The theme is cars.....

The first car I remember riding in was a Model T with the  Helgmoe's.. a family we would go spend time with out on their farm. You had to crank it to start it... but you had to be careful because it could give your arm a yank and break your arm. That is why kids didn't get to start them.

 When we stopped for gas and I had to get out of the car so they could lift the seat I was on to put the gas in.

Here are some old family pictures....

My mom, Irene Landmark Lohre!

Marcella and I

My mom and dad. I always thought it looked like a twister coming!

My dad had an old Chevy that you had to crank too. We always had a car but we lived in town and walked most places. We used the car to go to church mostly. In the winter time it never came out of the garage.

Gas was very cheap so we would all chip together to go places as a teenager. Once, we all went to Lake Traverse.... all the tires went flat... one by one. All the roads were washboard roads (bumps like a washboard) with no suspension on the cars. We were all late getting home and I was in big trouble with my dad.

I remember Leonard had a DeSoto and fixed it up. When his brother, Jake, came back from the service it became his. Didn't seem fair but it was what it was. When the car went through a mudhole it would stall.

One time Leonard, me, Jake and Marcella borrowed Arnold and Millie's (their sister) old Model A and you could see through the floorboards to the ground. That night we took off to fish fry in Browns Valley.... it was snowing and I was freezing!  Up at top of hill heading into the valley we could see a bar.... where we went into and I stood on the grated floor heater with my teeth were chattering like never before. I had never been so cold!



Another story in my memory is when Leonard had the Pontiac and we went to South Dakota with five of the kids!  It was the hottest trip ever.  I remember stopping to get something to drink and Leonard walking out carrying 5 ice cream cones. The ice cream melted before he got to the car... about 10 feet away! Lois was in the front seat and she had to help David with his ice cream cone because it was melting so fast... he was having fits! Lois had a hard time keeping up with 2 of them. We tried riding with the windows up, tried them down... it was so hot! When we were reached the higher elevation...I told the kids we would be cooler up in Rapid City... well, it was 110 that day!

When we got the Country Squire wagon... I remember going to the lake... we would make the announcement and all sorts of neighborhood kids would climb in the car! I didn't know who was in it. Then we would head down to Juanita Beach. Eventually the reverse went out in the car and we always had to park where we never had to back up. That was interesting. Went to Suquamish hardware and I couldn't back up and found myself having to drive forward through a maze of cars.
At work one day this man I never cared for... Al... told me I had to move my car. I told him if I did I would just keep driving home.  He never bothered me again.