What’s Your Ride?

I made it home from South Dakota early yesterday afternoon. There were lots of newspapers waiting for me to go through. We subscribe to print editions of the Bismarck Tribune (6 days a week), the Dickinson Press (1 day a week), and the Rock County Star Herald (1 day a week). They are usually delivered on time. I was only gone 4 days , but that still left a lot of news to read.

I was tickled by an article in the Star Herald about Luverne’s recent High School Homecoming and the ABC Parade (Anything But A Car), which challenged students to drive on a parade route from the ice arena across town to the high school in unusual vehicles. Motorcycles were the most common, followed by tractors, lawn mowers. scooters, golf carts, a race car, a bulldozer, and a dump truck. How fun!

My first vehicle was a very old Nash Rambler my dad got very cheap from someone in 1973. I graduated to a Chevy Chevette when I got to college. I would probably have driven in an ABC Parade in one of my Dad’s U-Haul trucks. No CDL needed for that!

What did you drive to school in? What was your first vehicle? Ever been in a parade? What news outlets do you subscribe to?

35 thoughts on “What’s Your Ride?”

  1. My first car was a 1963 Chevy Impala, which I drove to high school.
    Free online subscriptions only to The Daily Show, MeidasTouch, Democratic Underground, The Hill, Mediaite.
    Never been in a parade.

    Liked by 3 people

  2. Just before my senior year of high school (I graduated in 1969), my brother gave up trying to dodge the draft and volunteered for it. With him gone, the 1960 Ford Falcon became available to me. I accepted it. That was the first of my many automotive bad decisions over the years.

    3 years ago, my wife and I acquired the first new car either of us has ever “owned” (we still owe on it). We’re electric now, with a Chevy Bolt.

    I marched in a few demonstrations while in Taiwan, about political and social issues mostly. Since retiring and relocating to Michigan 6 years ago, I only do the annual “parade of flags” around the civic center parking lot, carrying a flag from Taiwan.

    Liked by 5 people

  3. I rode my bike or walked to school. All Danish high school students did back then (I graduated in 1959); in fact, most of them still do.

    My first vehicle was the 1963 VW bug which I became co-owner of once I married wasband in 1965. The one and only new car I ever bought was a 1973 Mercury Capri. Since then I have owned mostly second hand SAABs.

    Do protest marches count as parades? I’ve been in several of those. During the years I worked at the alternative school, it was mandatory fun to participate in the annual Cinco de Mayo parade. I walked the entire parade route with Pablo, my wire-haired dachshund, much to the delight of small children along the route. For good measure, I also walked in the Dia de los Muertos parade a few times.

    I subscribe to a number of news sources, all electronically: the NYT, Washington Post, Pioneer Press (the Saint Paul paper), Jyllands-Posten (largest Danish Newspaper), The Guardian, The Atlantic, Heather Cox-Richardson’s Letters from an American, Joyce Vance’s Civil Discourse, The Intercept, Reuters Daily Brief, The Beinart Notebook. I’m sure I’m forgetting a couple. I’ve also lately started following a website that archives all of Trump’s TRUTH Social posts. I don’t recommend that. He’s getting more deranged by the minute.

    Liked by 7 people

  4. School bus or my feet.

    My wife’s 1977 Toyota Corolla (she bought it before we married, so I “adopted” it.

    Yes, I had to put together a marching band with my HS kids for the town festival. Only did that one year, but the year before I formed a Dixieland band with some of the kids and we rode in the parade on a hay wagon.

    Owatonna People’s Press, Sunday Strib, MPR/NPR. Also Politifact if you consider that a news outlet.

    Chris in Owatonna

    Liked by 4 people

  5. Walked to elementary school and bus for junior and senior high.

    First car was acquired in college – a Plymouth Duster with a white racing stripe on metallic blue body. After that were three Pontiacs, three Saturns, now a Honda Civic.

    I was in summer marching band from ninth through twelfth grades – several parades each summer.

    Subscribe to MN Star Tribune (Sunday delivery and online), Heather Cox Richardson’s Letter From an American, MPR, and follow MSNBC online.

    Liked by 4 people

  6. Glad you made it safely back.
    Grandma’s 1967 Plymouth Valiant was my first car. built like a tank, no heat, doors didn’t lock, but it was a car. Probably half of 11th and all of 12th I drove that to school.

    Been in several parades. Marching band in HS, pulled a float for a couple. Accidentally drove into one in a small town. There was a gap between “floats” and we were trying to get around the parade when we realized we had gotten into the middle of it. We smiled and waved and took the next side street.

    I follow MPR and the Strib online. I used to buy the Strib daily, and I always liked having the paper paper. The local paper, the Post Bulletin, is ridiculously expensive for what it is. 20 pages on a good day. 13 pages today. That includes sports, ads, and comics. A town of 100,000 and that’s all you can find?? We used to share it with our neighbors, now I read it online though the college.

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  7. WP isn’t liking me again at the college.

    Sorry if you see this twice.

    Glad you made it safely back.
    Grandma’s 1967 Plymouth Valiant was my first car. built like a tank, no heat, doors didn’t lock, but it was a car. Probably half of 11th and all of 12th I drove that to school.

    Been in several parades. Marching band in HS, pulled a float for a couple. Accidentally drove into one in a small town. There was a gap between “floats” and we were trying to get around the parade when we realized we had gotten into the middle of it. We smiled and waved and took the next side street.

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  8. WP isn’t liking me again at the college.

    Sorry if you see this two or three times.

    Glad you made it safely back.
    Grandma’s 1967 Plymouth Valiant was my first car. built like a tank, no heat, doors didn’t lock, but it was a car. Probably half of 11th and all of 12th I drove that to school.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Part 2:

    Glad you made it safely back.
    Grandma’s 1967 Plymouth Valiant was my first car. built like a tank, no heat, doors didn’t lock, but it was a car. Probably half of 11th and all of 12th I drove that to school.

    Been in several parades. Marching band in HS, pulled a float for a couple. Accidentally drove into one in a small town. There was a gap between “floats” and we were trying to get around the parade when we realized we had gotten into the middle of it. We smiled and waved and took the next side street.

    Like

  10. WP doesn’t like it if I say too much in one post. Short ones seem to work.

    Part 2:

    Glad you made it safely back.
    Grandma’s 1967 Plymouth Valiant was my first car. built like a tank, no heat, doors didn’t lock, but it was a car. Probably half of 11th and all of 12th I drove that to school.

    Like

  11. Part 3

    Been in several parades. Marching band in HS, pulled a float for a couple. Accidentally drove into one in a small town. There was a gap between “floats” and we were trying to get around the parade when we realized we had gotten into the middle of it. We smiled and waved and took the next side street.

    Like

  12. Well that didn’t work.

    Been in several parades. Marching band in HS, pulled a float for a couple. Accidentally drove into one in a small town. There was a gap between “floats” and we were trying to get around the parade when we realized we had gotten into the middle of it. We smiled and waved and took the next side street.

    I follow MPR and the Strib online. I used to buy the Strib daily,  and I always liked having the paper paper. The local paper, the Post Bulletin, is ridiculously expensive for what it is. 20 pages on a good day. 13 pages today. That includes sports, ads, and comics. A town of 100,000 and that’s all you can find?? We used to share it with our neighbors, now I read it online though the college.

    Like

  13. Been in several parades. Marching band in HS, pulled a float for a couple. Accidentally drove into one in a small town. There was a gap between “floats” and we were trying to get around the parade when we realized we had gotten into the middle of it. We smiled and waved and took the next side street.

    Like

  14. Trying yet again.
    Part 2
    Been in several parades. Marching band in HS, pulled a float for a couple. Accidentally drove into one in a small town. There was a gap between “floats” and we were trying to get around the parade when we realized we had gotten into the middle of it. We smiled and waved and took the next side street.

    Like

  15. More:

    Been in several parades. Marching band in HS, pulled a float for a couple. Accidentally drove into one in a small town. There was a gap between “floats” and we were trying to get around the parade when we realized we had gotten into the middle of it. We smiled and waved and took the next side street.

    I follow MPR and the Strib online. I used to buy the Strib daily, and I always liked having the paper paper. The local paper, the Post Bulletin, is ridiculously expensive for what it is. 20 pages on a good day. 13 pages today. That includes sports, ads, and comics. A town of 100,000 and that’s all you can find?? We used to share it with our neighbors, now I read it online though the college.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. I finally emailed this to myself and posted it from my phone. Nice to have a way around technology when you need it.
      I have to do the same thing with my college printer. The network won’t allow it, but I can wifi into it from my phone!
      ha! Take that!

      Liked by 2 people

    2. I miss the paper version of the Pioneer Press, but the delivery service was hit and miss to such a degree that I had the PP on speed-dial to report it. We struggled with it for years, and finally gave up.

      Liked by 3 people

  16. I got a ride to school with my dad, who was the director of guidance at the time… car was a nice yellow 1964 Chevy…
    But we had a 1950 Plymouth called the Tan Bomb as a second car, and that is what I was allowed to drive.

    First car of my own was a 1972 VW bug, Texas yellow, that my dad helped me drive.

    I was in a 1977 or ’78 May Day Parade in Powderhorn Park, as one of the segments of a dragon. I had a friend who had a friend..

    Only paper we get is the Winona Post, the freebee.

    Liked by 2 people

  17. I walked or bussed to school.

    My first car was a 12-year-old Oldsmobile Cutlass that my mother had kept for a few years after my father died, although she didn’t have a driver’s license. She figured either my sister or I might take it over. It hadn’t been driven for maybe four or five years, except to be moved when necessary.

    It was a good car for me, though it was white, and very rusty. Rust on a white car is especially visible.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. yeah
      i had a white 1970 thunderbird that rusted quickly. there was an issue with steel for a few years and car companies bought really bad steel that rusted so quickly that it was pathetic. my 70 vw karmin ghia rusted in half. the body literally broke in the middle while i was driving down the road

      Liked by 1 person

  18. I have an online subscription for the St. Paul paper, but have stopped getting the paper copy. I stopped that rather reluctantly, because I used to really enjoy the Sunday paper especially, but there’s no longer much to the paper edition except ads.

    Liked by 3 people

  19. I now have a new MacBook Air, and am in the process of learning how it differs from my old one. I doubt that it will fix tmy ongoing sporadic problems with WP; time will tell.

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  20. first car a ford cortina only available in canada
    my fargo cousin dan had it and couldnt get it serviced in fargo
    i drove it until the hood blew open driving down rhe freeway and i had to look between the wipers and the little space between the engine compartment and the hood as it lay on my windshield while driving down the freeway i had to pull into the center median without hitting it(scary) it could have been fixed but it had bad karma cousin dan gave it to me after hed been hit by a train in an ice storm

    drove to school in my tan 69 vw bus. i loved that thing and drive it til it died. then into a fiat convertable a 73 riveria. 77 mercury marquis, then vans for a long time volvos honda accord ( hows katherine)

    https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=y_UbR67zOg4&si=JiJ-S_u2nuSTr3Qk

    Liked by 3 people

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