Is there a period in your own personal life that you think of as the good old days?
Tell us a story about those innocent and/or exciting times (or lack thereof).
They did not seem like the good old days but they were.
Right after we were married, Bill and I drove from Florida to California in a car without air conditioning or heat. We crossed the desert at night with water bags tied to the front of the car and hanging out the windows (refills for a potential overheated radiator). You might say it was an adventure but I cried all the way across country for leaving my home, my parents and everything I knew and understood.
And it did not get much better.
Bill had just graduated. He was a real Civil Engineer and we were off to his first job building roads in remote areas of California. There were no guarantees of furnished housing in strange places like Big Oak Flat, Hayfork, or Portola. But we were young, eager, and flexible.
Well, semi-flexible. One of our posts was in beautiful Hayfork, a mountain community where the only available rental was a one room shack with a tin roof and no bathroom. If I had known about blogging then I would have taken photos. However, since the view of our own personal shack was somewhat less than scenic, there are no such records available.
I painted and decorated the shack though and hung plastic curtains for shades. And there was a shiny new refrigerator (the only mirror in the place).
There was a community bathroom and a shower for the ring of six shacks. The tin roof made living conditions a bit warm sweltering hot, so we drove “down the hill” to Redding for an air conditioned motel room almost every weekend.
“I need to go home,” I would finally cry and Bill would send me back to Florida to visit my parents and friends.
But we made friends in Hayfork.
Ernie, the owner of the general store, had a small trailer/mobile home in his back yard. One day Ernie asked if we would like to rent his trailer. WOULD we! It had an inside bathroom and tiny shower. It had a tiny kitchen too, where I could cook, wash up, and put dishes away standing in one place (by simply pivoting around).
The trailer had a gas stove.
I never used a gas stove before so I decided to turn on the burners and let them go awhile before lighting a match. BRRRROOOOOOOOM! Everything exploded. The doors and windows of the trailer blew open. Our dog, Tinker, ran out and away (far away) into the snow. My llama slippers were scorched. I think my eyebrows were scorched too. But there was no real damage and we all lived. Bill had to go out and find Tinker though.
Those were the good old days all right.
But things got worse.
I was pregnant when we moved to Big Oak Flat near Yosemite Park. There was a gas station and a post office. That was it. The nearest town/drugstore/cleaners/hospital was over two hours away. No diaper service and nobody ever heard of pampers in those good old days.
It wasn’t a shack we lived in but a house that had been moved from somewhere else and stood on cement blocks. There were cracks in the floor wide enough to see flash floods rushing along underneath. The cracks let in cold drafts too.
The water in the shower started off orange. There was a frog in the shower once. Imagine my naked reaction to THAT!
And the doctor in Sonora told me he would not drive the 2 hours “up the hill” to deliver the baby.
“I need to go home,” I wailed. I could not imagine birthing a child in such circumstances. So Bill sent me home. But once home I could not imagine having the baby without Bill there so I went back (Poor Bill). Our son was born at the bottom of the hill in a small hospital and there were no mishaps. The only problem was it was going on winter.
I hung Corky’s cloth diapers on a line and they froze. Then he got a recurring rash which I later learned was from me bleaching his diapers.
Or how about the time there was a blizzard and the heat went off! This muttering mother trudged a mile (well, not really a mile) carrying a wrapped up infant through a blizzard to the landlady’s house. Before you issue condolences, I may be slightly exaggerating. It was a snow storm though and I did have to leave that freezing house to get help.
Bill and I roamed a few more months around the wilderness with our new son. Everything we owned was packed into a Dodge station wagon, and again I cried.
“We need to have a home! We need roots! We have a child now. We have responsibilities!”
And so it was we returned to the city dwellers’ life.
Looking back in time, those Wilderness Days were our “Salad Days” of adventure, the good times, the young years, the experiences that left us with stories to tell.
Those years had so much impact that I now think of them as a rehearsal for our eventual big move to country living in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia (where we are now) with other stories to tell.
But I often think that if only I had known then what I know now, I would never have needed to go home.
Oh no, the house went “BRRRROOOOOOOOM! Everything exploded. The doors and windows of the trailer blew open.” So glad Tinker survived his owners.
I haven’t told the story of getting the country house up to snuff…another reason for posting when I can and my silence almost to the end of July. I don’t know if it would be as entertaining as this post. I read a lot of gratitude in your story for the experience and those times which I can relate to now.
My mother tells of preparing Thanksgiving turkey in Mexico with a gas oven. She mentions something blew up and she singed her eyelashes, too. When she tells that story I make a note to self and Rick concurs, “Don’t use gas” but if that’s all that is available, I guess you use gas.
LikeLike
Love this! So often, we look back on those difficult, trying times and wonder how we made it through. But those are the times that strengthen us and form our character. Thanks for sharing the story of your early married years!
LikeLike
Those good old days of yours required difficulties that were better experienced when you were young. I am impressed that Bill agreed to send you home for a visit with your parents when you asked to go home. What a sweetie!
LikeLike
Yes, Bill was and is a “sweetie.” He got extra pay (per diem) for working out in the field but we used it all up for my visits home. 🙂 I am ashamed still to admit that.
LikeLike
Those were surely the good times Dianna, but then I often think now are the best times, maybe because we had those earlier challenges to “strengthen us and form our character.”
LikeLike
O.K. Georgette, I want to hear the whole story of you “getting the country house up to snuff.”
My mother always had electric stoves and ovens so I had no experience with gas. They say gas is better though because you can control the heat levels. You just have to kow when to strike the match. 🙂
LikeLike
WOW! I am so glad you are writing about this! What an experience! Amazing and Bill is a QT! Looking forward to the next chapter~
LikeLike
You are definitely on my favorites list Cindy!
LikeLike
Wow!! I just love the photo of you and Bill. What a dashing young couple and such an exciting start to your life together :). I say this in all seriousness – you need to write a book about all your adventures!!
LikeLike
Isn’t it amazing what we put up with when we are young and in love? “Builds character.” Great and entertaining post per usual, Dor. Thanks for sharing this little window into your past.
LikeLike
The exercise took me back through that little window Eliza and thanks for taking that tour with me too.
LikeLike
🙂 You are surely a true blue friend Cindy! And if I knew how to “like” comments I would definitely click that. I think WordPress should have a “love” button too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂 🙂 🙂
LikeLike
What a great story, Dor! I loved reading about your “good ole days.” I’m happy you and Tinker survived the explosion, how scary that must have been.
I must say, you and your husband were a good looking couple…and still are. 🙂
LikeLike
Have I told you lately what a lovely friend you are?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Great flashback to times when probably only being young and in love could have gotten you through it. We lived in a freezing cold triple-decker apartment in Clinton, MA with the only heat a gas log in the stove. We had to move the baby’s crib into the kitchen to keep her warm. We were rich though because we had a washing machine but no dryer. So yes, I so remember frozen stiff diapers!! We were young though and so full of hopes and dreams for our life together….someday we’ll have our own house….someday…..I guess they were tossed salad days. LOVE the picture of you two gorgeous kids.
LikeLike
How true that the things that seem difficult when one is young becomes the basis of wonderful memories with the passing of years. I really enjoyed this story.
LikeLike
Thanks so much Sheryl… 🙂
LikeLike
Moving your baby to the kitchen for warmth reminds me we put the new baby in a dresser drawer since we didn’t yet have a crib. Oh yes, it was a good thing we were all young! 🙂
LikeLike
First of all you and Bill look like movie stars! Secondly, you EARNED that big beautiful window with the breathtaking view to match that you share with us. I loved this story and also have times in my life that seemed beyond horrible, but here I am tougher than ever.
LikeLike
What a wonderful post – and such a handsome couple! Isn’t it amazing how we look back and shake our heads and wonder how we ever accomplished all that we did?
Great stuff, Dor, thanks for sharing with us 🙂
MJ
LikeLike
What a fantastic history with you and Bill in your early years. Just love reading how trying it was, because back then it was (so much changed so quickly for you) – your pictures tell us much, but in the end your advice and summary gives us the world as observed through a wise-womans eyes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Many thanks Mary! I think of that history as a fabulous learning experience and wouldn’t trade it now for a beginning life of ease.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is the truth MJ. Looking back and wondering how we did it – like plunging head first into icy waters, we just went on ahead.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You make me smile – movie stars! We were just kids really. And it’s so great that you recall my big window view now. Would love to hear about your “beyond horrible” earlier times too. As everyone keeps telling me, “they build character.” 🙂
LikeLike
These are wonderful memories and photos, Dor. Your life in the early years of your marriage was rather adventurous I must say. ❤ Thank you for sharing.
LikeLike
What a story!… I love your pictures. You two look great: Bill was so handsome, and you look the same as you looked then. Beautiful story! 🙂
LikeLike
Thank you Sunshine!
LikeLike
Adventure wasn’t what we expected but that’s what we got and we can laugh about so much of it now.
LikeLike
Wow, Dor, your early marriage struggles make mine look like a walk in the park. It’s amazing how much we endure and come out the other side better for it. You have one gem of a husband, that I surely can see. I wonder if young couples today could make it through these kind of struggles?
LikeLike
Isn’t amazing Cindy, how we put one foot in front of the other and somehow make it through? Our travails were not as hard to endure as they sound for we were young and happy to be together. In fact, my “gem of a husband” seemed to know we would always laugh later about those years of experiences and have fond memories without regrets.
LikeLike
Quite the adventures,and though they make good stories in the re-telling, I’m sure they were hard to live through.
LikeLike
This is great Snort – I remember a lot of this as we wrote all our long long letters back and forth during those ‘adventurous’ days – good memories. Love, Wit
LikeLike
They keep telling me “hard times build character.” I should be a REAL character. 🙂
LikeLike
🙂
LikeLike