I Digress #6 - Joy Ride!

I LOVE this particular trip down memory lane! It brings a smile to my face and belly laughter to boot! :) I had to dig through countless old photos for hours on end to find pictures to help tell my story. I'm all about the visual aids. :) I only found a few and they are old, faded and dirty, but hey, they'll do. :)


Growing up our family had a blue and white Van that almost each sibling got to drive once they hit high school. :) It was the ultimate friendmobile! I called her Ole Bessie! I have many fun memories in Ole Bessie. Like for instance, on occasion we would pile our friends in the back of the van and drive around in an empty parking lot all crazy-like... accelerating and braking, turning sharp corners and zig-zagging. The purpose was of course to create MAYHEM in the back of the Van with bodies flying into each other and people getting squished.. Screams and laughter could be heard for miles!! Ahem, DON'T ASK ME... I do not know why we thought that was sooooooooo fun! People would get bruised up or have the wind knocked out of them and I think someone's glasses even got broken one time.. yet, almost twice a month (after the bruises had healed) everyone wanted to do it again... so off to the empty lot we'd go. :) I think a couple of you might even remember these fun times.... way back in the early 90's!! If you do, chime in!! :) I searched for pictures of my Van piled with a bunch of friends but never found any. Shucks!



That Van started getting extremely broken-in by the time I was using it.. The heavy sliding door, if opened too far, would slide right off its track and the back half would crash to the ground. It was kinda embarrassing.. but people seemed to still love Ole Bessie. :) One time my dad needed to haul something and he took the two benches out. When he was done he put them back in but for some reason he didn't lock the legs of the front bench into place. That night I took Ole Bessie out to pick up some friends for a Friday night. As soon as I accelerated, the whole front bench flew back and landed on the bench behind it. It startled me and I slammed on my brakes and the bench came flying back into place!!

And then.............. I began to grin mischievously and rather excessively... Mr. Evil started seeping through my kind-hearted exterior. I was about to give my friends a ride in my van that they would never forget!!! :) Muwhahahahahaahahaha!! >:}

I picked my friends up and made sure to say (as always), "Buckle up Buttercup".... It was dark that night, so my trusting friends could not see the Mr. Evil grin that was spread widely across my face. I could hardly contain the excitement that was bubbling up inside of me over the anticipation of their reactions!! I probably seemed a little more giddy than usual that night, and they were about to experience exactly WHY that was. :oÞ~

I backed out of their driveway slowly... Put Ole Bessie in drive, and looked back at them and said are you guys ready??? I then stomped on the gas, the van took off with a vengeance and SO DID THE GIRLS!! They screeeeeeeamed as they unexpectedly flew backwards and their feet were high in the air!!!!!!!!! I kept driving as my evil belly laughter filled the van.. once they regained their sense of awareness after that big shock.. they too started laughing uncontrollably.. they were stuck in the reclined position, resting nicely on the seat of the back bench. After a minute or two I asked them if they needed help getting their bench back up. They of course agreed, thinking I would pull over and help them... But no.. I wasn't playing nice that night!! Instead, I slammed on the brakes which sent their bench flying back upright and they screeeeeeeamed again!! And then followed the laughter!! HAHAHAHA!! :)

I'm so happy my dad didn't lock that bench into place because what a fun night that ended up turning into!! My friends wanted to pick up more friends and do it to them!! Apparently, Mr. Evil rubbed off on them a little as well. hehehe :) That turned into the "cool thing to do" on the weekends. We'd seek for new friends who hadn't experienced the roller coaster Van. :) That experience WINS as my most FAVORITE memory of Ole Bessie. :)

Ole Bessie broke down years later and adorned our carport for several years.. until we finally said our goodbye's and parted ways. *sniffle* Rest in Peace Ole Bessie. Thanks for all the fun memories! I love you. :)