Another story Dad told-almost forgotten!

I was just reading a book review for a book by Cormac McCarthy about a person who, (turn of 20th century) takes off across the US on a quest to find her daughter. That sounds like a book I might read, and it reminded me of a story Dad told only a few times. I remember questioning him about it once wanting more details. It was the 1930's and he and a couple friends were allowed to take a vehicle and go on an adventure. He was a young teenager, and absolutely unbelievably to me, they were allowed to do this.

My dad was allowed to drive when he was 13 or 14, probably about the time his feet reached the pedals. According to him, he didn't have to get a license, and there was no age limit in 1933. Now it could be that his parents were unaware, or uninformed re: laws, but he started driving back then. My grandpa owned a model T.; it had to be cranked to start it. In fact, once on a bitter cold day that frozen crank wouldn't turn, so they tied a rope from their plow horse to the crank and had the horse walk away from the car to to force the crank to break the ice bond loose. It did more than that, he said the horse tipped the whole car over on its' side (heh, heh, I love these old stories).

Anyway, back to his big trip, he said they just drove from town to town and explored. Of course they didn't have any money to speak of, and he said they found odd jobs to earn enough to keep going. He said one place they dug some ditches. To me that sounds like they were gone more than a few days. I don't know, but I suppose they slept in or around their car. They spent the night in one town, wish I knew the name, and on that night there was a murder. Since these kids were the only strangers in the town they were rounded up and questioned. He said they were put in a jail for a short while. Somehow they got out of that predicament; his words: "they believed us, I guess".

When I later questioned him, he said they were supposed to drive to my Aunt Leah's in Salem, OH. I really suspect that was the story they told Grandma, and that they really just wanted an adventure, with some eventual lavishing upon by my great aunt when they finally arrived there. I remember her as a sweet lady. Like that side of the family she was very tall, probably almost six feet tall.

So, that's the little story he told, and how I wish, like so many other moments, I'd have found out more.