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The (occasional) Friday Nite Read

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by 40StudeDude, Nov 26, 2004.

  1. 40StudeDude
    Joined: Sep 19, 2002
    Posts: 9,536

    40StudeDude
    Member


    My new book: Bangin’ Gears & Bustin’ Heads” is available.

    208 pages of the 1960’s in Lincoln, Omaha, Fremont, Nebraska and Iowa…stories of drag races, fist fights, cruisin’, four-oh-nines, four-oh-sixes, Plymouths, Oldsmobiles and the way it really was…including vintage B & W photos.

    Visit my website: www.rajetter.com

    Now available: PayPal!!! For overseas & foreign, they will be an increase in postage…e-mail me for correct amount.

    This book would make a nice Christmas gift for that hard-to-buy-for person and I'll donate $1.00 from every sale to the HAMB.

    Bonus: When you order direct from the author (that’d be ME!!!), I’ll autograph it to you personally.

    Also available at major bookstores and Amazon. com

    (Approved by Ryan Cochran)



    LEDGES PARK


    About a hundred mile drive from our hometown doorstep was an Iowa State Park called Ledges…along the banks of the Des Moines River…we’d been going over there for a lot of years, maybe 8, for picnics and family reunions. The final time I was there was the summer after I’d gotten my ‘new’ car, a ’57 Chevy 150 two door that I’d traded in my old “Grandpa” ’50 Stude on. The ‘57 was a gorgeous car…albeit a Bell Telephone salesman’s car, yet in great shape. The car had been repainted Emerald Green by the dealer right before Dad & I purchased it, guess they figured no one wanted a faded “army green” sedan. I lowered it, slapped some Porta-walls on it, painted the rims Candy Green and popped on a set of baby moon hubcaps (couldn’t afford chromed wheels and “moons” were cheap…think about $8 a set of four)…I’d found a ’54 Corvette factory split manifold for the six, put it and duals with glaspaks on and added a set of Lakes dumps exiting the front wheel well…the engine was strong and sounded really good, a column-shifted three-speed backed that up…the rest of the car was stock…right down to the unbroken grille bar.

    Our relatives lived in Fort Dodge and Webster City…my Dad’s brothers…Ledges Park was the perfect gathering spot for our families…closer from each city for my uncles but a bit farther for us…Dad didn’t mind driving a bit longer distance to see his brothers, after all, driving for him was second nature, he drove a tractor/trailer for several years.

    The park was still a bit primitive back in 1961…it had become a state park in 1924 and improvements were slow…a narrow two lane ran down, around and thru it, there were picnic areas with tables set hard against sheer rock walls, open fire-pits, tons of shade trees and areas to park several cars. Of course, the park got its name from the sandstone rock formations the river had carved its bed from…ledges…and cliffs…and a deep canyon. The winding roads were fun…and there were many hiking trials leading into and out of the woods…somewhere in that thick forest, carved on a tree that’s now about 70 years old is my name and Gail’s…with a heart around it…ahhhh, youth and love!

    On any given weekend from spring to fall, there were a lot of people in the park…and the nearest huge town, Ames, about twenty miles away had a college…that meant college girls. The narrow road winding thru the park ran across several streams…that is, in the spring, or after a good rain, parts of the road was inundated with water…you had to drive thru them on your way in or out…and what a kick that was for youngsters to wade and play in. In the spring, college girls would stake out their places on the picnic tables, usually with large towels to cover food stains and bird droppings and lie there, in their swimsuits…sometimes, even two-piece swimsuits, trying to get a suntan…for those of us with hormones raging, Ledges Park on a Sunday afternoon was the perfect place to view those wonderful two-piece suits…ehrrrr…tans…

    And that’s what started the whole fracas…a female!!! When one has a ‘new’ car, you cannot simply sit at a picnic table listening to relatives ramble on all day long…the lure of driving that new car runs rampant…wouldn’t make any difference if you were 500 miles from civilization…you had to get behind the wheel and cruise…show off that car to whomever was looking…even if it were only squirrels, rabbits and birds. Late afternoon, cruise we did, we’d motored by several girls sun-bathing, eventually got enuff nerve to stop and talk to a couple lying on a picnic table, not far from a parking lot. Things were going well…we’d almost had one of them talked into “cruising” with us…maybe cruise into town for a Coke…the red-head had walked over and was standing by the ‘57’s passenger side window, Tiny’s side…she was cute…had a nice two-piece on…her girlfriend seemed disinterested…my luck.

    We’d been chatting with them for a while when this lowered fastback Chevy rolled into the lot. Five guys in the car…chugging by slowly giving us the old eagle eye…back out onto the road they went and away from us…we’re cool, they’re cool. It was a decent looking Chevy, sporting dual exhausts, whitewalls, fender skirts, dual antenna mounted on the rear fenders and angled back and primer spotted hood and trunk…we figured they were local yokels just wanting to hit on some college females as most college guys didn’t have lowered, skirted primer-spotted sleds. Ten minutes later the Chevy rolled back into the parking lot entrance…Joe Cool driving, arm hanging out the window, sunglasses on, slicked-back blak hair. He stopped on the other side of the lot, someone had blocked the bottom of the ‘U’ and he’d have to back up to get back out. “Hey, what the hell you guys doing?”

    “Enjoying the day,” Tiny grinned.

    “You ain’t from around here, are ya?”

    “Nope, but we are from around…and right now we’re around looking for some company. No law against that,” Tiny said. The red-head at his window smiled.

    “If you ain’t from around here then I suggest you leave, right now,” Joe Cool said.

    “And if we don’t?” Tiny asked.

    “Then I think we’ll have to change your minds.”

    “Hmmmm, OK tuff guy…we will, in a few minutes, after we’re done talking here.” Tiny never backed down from anyone…and took no lip from anyone…he was a good pal.

    “Why don’t you just take that new pos, go back to where you’re from and quit talking to our girlfriends?”

    “YOUR girlfriends?” The red-head at Tiny’s window shook her head no. He pointed at her, “She sez no.”

    “If I say they’re our girlfriends, then you’d better believe me…if not, we’ll probably pound your face ‘til it’s bloody, kick the crap outta your friend and make sure you get on the road outta here.”

    “Hey man, that’s no way to get girls and I don’t think you can do it. Besides, you have to catch me to beat me,” Tiny gave him a one-fingered salute…bold thing to do with five guys in a car… I saw the passenger side door of the Chevy open and three guys hurriedly get out…“Uh-oh, time to go,” I said.

    “Yeah,” Tiny said, “we’re outnumbered just a tad.” Retreat being the smarter part of valor, he turned to the red-head and asked if there was some place in town we could meet them later…she shook her head no and said she was busy later.

    Three guys were coming for us at a “I’m-really-a-tuff-guy” swagger…I fired up the six, dropped the clutch and left in a cloud of limestone dust.

    It didn’t take them long to get back in the fastback and give chase…guess they figured the girls lying on the picnic table were their future girlfriends…or maybe it was just their civic duty to protect all the college girls in Ledges Park from outsiders…maybe…who knew? I hurried the car…down thru the one of the streams running across the road we went…put up a bunch of water as we went thru…it flew everywhere.

    Bam, I got hit with an outrageous idea…and if we pulled it off, we’d better leave Ledges and NEVER come back. I remembered there was another road dip not far ahead…headed for that stream as fast as my old ’57 would go…my “chaser” was a ways back cuz he forded the stream on tiptoes so not to get his whitewalls wet… as I approached the stream, I slammed on the brakes and slid into the water…I was halfway into the stream when the fastback Chevy caught up…guess they figured I’d “flooded” the engine…got water in the points and killed the engine. Looks like they were determined to teach us a lesson…they pulled up, parked just at the edge of the stream and all five of them got out of the car…they even stopped to roll up their Levis pants legs and take off their shoes…I’m sure they figured they had plenty of time as my ’57 was “dead in the water.” They waded into the stream about five feet, I fired the engine, dropped the clutch and blasted muddy water all over them…got their car too…covered it with mud. It was so bad even the windshield was so mucky they would have to spend twenty minutes cleaning it off enuff to give chase…we didn’t wait to see if they were mad…I’d put any kind of money on it they were severely pissed, all of them!

    It took ten minutes to get out of Ledges Park and onto the county road…another ten to get to Hiway 30 and two minutes to get to 70 mph heading back west, for home. Good thing we told Mom & Dad earlier we’d probably head for home after we got done “cruising.” Never went back to Ledges after that…and never ventured into Ames either.

    Several years ago, while heading to a GoodGuy’s Indy event, my son, in his Nova, my brother in his ’47 Chevy and me in my radical ’57 Chevy stopped in at Ledges Park…wanted to show my son where I’d had some good times growing up. Drove down thru most of the park, ended up parking next to the spot the road had been blocked off cuz the river flooded out part of it…we forded a stream in bare feet and walked thru the rest of Ledges remembering family picnics and some of the best times my bro and I had as kids there. We hiked several trails thru the forest back to our cars, went back out the way we came in and continued to Indianapolis. Ledges Park hadn’t changed much in the thirty or so years since I’d last been there…but I’ve still never been into Ames, Iowa.

    Copyright 10-04 R.A.Jetter/Aden Rush
     
  2. Great read Roger! I really like how ya muddied the bastards haha. Your turn to email.

    Greg
     
  3. GRADY
    Joined: Jun 23, 2002
    Posts: 442

    GRADY
    Member

    once again...a beautiful story
    felt like I was riding shot gun [​IMG]
     
  4. chromedRAT
    Joined: Mar 5, 2002
    Posts: 1,737

    chromedRAT
    Member

    too sweet, man. too sweet.
     

  5. Thanks Roger, nice read!
     
  6. Hackerbilt
    Joined: Aug 13, 2001
    Posts: 6,254

    Hackerbilt
    Member

    Cool moves Roger!
    Gotta love creative ways of getting back at the bullies. LoL
    I remember getting chased by the big guy in grade 5 on a muddy fall day...I dropped to my knees at the very end of the pavement. He tripped over me and did a forward flip into the mud hole...just as the "return to class" bell rang!
    Hahahaha
    Cornered me again the next day during recess and I flat handed an icecream "Drumstick" up his nostrils! He was sneezing milk solids all afternoon!!! [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]

    After that I didn't have much trouble with him, or anyone else for that matter... [​IMG]
     
  7. 40StudeDude
    Joined: Sep 19, 2002
    Posts: 9,536

    40StudeDude
    Member

    Good one, Hacker...I've hated bullies since High School...there's no good reason anyone should be like that!!!


    BTT for the Saturday crew...

    R-
     
  8. moparrodder
    Joined: Sep 23, 2003
    Posts: 55

    moparrodder
    Member

    Yet another great read Roger!! [​IMG] What a way to grow up eh? Gettin even with them bullies, that's just cool!! I can see the makins of book #2 commin! I got mine yesterday and I'm half way through it. Put it down for a second and it's gone.....now if I can just get it back from the boys I'll finish it tommorrow!! Chad says it's way cool!!! So from our house to yours, THANKS!!!! Bill
     
  9. weekender
    Joined: Apr 12, 2004
    Posts: 219

    weekender
    Member Emeritus

    Got the book today! Can't wait to set in for a good read.

    BTW, you and me, MO-KAN 2005, best 2 out of 3. You're on. You are safe. Couldn't fight my way out of a wet paper bag.

    Thanks again for all you do, and tell Dan HEY. Tommy Mc
     
  10. BELLM
    Joined: Nov 16, 2002
    Posts: 2,590

    BELLM
    Member

    Good story Roger!
     
  11. Flexicoker
    Joined: Apr 17, 2004
    Posts: 1,416

    Flexicoker
    Member

    I sense a recurring theme in your "reads" and in some of your posts...

    redheads [​IMG]

    I love 'em too.

    Great story as usual
     
  12. JohnnyB327
    Joined: Jul 9, 2004
    Posts: 908

    JohnnyB327
    Member

    [ QUOTE ]
    I sense a recurring theme in your "reads" and in some of your posts...

    redheads [​IMG]

    I love 'em too.

    Great story as usual

    [/ QUOTE ]

    eric beat me too it and yes YOU GOTTA LOVE THEM REDHEADS!!!
     
  13. 40StudeDude
    Joined: Sep 19, 2002
    Posts: 9,536

    40StudeDude
    Member

    [ QUOTE ]
    BTW, you and me, MO-KAN 2005, best 2 out of 3. You're on. Tommy Mc

    [/ QUOTE ]

    How much you gonna spot me? Gonna use "bracket" rules? No way I can beat your "J" heads-up...won't even be close...

    BTW, I'm still waiting for pix of that chopped '49 Caddy of yours...

    R-
     

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