You Could'nt Do That Today

[rpm]

Diablo reminded me of one of the things I did when I was a kid that in no way, shape, or form could you pull off today. In 1977 I was a trucker at 15 years old in Houston, Tx. I did'nt even have a full driver's license yet.

My Dad was an owner-operator and friends with the terminal manager of Moore Transportation. They had a yard in Houston at the intersection of 59 & 610 (not the bestest area of town). I went down there to clean up the yard and haul off old tires in my pickup. I also slept in the portable building that was the yard office with a S&W .38 Special as Night Watchman.

I loaded up old tires for about 45 minutes the first day. The terminal manager asked me to hook up a truck heading for the Port and another going to the shop. That was the last time I touched an old tire that summer. I worked 16 hours a day 6 days a week driving local using their truck (a sweet 1967 Peterbilt), but crediting one of my Dad's truck for the work. I was having a blast!

Nobody rode with me, I was totally on my own. I did this until 2 weeks before I had to go back to school. The owner of the company eventually caught wind of it and I was fired, but I had one of the greatest summers a kid could have. Houston was a great town if you were 15 and looked 19.

Hardly anybody believed me when school started back and we had to tell what we did over the summer. I swear to God, it's all true.

If you turned a 15 year old loose with an 18 wheeler today, you would be on the front page from coast to coast.

What did you do when you were a kid that would make the world freak out today?

[eagl]

Nothing so mechanical, but...

I got a lot of *ahem* experience in 1994 poking holes thru the intarweb from my apartment to the USAF academy's computer lab.  Full functionality of a .mil domain, using open source tools.  Fun, and it was even legal since the network admin helped me figure out how to do it.  Can't do that nowadays without going to jail.

In high school, I worked on software that was being installed on the newfangled AEGIS cruisers...  That was neat, but I gave it up to be a fighter pilot

I soloed a real airplane at age 17 if I recall correctly...  Or maybe it was 16.  That was cool.  That sort of thing can still be done, but most people don't know this about general aviation so they don't worry about those damn kids buzzing overhead.  I knew a couple of guys who were flying around solo before they got their drivers licenses.

I guaranteed myself a spot in pilot training by doing a 1-wheel touch and go in a T-41 on my checkride during the academy flight screening program...  That was tough because the T-41s were a bit nose heavy due to the engine being a lot larger than the typical Cessna 172 motor, but I didn't even bounce the thing.

Out in front of NAS Miramar, when they moved I-15 out away from highway 163, there was a 5 mile stretch of 163 that was straight, flat, and in great condition.  We got every car we could get our hands on up to terminal velocity on that road.

[SD67]

Back in the 80's I used to ride my pushbike over to a mate's house across town to go out shooting with a sawn off .303 Lee-Enfield over the handlebars, a .222 semi Auto slung over my shoulders and a backpack full of ammo.
Nobody even batted an eyelid.
Imagine how far you'd get today?

[DiabloTX]

Originally posted by rpm
They had a yard in Houston at the intersection of 59 & 610 (not the bestest area of town).

If you're talking about 59 south at 610 west loop, well, that's exactly where I am now typing on my work laptop keeping an eye on the toolsets and making sure customer's assets are doing their thing.

If it's 59 north at 610 east, well, I hardly ever go there.  Maybe 3 times in my 40 years living here in Houston.

But your summer sounded like a blast!

[DiabloTX]

Ahhh...we've found out the true inspiration of eagl's nickname.  He's obviously the person that the movie Iron Eagle is based on.  Hmmm..Iron Eagl...

[rpm]

I would have killed to solo at 16.

[Bluedog]

I can remember driving to the local town for smokes and .22 ammo at age 13 or 14 and running into the local copper just as i pulled into the shop carpark.
he looked over, gave me a grin and said  "Does your dad know you are out here in that car?" before hopping into his cruiser and driving off.
He knew who I was, where I lived, how far I'd just driven and how old I was.

Or sitting in the bar at the local pub one saturday aged 16 or so and having the local copper throw me the keys to his patrol car and suggesting we do a lap of the area with sirens blazing to get more people to come out and go to the local dance, because he was too drunk to drive......his wife put a stop to that one just as we were pulling out of the carpark.

Things certainly have changed. probably for the better, I know I wouldn't trust most teenagers I know with an air rifle and a pushbike, let alone a .22 and a car.

[Halo]

Those are fun experiences.  Mine are a lot tamer, e.g., roaming the fields and woods with a bb gun and dog around our little house on a half acre outside of Evansville, Indiana.  

Then shooting .22s at bottles and cans floating in the Ohio River.  We were careful not to fire when barges came by, and I think the richochets were spent if they ever actually reached the Kentucky riverbank, which was unsettled then.  

Oh, and then there were drag races on the dirt roads between the tall corn fields on the river side of the levee.  And 0 to 100 on the wide deserted concrete highway that doubled as a national defense emergency landing strip.  

Except our old Plymouths would never hit 100.  95 tops, and then needed a new engine soon after.  

Prowling the mined-out strip pits and firing into them or skinny dipping in them was another bonus of the Happy Days era.  

Hey, but now I got regulated sporting clays!  Life is good.

[lazs2]

I had a license to operate motorcycles when I was 15 by the state of kalifornia... no helmets.. no seatbelts in cars... no real brakes in cars to speak of.  2 ply tires and blowouts on every trip.

Towed plaster mixers and sand in a 1 ton 47 chevy at that age.

took 22 rifles to school and NRA taught safety.

It was better then.



lazs

[Stang]

Originally posted by lazs2
I had a license to operate motorcycles when I was 15 by the state of kalifornia... no helmets.. no seatbelts in cars... no real brakes in cars to speak of.  2 ply tires and blowouts on every trip.

Towed plaster mixers and sand in a 1 ton 47 chevy at that age.

took 22 rifles to school and NRA taught safety.

It was better then.



lazs

Might wanna check that license if you still have it... are you sure it was the California Territory that issued it?

[Regulator]

I worked as a full time orderly in a psychiatric hospital in the lockup ward while I was in high school.  A more interesting job would be hard to imagine, and a 17 year old guy working with a bunch of nurses and nurses-aids made for a fun adventure.

[lazs2]

yep.. when you got your "learners permit" at age 15 it allowed you to operate a motorcycle..  believe me..  I was very much aware of the fact.    no helmet laws.. no seatbelt laws.. no child seat laws..

somehow.. we survived it.

lazs

[eagl]

I checked my logbook...  Soloed on Apr 1 1988, age 16.

I think it cost me about $1100 to solo, and even though going off to the Academy kept me from immediately completing my license, I think it still only cost me about $4500 total.

Fun times

[Thruster]

What did you do when you were a kid that would make the world freak out today?

Almost everything.

[Jackal1]

A few things come to mind.
At the ripe old age of 6 I was allowed to pull trailers in tandem loaded with cotton to the gin in the small town nearby with the H Farmall. Had to practically stand on the clutch. I felt like the king of everything Farmall.  A 6 year old pulling anything on a U.S. Hwy now would cause a riot.

I remember not long after this my Dad invited some friends to come hunt with us on our land.
I was in the backseat with two of them when I moved my holster and sidearm over to get more comfortable. One of the guys asked me what kinda caps I was shooting. Dad told him it was a Colt Frontier .22. The guy nearly fainted.


I was 14, sitting on a grass field that myself and my instructor/friend had marked a landing strip with white poster board, waiting to go up.
Some people showed up and started BS`n my instructor. I thought "Oh great. there goes my flying today". After a while the instructor asked me what I was waiting for. We spun her around and away I went by myself for the first time. Felt like Sky King on that one. Was flying the spray plane regularly before the year was up. Wasn`t uncommon in those days. Hardly anyone had a license.

Got  the 1st car of my own when I was 14. Had been driving forever it seemed like.

Motorcycle license at 14. Will never forget how cold it was. Had been riding for quite some time.
Racing Motocross back when it was actually Motocross.