Daddy always enjoyed having a nice car. One reason, I guess, was that we stayed in it so much. He traveled across the southern states preaching in revival meetings all year round. Most of the time the whole family went with him. We would sing and Daddy would preach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Buick was his favorite. I remember several of them that we had over the years. A Buick was a big heavy car and road like a dream. There was plenty of room for all six of us. On long trips there was plenty of room to stretch out and sleep on the way back home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daddy kept his car shined up. He kept a close check for scratches or dents. To avoid bumps and dents from doors of other vehicles he made it a practice to park on the far end of the parking lot. However, careful as he was, the vehicle often suffered damage from, shall we say, distracted driving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I remember when I was about twelve years old, we had this beautiful green1959 Chevrolet (This was before the Buick years). It had the wide tail fins on the back and a very spacious interior. Strips of mirrored chrome ran down each side. Daddy was proud of that car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We lived on a road that was not paved but had a good chert base which gave it a pretty smooth surface. It was dusty in dry weather and a little muddy when it was wet. The road went down a long hill at the bottom of which was our driveway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On down the road just past our driveway was a wooden bridge that crossed Hog Creek. Over the years water on its way to the creek had carved out a ditch on one side of the road. This was a ditch about 5 feet wide and 7 feet deep. After a big rain that ditch was more fun than any amusement park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One day Mama had some errands to run so she loaded us all into the Chevy and we started down the driveway. Whether or not it was Mama’s way of keeping us occupied while she was driving, we had already started singing by the time we reached the end of the driveway. I still remember the song–<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now don’t you weep for me when I’m gone,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n For I won’t have to leave here alone.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And when at last that great trumpet sounds<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n My feet won’t stay on the ground.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I’m gonna rise with a shout, gonna fly<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Gonna rise with my Lord to the sky<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Heaven is near and I can’t stay here.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Good-bye world, good-bye.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Turning out of the drive we started up the hill. We had almost reached the top of the hill when one of us kids did something that distracted Mama for a moment. Like all accidents one moment was all it took. She turned the wheel a little too far to the left and there went Daddy’s Chevy, right down through the amusement park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Needless to say, that ended the song. For several seconds everything was completely silent. The car sat wedged in the ravine at a 45-degree angle. That was before the seat belt safety law, so we were all piled on top of each other against the left side of the car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mama was the first to recover. From somewhere at the bottom of the pile she started calling to us, “Get out! Get out!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n We scrambled the best we could up the seat toward the door on the right side of the car. Heaving with all my might I finally got the door open. I climbed out with my two sisters right behind me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mama and my baby brother, who was about three years old at the time, were still in the car. I looked back inside the car to see what was taking them so long. Pressed against the door Mama was still sitting under the steering wheel. My little brother stood on the floor leaning against her legs. She was unable to move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gently pushing on him Mama kept saying, ” Go ahead, get out, Baby.” He just stood there looking at me. Upon closer examination we discovered the problem. Coming up the road he had been standing in the seat beside Mama with his arm around her neck. Sometime during the accident, the gear lever had slipped up the back of his shirt and he was dangling there, feet barely touching the floor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We laughed and laughed at this discovery. After we had disentangled him from the gear shift, we lifted him out of the car. Then Mama was able to crawl out and join us beside the ditch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After surveying the situation Mama decided there was no way to drive the car out of the ditch. So, we walked to my granddaddy’s house that was just across the field. Taking his farm tractor, he hooked it to the car and pulled it out of the gorge. He had to drag the car for some distance down the ditch before it became shallow enough to get it out. This radical rescue completed the damage to the left side of the green Chevy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don’t remember how or if we got to town that day. I do remember that Daddy was glad to hear the good news that nobody was hurt. However, the bad news was–so sad about the Chevy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Daddy always enjoyed having a nice car. One reason, I guess, was that we stayed in it so much. He traveled across the southern states preaching in revival meetings all year round. Most of the time the whole family went with him. We would sing and Daddy would preach. Buick was his favorite. I remember […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","WB4WB4WP_MODE":"","WB4WP_PAGE_SCRIPTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_STYLES":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FONTS":"","WB4WP_PAGE_HEADER":"","WB4WP_PAGE_FOOTER":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"\"Daddy's Chevy\"--That's this week's blog on rythmicchimney.org. Also, check out Poem of the Week--\"The Dreaded Conversant\". It may be someone you know.\nThank you for visiting the site.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n