Remembering my dad’s old 1967 Chevrolet pickup

       While checking out the nice variety of cars and pickups at the annual Brooklyn Ruritan Car Show last Sunday, I discovered a customized 1967 C-10 Chevrolet truck. It was decked out with a bright coat of red paint, custom wheels and an aftermarket big block Chevrolet engine with lots of chrome.
        It reminded me of the time my parents bought a brand new 1967 white Chevrolet C-10 pickup truck from Bradley Chevrolet in Broken Arrow, Okla.
       The truck featured a 283 cubic-inch engine with two-barrel carburetor and a three speed on the tree and no air conditioner. And it had a pushbutton AM radio.
       Every now and then I would sit in the truck and turn on the key and listen to the radio. I didn’t listen long as I was afraid I’d run the battery down.
      Our first trip right after buying the truck was to Six Flags over Texas in Dallas. I remember we stayed in a motel and my mom took me swimming in the pool.
       A couple weeks after buying the truck, my parents bought a Chief brand shell camper with a walk-in door. My mom had three beds made in the back and ordered three customized mattresses to fit the beds, which were narrower than a standard twin mattress.
      We stored our Pepsi ice chest and Coleman cooking stove, picnic basket and our luggage under the beds. My younger brother, Tom, slept on a mat in between the beds.
      I can still hear my dad. “Load and unload, that is all I do,” he’d say while putting our camping gear in the truck.
       We took many trips in that truck through the years including traveling to San Diego, Calif. in August 1975 to see my mom’s cousin. We drove across the Arizona desert with no air conditioning. The trip also included a stop at Disneyland in Anaheim. In August 1972, we traveled to Niagara Falls on both the Canadian and America sides; and we traveled to Nashville where we visited Opryland in 1974.
      We didn’t get to attend the Grand Ole Opry because the truck broke down and it was in the shop at a gas station about 100 miles west of Nashville. The mechanic got us going again, but it was too late to get opry tickets.
    We took many trips to Southeast Missouri, where my mom was born and raised, to see family and go camping and fishing. I remember one trip when we left late and hadn’t quite made it the Bootheel of Southeast Missouri and had to stop for the evening at a campground. It was about 400 miles from Tulsa to the Bootheel.
      My dad said he wasn’t dragging all the cooking gear out that late, so we stopped at a nearby restaurant for supper. I saw another family enjoying a pizza, so I ordered one and ate the whole thing.
      We also took the truck to see family in Alabama and Mississippi and on our trip to Niagara Falls, we spent a few days with my mom’s uncle in Flint, Mich.,  who was a retired GM employee.
      I was just shy of my 13th birthday at the time. My mom’s uncle lived in a rural area outside of Flint and up the street I saw some neighborhood boys playing baseball. I asked if could join them and they welcomed me. I wasn’t too good at hitting the ball, so those boys let me swing until I hit it and ran the bases. I will always remember their kind gesture and generosity. To them, it wasn’t about winning or losing, it was a game and everyone was welcome.
      We also made a stop at the Kellogg Company in Battle Creek, Mich. where we enjoyed a shortened version of a company tour. We arrived just after the last tour, so the staff gave us the shortened tour because we had driven so far from Oklahoma. I received a 3D baseball card that was being put in the cereal on the tour. The guide took it right from the machine.
     One year we went camping and fishing at Grand Lake northeast of Tulsa when I was about age 10. I went fishing and caught a huge fish. I was so excited that I dropped my fishing pole before getting the fish reeled in. My dad stepped into the edge of the water and grabbed the pole before the fish took it into the lake. It was four-pound carp. My mom cleaned it and we ate it for supper.
      We also camped and fished a number of times at Greenleaf Lake southeast of Tulsa near Muskogee and also at Oologah Lake northeast of Tulsa. My dad could sit on the riverbank all day with a line in the water. Even if he didn’t catch any fish, he loved being outdoors and finding folks to visit with him.
       In talking with the owners of the customized truck, the fellow told me that it was an old farm truck with a hayrack. He had planned to rebuild the engine, but opted instead to by a crate engine because it cost about the same. A crate engine is a fully assembled engine that is sold as a standalone product, and comes in a wooden crate.
       I think the truck won a special award at the car show.
      It also brought back lots of good memories of time spent with family fishing and going on vacation. I hope you are able to enjoy some vacation time this summer with family. It is time well spent.
       Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day.