My slide-scanning task does ping some memories. Take this photo, for example.
My mother had booked a stay at a lodge up north of us on Lake Huron. She drove to our place first, and then we drove north with her but in two cars because Sue, I and Shauna would be returning home. My two ladies were driving with my mother in her car, and I was leading the way north near the eastern shore of Lake Huron.
Of course, I kept looking in the mirror to check to make sure that they were following, and they had been for a long way. Suddenly, I couldn't see them behind me, and after a while I pulled over to wait for them to catch up. As I waited and waited, for some reason this little scene attracted my attention; I grabbed my camera and pressed the shutter.
Soon, I was getting very antsy. Where were they? Had something happened? Had my wife, daughter and mother all been in the same accident? Were they still alive?
Becoming very perturbed, I was about to get in the car and turn it around when I glimpsed my mother's gray Ford Maverick approaching in the distance. Phew!
It turned out that they had blown a tire and that some kind soul had stopped to change it for them. Thank goodness those were the days when we all carried proper spares. We proceeded to Mom's vacation spot, had a quick lunch, and then I turned back toward home with Sue and Sha safely in the car.
Thankfully those days are past us. With cellphones, we can quickly notify the other car and even if unnotified, the "Find My Phone" app quickly tells me exactly where they are.
ReplyDeleteI still have a proper spare. Doesn't everyone? That bit surprised me.
ReplyDeleteI have one of those little donut tires -- don't go over 50 and don't go far. But I'm not sure I could change it without AAA! (Which is why road trips are one of the few places I carry my cell phone!)
ReplyDeleteJeanie, you could if you were in a dead phone area. Been there, changed that. They also hide the jack, these days.
DeleteI don't know if my spare is a proper tire or one of the small things. I was able to change a tire but those days are long past. I would need to call someone to help, which as Ed, said, is the benefit of carrying a phone.
ReplyDeleteI am not permitted to leave home without my phone.
DeleteYou must have been so worried about where they were.
ReplyDeleteWorst case scenario was going through my head.
DeleteI can just imagine how worried you were. How fortunate for them that help was right there!
ReplyDeleteWe carry a proper spare but it is unwieldy because our van has no place to store it! These vans come with those run-flat tires, no spare. That might be okay for town living but not where we live. So the spare is almost always with us, a great hulk in the back of the seats.
The space they give you for a spare won't accommodate a spare, at least not in our case.
DeleteYou remind me of the time I had car trouble as a young mother, returning home from a springtime trip north to visit family in the sugar bush. Cell phones didn't exist, and I had no money, but wanted to show my appreciation to the good Samaritan, so gave him the gallon of maple syrup I'd been sent home with.
ReplyDeleteWhat could be more Canadian?
DeleteTHat must have been worrying. Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers.
ReplyDeleteDid you ever berate yourself for not being there to change the tire?
ReplyDeleteI hate that particular worry, when you can't do anything to fix it! I'm glad they were ok, I love the coffee pic from yesterday by the way.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting what a photo not at all connected with an event can bring back such a memory Glad everyone was safe and that the worrying was needless, which of course you didn't know at the time you were worried 😏
ReplyDeleteI remember the worry and waiting before we had cell phones. I think I have an actual spare; it was one of the many selling points for me. Hope I never have to deal with it though!
ReplyDeleteNothing increases the stress level when somebody has disappeared. It wouldn't happen these days with cell phones.
ReplyDeleteWow, how nice to have someone change their tire. No wonder they were late.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great memory link...a simple blob of paper that had all those emotions connected to it. I inherited my father's car in Houston when he had died, and my sis said someone had gone over it and it was in road worthy shape. When I was on an awful long bridge over black water in Louisiana on my way home to Florida, I had a flat. Didn't know a thing about how it's jack worked...there was a special place to put it, which I didn't know. A nice couple stopped, as semi trucks whizzed by and he changed it, and I went to the nearest town's tire store and purchased new tires. I could not loosen the lug nuts today that have been air-drilled-on even if I tried.
ReplyDeleteWe have a patch kit instead of a spare. Ridiculous! I can imagine you relief at the sight of them!
ReplyDeleteOh goodness, yes, what a memory! I'm so glad that your mom had a spare, and that someone stopped to help them! MAYBE I could change my own tire? But I'm not sure.
ReplyDeleteMusta been terrifying for a few minutes.
ReplyDeletePhotos like this one triggered stories and memories
ReplyDeleteWonderful how that photo brought back the mem!
ReplyDeleteThings always seemed to work out back then.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how important and interesting our memories become in time. You explained it well and then we saw the picture differently. Well done AC Aloha!
ReplyDelete