Backseat Boys

TexBro and I were the backseat boys. When the auto was still young, Texbro and I were in the backseat seeking lively entertainment.

One of my earliest remembrances was learning about science in the backseat-no, I do not mean biology. It seems that somehow I had obtained a gift of a magnifying glass. Now what can you do with a magnifying glass in the back seat? One of my first science lessons was that I could pull out the glass and focus the rays of the sun coming through the windows through my magnifying glass and start a small fire. So just for fun, I focused the rays through the glass and burnt my brother. I don't think that there were any permanent scars--except probably on the Parents. Ooops! Another science project gone awry. Soon being instructed not to burn my brother, I began to practice on the Sunday funny papers.

TexBro and I one time got crystal radios, which I think we either got for Christmas or out of a cereal box. We used to get a box of cereal and quickly dig through it and greedily get the prize. Then we would have to put all the cereal back in the box. At any rate, on this occasion, TexBro and I both had crystal radios which we could snap onto the window or some part of the car outside and actually hear radios without a battery while we were in the car. That was cool.

In the early days our parent's car did not have air conditioning. You rode with the windows down in the summer and the heater blasting in the winter. We were fortunate enough to go on long trips. One summer we drove to California in the summer through the Mojave desert without an airconditioner. Gee, it was like being one of the early pioneers in a motorized scooner. TexBro and I were pioneers like Kit Carson and others that braved the Mojave.

On one occasion, my father picked up a hitch hiking Indian Chief. Well that was ultra, ultra cool. TexBro and I were mightily impressed.

When we took a vacation TexBro and I saved up all our comic books (called funny books back then). When we were older, we took both funny books and Mad magazines. My parents always grumbled that they spent all this money to go on vacations and TexBro and I spent the whole trip in the backseat of the car and on the floor board of the car on piles of comic books with our pillows, and never saw a thing.

We learned that you could put a pile of comic books on each side of the hump in the black and it made pretty comfortable laying. Off we would go, often getting up to 30 miles to the comic book.

TexBro and I wanted to stop at every souvenir store especially those that said "Snakes, Indians and Strange Creatures." Mom and Dad often resisted our pleas to our profound disappointment. After all, what was a vacation for.

We were always looking for a bows and arrows, bowie knives, or whips like Lash LaRue had on these trips. Who knows what protection we might need in the Wild West.

We constantly pestered our parents to try and find a motel with a swimming pool. If we found one, then the day was a great success. If none were to be found, then we tried the next day.

TexBro and I ate hamburgers three meals a day when we were travelling , and we were in heaven. Our vacations were great. I think I saw more of the U.S. than my own children who were more likely to ride on a plane to California than for me to drive.

Well as I launch into autos and Tales of the Auto, there was two games that TexBro and I played in the backseat of autos. The first was to be the first to spot a "See Rock City" sign. These signs littered the landscape, and there are still a few of them around. The other game was one who that drove my parents nuts. There were two variations. The first was "He Touched Me." We would yell this with great offense. The response of course from the other brother was "He Touched Me First!" This game was absolutely guaranteed to drive the parents nuts within minutes. We played it with all honesty and sincerity of heart. We would finally be instructed to stay on our own side of the car. This is where the second variation came in. One of us would shout: "He got on my side." The other Brother would then yell: "He was on my side first." These games sometimes resulted in things like both of getting spankings or having to be silent for 30 minutes. That punishment would often restore my parents sanity.

Oh the delight of childhood games. My father had the patience of Job--however, after many years we finally got his goat with the "He is on my side" game and made him yell at us.

Well this is the story of the Backseat Boys and all the fun that we had in the auto especially on long trips.

HarleyDad