Excuse the format, this one will be a bit of a brain dump as I've not had a free moment lately to write a proper post.
52 weeks prompt this week is: Transportation.
On my dad's side, his mother's mother's father James Albert Adams was a wagoner in the US Army from 1870-1888. From records I've found he was driving officers around and helping deliver telegraph line building equipment. This is a fun rabbit hole posted by Greg Krenzelok - Director - Historian of the
"The Duties of the U.S. Army Waggoner" (rootsweb link)
Also on my dad's side, his great grandfather on mom's father's side drove a wagon in his later years in Allston, MA & was actually run of the road by a car, the horse got spooked & flipped the wagon. If you've ever driven in Allston this resonates.
Dad's stepdad Chester Flattery drove trucks in the Korean war and when he came home worked for Fowler's Express.
South Shore Massachusetts being a small community, I actually met the granddaughter (?memory?) of the founder of that company one time at a party I went to in college. Yes I was the dork asking drunk people if their last name has any ties to that other thing with the same name.
On my mother's side, her uncle Walter Sturtevant drove an ambulance in France during WWII.
This photo was in my great grandmother Jessie's photo album. No idea whose car or who the passengers are.
My grandmothers were very different people for both being born in the late 1920s in New England. Mom's mom born in NH went as far as NYC on her honeymoon and I can't find anything further away. She never flew on a plane & thought it bananas that my brother & I would jump on a plane and fly across the country. Dad's mom travelled to the west coast and Europe, by plane, cruise ship, windjammer, and train. She encouraged us to travel.
I bought my first car off my Grammy, dad's mom. It was a boxy, electric blue 1980s Chevy Cavalier. I got run off 106 by South Shore Voc Tech one night by a wide load truck and wrapped it around a fire hydrant rather than fly down a ravine. This was pre everyone has a cell phone 1998ish & a guy stopped in the dark to let me call my parents on his cell.
Mom's first car story: her first car was a loden green 1959 Chevy. She recalled that her uncle Walter (same Walter as above) neighbor's in Roslindale bought it brand new. Her mom moved them to Foxboro in 1963. She bought that same car off that same family (who by then had also moved from Roslindale to Foxboro) for $300. Small World!
mom on a car in the snow, no idea whose car.
Mom remembers the street car in Roslindale. More on that another time.
Dad's first car story: Dad's first car was a 1960 Chevy Biscayne, a big ole gray thing he says. He worked at Fernandes supermarket at the end of Mattakeeset in Pembroke & saved up to buy the car so he wouldn't have to walk to work.
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| not sure if this is that car of his or not |
My brother drove my parent's forest green Ford Explorer until there was a hole rusted through the gas tank. Today we have almost 10 year old matching blue Prius. Prii?
Sean has driven many forms of transportation. From his parents VW bus to the pink Vespa,
to a Honda Civic, to baby Geo, to a pain in the butt BWM, to a pick up truck & a Harley. He drove semi trucks cross country for a couple years and drove to every state except Alaska & Hawaii.
Sean's Nana Nadine looking gorgeous as usual in front of a car.
My favorite form of transport is light rail. We try to use public transport when we go to big cities & have ridden the San Diego Trolley to a Padres game, BART in SF, the T in Boston, and MARTA here in Atlanta.
More later, travel safely.
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