America And A Dog Named Boots
Michael’s comment yesterday about traveling between Los Angeles and San Francisco in the back of a station wagon, singing Down In The Boondocks with his sister Patty, got me to thinking the same sort of scenario from my childhood.
For me, it was the 183 mile trip between my hometown, Elmira, NY, and Fredonia, NY, the place where both my older brother and sister went to college. From the time my brother started at SUNY Fredonia in 1968 through my sister’s departure in the late 1970′s, I figure we visited the Lake Erie coast about 200 times.
I have a lot of fond memories of “dear old Fred State”. We’d stay in the Dunkirk Motel, in these little houses that today are called “suites” but in 1968 were called “efficiencies”. We spent hours walking along the as-yet-unpolluted Lake Erie, throwing stones into the waves, collecting wood and shells and setting adrift messages in bottles destined for Europe (though I think the “other side” of Lake Erie is actually Michigan).
I remember watching, on a little black and white TV in the “living room” of our hotel, Bob Robertson hit 3 home runs for the Pirates during the second game of the 1971 National League championship against the Giants, then going outside and reenacting the game in its entirety by throwing a rubber ball against the brick exterior of the house. We travelled up and down the West Coast of New York, from the huge antique barn in Stockton, NY to Kleinhans Music Hall in Buffalo where my brother, a zippie (i.e., music student) would perform.
A lot of music was played to soothe the savage beasts in the back of our Ford Grand Torino. Unlike Michael and Patty, who sound like they got along pretty well, my younger brother and I were always at odds. Like some sort of Herculean Greek tragedy, we were always butting heads to see who could stay on the top of the hill. But, when the going got tough, we were relegated to separates auto zones (back before seat belts were required) and music was used to assuage the tension.
On one particular trip, it was not only the kids who needed soothing: our beloved German Shepherd, Bootsie, seemed a bit at loose ends. To this day, my Mom still remembers how we sang Up Up And Away, about 100 times, as Boots lay on the floor of the back seat. When Up Up And Away stopped working, it was Sister Golden Hair, then Spinning Wheel, then You’ve Made Me So Very Happy. Four straight hours of 4 songs, over and over again (kind if like Top 40 radio at the time).
Fifth Dimension – Up, Up And Away
Blood, Sweat And Tears – You’ve Made Me So Very Happy
Blood, Sweat And Tears – Spinning Wheel
Photo: Administration Building at SUNY Fredonia
whoa, Fredonia!!!!!
Spent some time there in the early 80′s visiting my buddy at the very school…
when you were there, was the ketchup factory in operation?
Drunkenly stumbling at dawn, with the smell of ketchup in the air, is a memory that I will never shake!
Also, remember visiting a couple of local wineries in the environs as well… think one was run by monks in fact!