drive in Sellersburg. Our two families got together at least once a year. Joyce was interested in my interest in reading Sci-Fi. At that time I was reading some Heinlein and also the "John Carter of Mars" series by Burroughs. I remember Joyce suggesting I try "Dune". Later, I followed her advice and read Dune. But, I didn't much like it. Joyce and my mother liked talking about 'strange' topics. They discussed reincarnation which was a popular culture topic and the phenomena of "split personalities" since the book "Sybil" had been published. Joyce also had tried 'self hypnosis' and recommended to my Mother, but I don't think Sue ever tried that. LOL. A sad note about our long time family friends: While I was gone in Europe, perhaps early 1980 in January or so, a drunk driver collided head on with the Haggard's car as they were traveling through Ohio. The whole family was killed. Merle was 18 and Stephanie was only 12. It still hurts to think about them. I played football with Merle and his friends in Michigan on a visit there. When he visited us, we tramped the woods which was new for him. **************************************************** GREAT WEST When I was a teenager, The man and the woman decided it was time to take a big trip to the west. I had a license so I could help with the driving. We were in a Chrysler Station wagon. The luggage rack on top was put to use. Dad strapped everything down. By now we had actual luggage! The first leg of the trip was from Sellersburg to Chicago. We arrive during daylight and cruised down the Miracle Mile. The question was, "Where to stay". We were near the Hilton and we begged Dad to stay there! He agreed ! YAY! The thing I remember was noticing that on the street parallel with Michigan (Wabash) there were ...ahem..."gentlemens clubs". Because I was older (16 or 17) I got to go off and wander around Chicago. I screwed up my courage and went in one of these strip joints. This place specialized in "Belly Dancing". I sat down at the bar to watch what there was of the 'show'. It was pretty slow because this was probably around 5 pm. I got a coke. While I sat there...one of the belly dancers came and sat next to me. She asked me to buy her a drink. Well...the embarassing part was I had no idea of this 'gimmick'. Nor did I have any money really. So I politely declined. ** We headed west from Chicago. We took Interstate 90. When I look at it on the map, it comes back to me. We drove through the Wisconsin Dells. I remember that "WALL DRUGS" was heavily advertised all along 90. It was weird...how can a drug store be a tourist attraction? But, when we finally got to the exit in South Dakota for it...sure enough, we stopped and visited. What I remember it was jampacked with tourist trap stuff. Kind of like a Bucees on steroids. One memorable part of this drive west was how very very dull the landscape was. Hours and hours of cornfields and nothing to break the monotony. But then...somewhere in South Dakota, you pass a line and up before you looms the BADLANDS. It is still in my mind, this dramatic, otherwordly landscape appears. On this trip there were two things that happened, we went to Mt. Rushmore. I was driving the Chrysler. Dad was in the back seat and had been asleep. As we rolled up to the guardpost at the entrance of the park ...he was not awake yet and somewhere in a netherland, he rolled down the his window. (they were electric) and we all waited for what he would say to the Park Ranger.... "Are the heads lit"?? The effect was like he was our drunken old guy (he never drank). We all laughed...it was daytime. The Ranger was flummoxed. The second notable event was when we toured the Badlands National Park. We stood at the top of cliffs carved out for eons, and sister Stacy was eating an apple. Signs everywhere warned against littering in the park. But Stacy, wound up and tossed the apple core as hard as she could out into the void over the cliff! Steve and I did not let this pass ! (this is what is referred to as sibling love and care). ************************ I also remember that we went on to Yellowstone Park. My dad got a hotel in North Yellowstone. It was quite a contrast from the Hilton we stayed in in Chicago. We were shown the room. It was a large room with two beds. As they were showing us the room, I walked a few paces and squashed a roach that was scrambling across the floor. Still, we took the room. These are the trips I remember as a child/teenager. My next travels were on my own first to New York and then to Europe with my friend Keven Staton.