THEY DIDN'T BELIEVE ME! Just last week,when I was talking with a small group of young people they did not believe me when they heard me say that when I was kid their age we used to back the family car up
They refused to accept my statement. There a short silence; then muffled confusion.
My grand-daughter Lucy, present and alert as usual,cleared her throat rather loudly and when she knew she had proper attention stood before me as if ask a favor of me. Then,loud enough to be heard by everyone present,she assumed a swami-like tone of voice we all heard her say:
“Oh, ancient, wise one - would you please tell us why in the world you felt you had to back your cars up when you came a steep incline in the road?”
She handed them to me attentive and warm and I took over quickly by citing the location of the specific hill I had in mind in the City of Radford,Virginia. A “city” by reason of a law which allowed any town counting a total of five thousand citizens could call itself a “city”.
It was part of U.S. Route ll just inside the city from the Pulaski County side of the New River. Much of city five miles length is built on numerous levels which have been carved down the valley over centuries. Then, as the oldest river on the North American continent it took its time carving a series of wide levels along the edge of rocky cliffs forming the other side. Much of central Radford is built on these natural levels. At that time – l924 – U.S.11 entered Radford by crossing the river bridge and heading up the first hill to the initial street level. Route 11 traffic incoming made it up the short hill to First Street. If the city's only, street car - Number ll – happened to be stopped a that corner travelers waited for east-west traffic before heading upward another level.
This unpaved,though generously graveled, road was bounded on one side by a wire fence ;on the other by an overgrown hedge and a footpath. The grade was steep and the final fifty feet - even steeper. Some cars never made it never made up the hill by normal methods. There was a side street at the bottom of the hill. The stalled car drifted back in to that side street parking area. After re-starting the car - not always easy after a choke-out – it was headed downhill and backed up the hill with no trouble at all.
It doesn't happen now. Our 1924 FORD Touring Car had its gas supply stored under the diver's seat and gas flowed by gravity through a small line to the engine ahead.
A.L.M. August 20, 2005 [c477wds]
