Remember the first time you had an exciting ride with Uncle Bob? How about the time your mother just couldn’t stand being behind the slow-poke any longer and showed you just how fast the old family wagon could go? I have many such memories that I cherish and many more that were great times spent with my own children. I grew up in a family that loved all things automotive and my father was a fanatic when it came to making sure everything was in tip top shape. But not only did he make sure the usual items were taken care of but he even did things like take door panels off brand new vehicles and paint the inside so as to reduce rust over the next umpteen years. And the proof is in the end results. For example, I still own the 1968 Ford Camper Special that my mother bought for my father the same year I bought my first Shelby and it is still in amazing condition with no rust and over 300,000 miles on it.

As a result, when I get in that old Ford it is like stepping into a time machine that can take me back to 1968 and the many times we spent going on camping or hunting trips or just heading down to the Rogue River for a great day steelhead fishing. The same is true with the entire car collection my father created before he passed away some years ago and each time I get in any of them I am reminded of many such adventures and amazing times we all shared together. Thanks to his foresight not only have my children been able to share many of the same adventures but now even my grandson is involved.

Yesterday was our grandson’s first birthday and what was originally planed to have been an electric go-cart turned out to be a Radio Flyer wagon instead. I was so pleased to see a one year old get so excited with his birthday present. When I was born my brother bought me a Radio Flyer and I had it for years and years. It went on so many adventures, carried so many supplies to my many forts and hauled so many apples from the orchards to Mom’s kitchen to be canned that it wasn’t even funny but boy was Mom’s applesauce the best. If I had a nickel for every hill we rode down in that old beauty I would be a wealthy man. But now that I think hard about it I am in deed wealthy with the many rich memories of such wild rides down the hills and along the creek on my parent’s ranch where I would spend the afternoon fishing with my favorite dog.

As I grew older, my favorite wagon eventually led to bicycles and from there to go-carts and eventually to cars and then a racing career. I would still have that old wagon had it not been for the fact that I left it parked behind my father’s pickup but the good news is the memories never faded away. I suppose that was my very first lesson in learning how to take care of whatever means of transportation I had at the time. Nowadays when I park my Viper in a parking lot I know not to park near any other cars let alone near the back of a pickup. I can’t help but think somewhere my father is watching and grinning and saying, “Atta boy.”

So yesterday Tyler and I found what resembled a hill and went for our first wagon ride together. I am not sure who had a better time, Tyler or Gramps but I do know God willing there are many adventures waiting to unfold.

Don’t get so wrapped up that you can’t find time to reminisce the good times and at the same time be sure to find time to make some new ones with your kids. They’ll never forget them and neither will you.