# Politics and News > SOCIETY & humanities >  Time Gone By - My Memories

## potlatch

*Time Gone By - My Memories*

I've often mentioned that I grew up in the best of times, in the best of places, so a recent post by @Tom-Cruise talking about his youth and legal drinking age made me reminisce about my own High School days.

I grew up in Texas City, Texas. Population about 17 thousand then. The 'stinky' city with all the Oil Refineries, Chemical Plants and a Tin Smelter. The city that had one of the worst industrial accidents in U.S.History back in 1947, the Texas City Disaster. And, the city that built a 5 mile Dike out of Granite Rocks - called the longest man made 'fishing pier' - and teenage parking spot.  :Smile: 

We got our driver's licenses at 15 and cruising the streets ensued. Gas was cheap and friends chipped in. We had drive in diners and drive in Movie Theaters with midnight movies. We spent a lot of time at the Diners and if the parking was full you would just cruse in, around the back of the diner and out the other side back to the road. You saw everyone there and they saw you. We were 20 minutes from Galveston, glorious days of sun, sea and sand, and painful nights of bad sunburns.

I'm still surprised that my Father allowed me so much freedom and the use of his new Buick, but I was a good student and he trusted me. He may have wondered why the car tires wore out faster, but it may have been because the guys always challenged me to drag races down the highway.  :Smile:  With one foot on the brake and one foot on the accelerator, ready to go when the light changed - a Buick beats a jalopy, lol.

My best girlfriend and I ran around with a gang of boys, meaning a 'bunch of friends' who always looked out for us and treated us with respect....well - until one night when they put me in the trunk of a car and drove around awhile and I thought I would die of carbon monoxide! It was all fun and games until they let me out of that trunk! Memories


Once in awhile some boys from Galveston's Ball-high School would come to town and cause trouble and we'd hear the shouts from other cars, 'gang-fight out at the dump'. Everybody would take off to the dump, but all I ever saw was a bunch of cars and nothing happening! Never heard of bad trouble of any kind back then. Imagine that!

I was not a drinker, never liked beer, but we could drive out of town to a big old dancehall where the guys could get beer. Dancing was our motive .... mostly. The guys claimed they could sometimes get beer at 'Shorties' on the Dike. Never saw anyone drunk, ever. Drugs weren't a problem.

Probably one of the most unusual things we did was this;
LaMarque was a small town nearby and had a large Black population. They also had a nightclub with a live band. 

I remember a few of us, together on dates, dropping in there. We were the only white people there and  we drank our cokes and rootbeers and listened to the wonderful blues/jazz band. There was no racism, only people enjoying themselves and the sound of that band playing Night Train still linger in my mind.

Our local radio station took requests for songs and you always listened to see if you were mentioned, and I'm sure all of us went to bed at night with the radio turned down low and listened until the station closed each night with Night Train playing softly. I know I did...  :Smile:

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## Jen

What wonderful memories of a saner, safer time.  We can never go back to that.  Thanks for the memory, @potlatch.

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Daily Bread (09-24-2017),East of the Beast (09-24-2017),Neo (01-20-2020),NORAD (09-27-2017),Northern Rivers (01-21-2020),potlatch (09-23-2017)

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## Rickity Plumber

Awesome memories @potlatch . I love reading these things. I will add a reply tomorrow.

But know I will say this. In high school I worked at Publix as a bag boy. A new guy started . . .a black kid. Me and him hit it off well. He had a 67 Mustang and I had a 66 Mustang. 

Anyway, we would go to some of the black "spots" around town and they would treat me just like one of their own. No racism, no animosity, no nothing but good times.

His parents were the best. My parents drank and fought like cats and dogs. They treated me well, his parents that is. I respected them.


What happened to those days potlatch?

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## potlatch

> What wonderful memories of a saner, safer time.  We can never go back to that.  Thanks for the memory, @potlatch.


Thank you Jen! I needed something happy to talk about today and this was where my mind went...  :Smile:

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## potlatch

> Awesome memories @potlatch . I love reading these things. I will add a reply tomorrow.
> 
> But know I will say this. In high school I worked at Publix as a bag boy. A new guy started . . .a black kid. Me and him hit it off well. He had a 67 Mustang and I had a 66 Mustang. 
> 
> Anyway, we would go to some of the black "spots" around town and they would treat me just like one of their own. No racism, no animosity, no nothing but good times.
> 
> His parents were the best. My parents drank and fought like cats and dogs. They treated me well, his parents that is. I respected them.
> 
> 
> What happened to those days potlatch?


We were lucky to live in those better days Rickity. We were just so lucky, and people have destroyed what was good back in those better times. I'm glad you had them too.  :Smile:

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## Neo

The 70s for me was glorious I was 12 in 1970, the music for me was Motown, over here we had "Northern Soul" as I grew older I hung out with like minded young guys like myself, we'd go to any Northern soul dances, even in the school week, I'd stay out as late as I could. Missing a bus home meant one thing I'd have to run, back then when I was 15 I could run all day, I was fitter than a butchers dog, I swam for my county, played rugby for "The All Blues" and was pretty much an athlete on every sport.

Northern soul venues were great, watching the other people do fancy foot moves captivated me, funnily enough it was rare for us to drink there, it was all about the music and dancing. 
The style of clothes for a northern dancer was Ben Sherman shirt, oxford bag trousers, or stay press, leather soled brogues with front tassels, a warm Crombie coat in black or dark blue was essential.

My mother was a strict Victorian in her ways, she found out it was impossible to stop me from going to dances, she'd smell my breath when I got home no matter what time, smoking or drinking was not done in the school week as my mother would of known and incarcerated me.
So by conforming to the no smoking and drinking policy my mother gave me she trusted me going out, getting in kind of Lateish  in the school week was the lesser of 2 evils.

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potlatch (09-23-2017)

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## potlatch

> The 70s for me was glorious I was 12 in 1970, the music for me was Motown, over here we had "Northern Soul" as I grew older I hung out with like minded young guys like myself, we'd go to any Northern soul dances, even in the school week, I'd stay out as late as I could. Missing a bus home meant one thing I'd have to run, back then when I was 15 I could run all day, I was fitter than a butchers dog, I swam for my county, played rugby for "The All Blues" and was pretty much an athlete on every sport.
> 
> Northern soul venues were great, watching the other people do fancy foot moves captivated me, funnily enough it was rare for us to drink there, it was all about the music and dancing. 
> The style of clothes for a northern dancer was Ben Sherman shirt, oxford bag trousers, or stay press, leather soled brogues with front tassels, a warm Crombie coat in black or dark blue was essential.
> 
> My mother was a strict Victorian in her ways, she found out it was impossible to stop me from going to dances, she'd smell my breath when I got home no matter what time, smoking or drinking was not done in the school week as my mother would of known and incarcerated me.
> So by conforming to the no smoking and drinking policy my mother gave me she trusted me going out, getting in kind of Lateish  in the school week was the lesser of 2 evils.


Ahh yes, the Motown music, who can forget it, I loved it! You lived a wonderful growing up life too. Laughing about your Mother, but she kept you on the straight and narrow.  :Smile:  Thanks for sharing Tom!

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Neo (01-20-2020)

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## Garden House Queen

I was 18 in 1969. All the kids would cruise the town.....making the loop around Kenny Burgers and then on to Biff Burger...then back again and again....just cruising....stopping to talk to friends.  Gas was cheap...my best friend had a 1964 red Comet convertible...I had a yellow Olds Cutless convertible. We didn't drink or smoke and never knew anyone that even talked about drugs. Motown and the "oldie moldies" was the music we listened to. We had a good time growing up...showing horses every Saturday during the summer. Sad to know the kids of today will never experience what we did. My Dad was strict as hell but if anyone would have ever hurt us it would have been to bad for them.

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## potlatch

> I was 18 in 1969. All the kids would cruise the town.....making the loop around Kenny Burgers and then on to Biff Burger...then back again and again....just cruising....stopping to talk to friends.  Gas was cheap...my best friend had a 1964 red Comet convertible...I had a yellow Olds Cutless convertible. We didn't drink or smoke and never knew anyone that even talked about drugs. Motown and the "oldie moldies" was the music we listened to. We had a good time growing up...showing horses every Saturday during the summer. Sad to know the kids of today will never experience what we did. My Dad was strict as hell but if anyone would have ever hurt us it would have been to bad for them.


Sounds like our experiences were pretty similar. The "oldie moldies" are the songs I still love and remember best due to losing a lot of hearing early in life. Now I can no longer understand the words or hear the high notes - but that might be a good thing considering todays music, lol.

My kids had horses and raised lambs for the Stock Show but they didn't have those activities in Texas City in my time.

My Dad was strict but fair, I think that's why we turned out good  :Smile:  if I do say so myself, haha.

Thank you GHQ!

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## Dan40

I grew up in a steel city.  Now defunct.  Everyone worked in a mill, and jobs were plentiful.  I worked in a mill, best thing that ever happened to me.  Taught me that I had to get educated and find something better.

Ripley's believe it or not once noted the area as having more bars and churches per capita than any other place!  And nearly every church had a private club (BAR) open late and on Sundays.

And every ethnic group(Germans, Russians, Greeks, Hungarians, Irish, Italians and more) had their own private clubs (BARS) that served their ethnic foods, and every one was delicious.

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## Jen

This was the gas station down the alley from where I lived in Somerset, Texas when I was a kid. Contrary to its bleak looks, it was a safe place to go and sometimes my mom would give me a quarter and a nickel so I could go into the station where a friend of ours was the bookkeeper...  and open the big old CocaCola ice chest and choose 6 sodas for the family.  Of course I had a carton of 6 empties to give to Mrs Wentworth.  Those were special days  in my life.  We rarely had carbonated drinks at home.

Odd, but it didn't look bleakly awful then........but I was just a kid with no discernment about that stuff.
I might have already posted this.  :Dontknow: 

gas station.jpg

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## JustPassinThru

> I loved my high school days, wish I could relive them again, lol. I was a good Catholic girl and never wanted to do anything to embarrass my parents. My Class still has Reunions often, we were a very 'close group'.



I envy you that.  I was a local Public Zoo graduate (after attending LCMS schools through 8th grade) and was a complete misfit.  Now, the few I wish I could find, I cannot.  Meantime, the Class Reunion people, gave up with me after about 1996...when they traced me to Denver.

So many of the people I remember, both good and bad...have just fallen off the face of the Earf.

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Brat (10-27-2022),donttread (10-28-2022),potlatch (10-27-2022)

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## potlatch

> This was the gas station down the alley from where I lived in Somerset, Texas when I was a kid. Contrary to its bleak looks, it was a safe place to go and sometimes my mom would give me a quarter and a nickel so I could go into the station where a friend of ours was the bookkeeper...  and open the big old CocaCola ice chest and choose 6 sodas for the family.  Of course I had a carton of 6 empties to give to Mrs Wentworth.  Those were special days  in my life.  We rarely had carbonated drinks at home.
> 
> Odd, but it didn't look bleakly awful then........but I was just a kid with no discernment about that stuff.
> I might have already posted this. 
> 
> gas station.jpg


I think that was a familiar sight in most small towns or along highways. We had one movie theater that had movies for kids on Saturday mornings and you could get in with a small number of empty soda bottles. Such innocent times! Lots of cartoons before the movies too and lots of laughter.

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donttread (10-28-2022)

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## JustPassinThru

> I do miss the 80's and 90's
> 
> For Freedom - Music - Show Concerts - Fun - 
> 
> And lots of stupid things I did and I don't regret lol



I remember Toronto in the 1980s and 1990s, also.

For a time I lived in Buffalo, and Toronto was my long-weekend getaway.  I loved it...had my regular hotel; my regular restaurant, and even my preferred breakfast-restaurant waitress (totally decent; I tipped well and so when she saw me, she'd push the others aside, and make sure she seated me in her zone).

All gone, now....

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donttread (10-28-2022),Madison (10-28-2022)

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## Jen

> I think that was a familiar sight in most small towns or along highways. We had one movie theater that had movies for kids on Saturday mornings and you could get in with a small number of empty soda bottles. Such innocent times! Lots of cartoons before the movies too and lots of laughter.


Our town didn't even have a highway running through it.  Just one of those "Farm Roads".  We had no movie theater.  This year marks the 100th anniversary of Somerset, Texas and it will have  a celebration on homecoming weekend October 28.  I won't be there, but a lifelong (since we were 3) friend will speak.  His father was Superintendent of the school there for 40 years.

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Brat (10-27-2022),donttread (10-28-2022),potlatch (10-27-2022)

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## potlatch

> I envy you that.  I was a local Public Zoo graduate (after attending LCMS schools through 8th grade) and was a complete misfit.  Now, the few I wish I could find, I cannot.  Meantime, the Class Reunion people, gave up with me after about 1996...when they traced me to Denver.
> 
> So many of the people I remember, both good and bad...have just fallen off the face of the Earf.


I'm sorry things weren't better for you JPT. It takes a group of classmates who are willing to do the work keeping everyone in touch and we were lucky we had that. There are always some who get lost along the way and we wonder about them. Just realize that during the get-togethers there were probably people who said, 'I wonder what happened to JPT?' 

---Our class even started a small 'newsletter' and everyone could send in news and pictures. I think we got one every 3 or 4 months and looked forward to reading it. They also organized Reunions. I still get email from some of them.  :Smile:

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Brat (10-27-2022)

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## potlatch

> I do miss the 80's and 90's
> 
> For Freedom - Music - Show Concerts - Fun - 
> 
> And lots of stupid things I did and I don't regret lol


I'm sure your 'stupid things' would be interesting to read Madison, lol. My Father wouldn't have liked me 'drag racing' in his new Buick, lol.

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Brat (10-27-2022),donttread (10-28-2022),Madison (10-28-2022)

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## Wilson2

> This was the gas station down the alley from where I lived in Somerset, Texas when I was a kid. Contrary to its bleak looks, it was a safe place to go and sometimes my mom would give me a quarter and a nickel so I could go into the station where a friend of ours was the bookkeeper...  and open the big old CocaCola ice chest and choose 6 sodas for the family.  Of course I had a carton of 6 empties to give to Mrs Wentworth.  Those were special days  in my life.  We rarely had carbonated drinks at home.
> 
> Odd, but it didn't look bleakly awful then........but I was just a kid with no discernment about that stuff.
> I might have already posted this. 
> 
> gas station.jpg


As a child, soft drinks were for adults.   My parents kept coca cola at the house for guests and entertaining.   Every once in a while, we would get a taste and I remember coke burned my throat.  I was never a big soda drinker and when I would have a coke it always burned a little.   Until "New Coke" came out, that was so mild and sugary nobody liked it.   But when they brought back "classic coke" I knew it wasn't the same as the original coke because classic didn't burn my throat.

In elementary school my younger sister and I walked to school and back by ourselves.  All the kids walked.   We walked all over the neighborhood and rode our bikes miles away from home.   As long as we were back by dark nobody worried.  All of the kids had that rule - be home by dark.   And it was a rare time when someone violated that rule.

It was also a time when adults in the neighborhood made sure kids were not doing something stupid or misbehaving.   It didn't matter if the kid was yours or not, adults watched out for kids.  And it seemed every parent knew who all the kids were and knew their parents.   If you screwed up your parents always found out.

The school playgrounds were open, not fenced in like they are today, and kids were always there playing ball or tag on the playground.   Monkey bars, slides, tall swings.   People weren't so obsessed with insurance and liability.   If a kid got hurt on the playground, that was life and nobody thought of suing.

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donttread (10-28-2022),JMWinPR (10-28-2022),potlatch (10-28-2022)

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## potlatch

> Our town didn't even have a highway running through it.  Just one of those "Farm Roads".  We had no movie theater.  This year marks the 100th anniversary of Somerset, Texas and it will have  a celebration on homecoming weekend October 28.  I won't be there, but a lifelong (since we were 3) friend will speak.  His father was Superintendent of the school there for 40 years.


I'll have to look Somerset up on a map, not sure I've ever been through it. Texas City wasn't large but had several Chemical companies and a Tin Smelter so many had decent jobs. Took the city a long time to build back up after the Texas City Blast decades earlier.

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## Jen

> As a child, soft drinks were for adults.   My parents kept coca cola at the house for guests and entertaining.   Every once in a while, we would get a taste and I remember coke burned my throat.  I was never a big soda drinker and when I would have a coke it always burned a little.   Until "New Coke" came out, that was so mild and sugary nobody liked it.   But when they brought back "classic coke" I knew it wasn't the same as the original coke because classic didn't burn my throat.
> 
> In elementary school my younger sister and I walked to school and back by ourselves.  All the kids walked.   We walked all over the neighborhood and rode our bikes miles away from home.   As long as we were back by dark nobody worried.  All of the kids had that rule - be home by dark.   And it was a rare time when someone violated that rule.
> 
> It was also a time when adults in the neighborhood made sure kids were not doing something stupid or misbehaving.   It didn't matter if the kid was yours or not, adults watched out for kids.  And it seemed every parent knew who all the kids were and knew their parents.   If you screwed up your parents always found out.
> 
> The school playgrounds were open, not fenced in like they are today, and kids were always there playing ball or tag on the playground.   Monkey bars, slides, tall swings.   People weren't so obsessed with insurance and liability.   If a kid got hurt on the playground, that was life and nobody thought of suing.


We lived next to the school (K - 12) so as a child, the school playground was an extension of my yard.

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donttread (10-28-2022),Wilson2 (10-28-2022)

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## Jen

> I'll have to look Somerset up on a map, not sure I've ever been through it. Texas City wasn't large but had several Chemical companies and a Tin Smelter so many had decent jobs. Took the city a long time to build back up after the Texas City Blast decades earlier.


The thing that made Somerset thrive was the train that went through town and the Kohler Pickle Factory.  It was / is a very tiny town. It is several miles off of I35.

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potlatch (10-28-2022)

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## JustPassinThru

> I'm sorry things weren't better for you JPT. It takes a group of classmates who are willing to do the work keeping everyone in touch and we were lucky we had that. There are always some who get lost along the way and we wonder about them. Just realize that during the get-togethers there were probably people who said, 'I wonder what happened to JPT?' 
> 
> ---Our class even started a small 'newsletter' and everyone could send in news and pictures. I think we got one every 3 or 4 months and looked forward to reading it. They also organized Reunions. I still get email from some of them.


Used to be, you could find these sources.

Then Face***k basically commandeered them...offering free hosting.  Now to see them, you have to "register" - and feed all the data into Zuck the Cuck's maw. No, t'anks...I'm not gonna give data to a twisted deviant who doesn't like that I'm not as twisted and deviant as he is, and who puts himself in judgment of my opinions.

So these class-registry thingies are off-limits to me.  No matter...I'm actually learning more these days, with online obituary listings.  About six people I knew, my age, have died in the last five years.  Three probably of COVID or of the Jab.  Three others, known not.

Some of them have sad endings.  Two, basically had no funerals or calling hours.  Both were, in the end, isolated.  One was a guy who seemed a friend, went to Texas with me, and turned on me.  Later got into drugs.  Probably it was drugs that killed him; and his brother didn't want to do ANYTHING other than clean up the debris.

Another, a many-year drinking buddy...I pulled back on the booze, he went full-steam ahead...died alone in 2004.  House was demolished - did he burn it down?  Die in a fire?  Or was it just that there was no heir...he had no kids and his parents were dead; and the neighborhood was turning ghetto.  Was the house robbed and gutted, and then demolished as an eyesore?

It is strange and sometimes tragic, how things work out.  Occasionally wonderous, too...in fairness, two people of humble origins, did well.  One, a country boy who got hired at the golf course I worked at.  Mostly we hired summer kids; but I was one year-rounder, and Steve was a country kid, although a seasonal hire.

He was in the local community college, and not liking it.  One day, out of the blue, he announced he'd joined the Navy and would be leaving in a week.  And that was that...

...until 12 years later, I, having come up on hard times, also joined.  I became a Personnelman; and in my job, I had access to microfiche of the entire Navy roster.  This was before the Internet and computer listings.

Steve was there.  As a Lieutenant Commander...yeah, he had become an officer.  I would never have expected it.  But he was there...and now, I see, he's retired and works higher-up for a defense contractor.  He's doing far better than I did.

Another Navy kid...a sort of wimpy kid, smart, obedient, reliable, but not that impressive in his personality.  He knew how to work; but he lacked some basic knowledge in fundamental skills.  Like writing a business letter.  He was trying to get money out of the Alameda credit union, long distance, with a letter...I had to rewrite it for him.  It amazed me that kids then (15 years after I attended high school) weren't taught the fundamentals of business-letter writing.

I earned some points that day by redoing his letter, and getting him his money.  Later...I got out and went railroading.  He got out and went to college...became an investment type...now has his own company, and also could probably buy and sell me.  I wonder if he remembers me with any fondness.

You just never know.

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12icer (10-28-2022),potlatch (10-28-2022)

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## donttread

> Those days were something I had 57 Fords and Chevys a 51 Ford F1 flathead V8, 58 F100. Worked at The Drive in taking tickets and on Sundays worked at the Drive in In Selmer Tennessee. Had a lot of things going too besides that. Ran with an older crowd 10 years older mostly, Always worked on cars and hot rods. We did a lot of different types of work and had a lot of places to play too. Plenty of woods and farm roads. There was a Strip in all of the towns around and They all had some good benefits. School was a trip. finally got out of college in 73  and was crazy looking back. I had the same 67 Dodge I have now with a superstock 440 and built transmission in it and drove it wide open almost always. I look back and Thank GOD I didn't kill anyone running while 130 to 160 down the highways.


I had a shit brindle Grand Prix that would go. One evening with a car full of kids and hauling ass for no good reason we met a cop and of course his brake lights came on . Who knows how accurate those speedometers were but it was pegged and the cop never turned around. 
His choice just may have saved our lives. We just went somewhere and laid low instead of a chase.

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12icer (10-28-2022)

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## donttread

> I do miss the 80's and 90's
> 
> For Freedom - Music - Show Concerts - Fun - 
> 
> And lots of stupid things I did and I don't regret lol


umm the rest of us are spilling details?     .....

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## donttread

> I remember Toronto in the 1980s and 1990s, also.
> 
> For a time I lived in Buffalo, and Toronto was my long-weekend getaway.  I loved it...had my regular hotel; my regular restaurant, and even my preferred breakfast-restaurant waitress (totally decent; I tipped well and so when she saw me, she'd push the others aside, and make sure she seated me in her zone).
> 
> All gone, now....


Was that in the days of the 40% exchange rate? We used to go to Kingston to take advantage of that.

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JustPassinThru (10-28-2022)

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## donttread

> As a child, soft drinks were for adults.   My parents kept coca cola at the house for guests and entertaining.   Every once in a while, we would get a taste and I remember coke burned my throat.  I was never a big soda drinker and when I would have a coke it always burned a little.   Until "New Coke" came out, that was so mild and sugary nobody liked it.   But when they brought back "classic coke" I knew it wasn't the same as the original coke because classic didn't burn my throat.
> 
> In elementary school my younger sister and I walked to school and back by ourselves.  All the kids walked.   We walked all over the neighborhood and rode our bikes miles away from home.   As long as we were back by dark nobody worried.  All of the kids had that rule - be home by dark.   And it was a rare time when someone violated that rule.
> 
> It was also a time when adults in the neighborhood made sure kids were not doing something stupid or misbehaving.   It didn't matter if the kid was yours or not, adults watched out for kids.  And it seemed every parent knew who all the kids were and knew their parents.   If you screwed up your parents always found out.
> 
> The school playgrounds were open, not fenced in like they are today, and kids were always there playing ball or tag on the playground.   Monkey bars, slides, tall swings.   People weren't so obsessed with insurance and liability.   If a kid got hurt on the playground, that was life and nobody thought of suing.




Quoting you below because this was so true. I got yelled at when I needed it. Sometimes by adults I didn't even know, but they seemed to know us.
It's too bad that vibe is gone because of the abusers, the helicopter parents and parents who's kids can do no wrong.
But I get it, it would have to be a pretty extreme situation for me to yell at some random kid today.

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Wilson2 (10-28-2022)

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## ruthless terrier

> I loved my high school days, wish I could relive them again, lol. I was a good Catholic girl and never wanted to do anything to embarrass my parents. My Class still has Reunions often, we were a very 'close group'.


I wish I had stuck with the good Catholic girls. I ended up with a few psychos that could have been easily avoided. but my best memory was going to the gas station and getting a dollars worth .. gas was .25 a gallon. I did respect the hell out of my parents and grandparents .. but in the end fucked up as a bullheaded know it all kid will do. sorry about that mom and dad.

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donttread (10-29-2022),potlatch (10-28-2022)

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## Neo

> The thing that made Somerset thrive was the train that went through town and the Kohler Pickle Factory.  It was / is a very tiny town. It is several miles off of I35.


I dont live far from the real Somerset  :Wink:

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## Jen

> I don’t live far from the real Somerset


Well now, that's Cool!

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## potlatch

Thanks for the Map @Jen. We take highway 87 to SanAntonio and other than Bandera I don't recall going anywhere else to the west side of SanAntonio. I35 is horrible so we avoid it any time we go to Austin, etc. We use the Toll road.

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## Jen

> Thanks for the Map @Jen. We take highway 87 to SanAntonio and other than Bandera I don't recall going anywhere else to the west side of SanAntonio. I35 is horrible so we avoid it any time we go to Austin, etc. We use the Toll road.


That San Antonio/ Austin (maybe all the way to Dallas) has become one of the Hell Corridors in this country.  The Colorado Springs to Denver I 25 is one of those.  

In the 1970's I lived on the northwest side of San Antonio and I could  get to San Marcos in less than an hour (for summer school). I doubt that could happen now.  I probably won't ever go back to San Antonio. As much as I love that city, and have lots of friends there, I really don't want to go back because of the snarly traffic.

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potlatch (10-28-2022)

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## potlatch

@JustPassinThru

I've used Intelius and Whitepages but I've never continued into the paying part. Facebook can still be good for searching but you have to do a lot of work through tons of same named people.

----If you've never joined Facebook you are basing your opinion on what others say. You can't cuss and fight like people here do.  I've been there 11 or 12yrs and it's all family and friends sharing news, not angry political talk. Google knows more about you than any other site anyway.

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JMWinPR (10-28-2022)

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## potlatch

> I wish I had stuck with the good Catholic girls. I ended up with a few psychos that could have been easily avoided. but my best memory was going to the gas station and getting a dollars worth .. gas was .25 a gallon. I did respect the hell out of my parents and grandparents .. but in the end fucked up as a bullheaded know it all kid will do. sorry about that mom and dad.


My husband stuck with me from our Junior year in high school until our Sophomore year in College  when we married - and I'm inferring some 'innocence' there.  :Smile:  Many of our classmates are still married to their high school sweethearts. 

---My Dad was generous and trusting at allowing me to use the car so often in the evenings and I remember everybody in the car adding some money to refill the gas tank, lol.

---I hope your life has been good since your unruly school days, lol.  :Thumbsup20:

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donttread (10-29-2022),JMWinPR (10-28-2022)

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## potlatch

> That San Antonio/ Austin (maybe all the way to Dallas) has become one of the Hell Corridors in this country.  The Colorado Springs to Denver I 25 is one of those.  
> 
> In the 1970's I lived on the northwest side of San Antonio and I could  get to San Marcos in less than an hour (for summer school). I doubt that could happen now.  I probably won't ever go back to San Antonio. As much as I love that city, and have lots of friends there, I really don't want to go back because of the snarly traffic.


I don't blame you, I won't drive anywhere with all the 'spaghetti bowls'!!

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Jen (10-28-2022)

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## teeceetx

The 80's were good, the 90's were the worst for me.

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Madison (10-28-2022)

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## 12icer

I was an Army brat and never was at a school more than two years, Most were for one year. 
We always moved to Knoxville when My dad was overseas for a deployment.
I went to different schools every time we went back and knew kids from all over town there plus my cousins went to just about every school in town from Farragut to Carter. 
When I moved to Riversbend I went to a few different schools and have Cuzs From the North end to the south end of this area too so It was ok knowing most of the people in the tri state area through them and my older group of friends.

I built the R/T because I had a cop that hassled me a lot because of a girl I was dating that his brother liked. The 63 1/2 Galaxie 500 XL I had would only go about 140 and the police car they had was a 66 Custom 427 police Inteceptor that was just about like a Nascar motor but did not have the same heads and intake. It would catch me on a long straight or in a curve either so I got the R/T and built it up to the same as I would run in a Superstock A Class But with a 2.73 to one rear end, 800 Holly Dual Rio pumps air horn milled off, Opened jet ports and zip tubed, vent baffled, matched the jets by plug coloring, Set the Rios for no lag and flow ported them. It had a 308 duration 525 lift cam the intake was port matched the ports were cleaned up and the valves unshrouded, every rod piston and bearing set were matched within a thousandth of a gram on drug scales.:: too much to type the rest, but It would burn tires as long as you held it to the floor and it had L70 McReary road stars on the back. Second to high was a little over 125 mph. 
It would do well over the end off the floor tach scale it went past 6000 on the tach and the speedo went past the 150 about the same time.

The calculations for rpm and tire size had it topped out about 172 MPH it was like driving on a pencil line in the grass riding down the middle of the road as much as I could.

The first time the cop got after me in that car I took him for a ride for a few minutes and he was a full minute behind me as I sat in a hidden spot behind some trees and watched him go by as fast as the cop car would go. I eased out and went home. The next day his partner asked how fast the car would go and I told him I didn't know he said a couple of minutes into the chase they couldn't see my taillights. I also had a switch to turn all of that off, Still do.

As I said before GOD kept the people safe from my stupidity and I hope NOONE EVER DOES that for any reason on open highways it is too dangerous for everyone but I always think of what if I had hit a bus full of kids?   

The cop left me alone after that, but at what a risk!!!!

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