Family Legends
Grandpa’s Ride
Back in the nineteen-teens, before Dad was born, Grandpa was driving his cows from the pasture to the barn for milking. Because his pasture was across the road from the barn, he had to cross the dirt road at the front of his property several times. He unlatched the door on the barn side of the road first and opened the gate. Then he went to the other side of the road where the cows were that gate. He then herded the cows across the road. When the cows were back across the road and in the cows in the barn pasture, he latched that gate and went across the road and re-latched that gate. On his way back across the road to go to the house, a huge roadster came barreling down the road. At this time, cars were still rare, and this particular car had huge wide running boards running down both sides.
Because the road was narrow and fences flanked both sides of the road, grandpa barely got out of the way of the massive vehicle. One of the running boards, however caught one of his pantlegs and dragged him several feet before the driver of the car was able to stop. Because Grandfather was on the passenger side of the vehicle, the man had to go around the car to the side where grandfather was. By the time the man got there, grandpa was already getting up and dusting off his pants.
The man was flustered, “Oh, I am so sorry. Are you hurt.”