summer of '69

Had to make a long tiresome trip yesterday.

All the way up I65 to drop off my little man to visit with his grandparents.

Somewhere in Kentuk, Little man asleep in the car seat next to me, near the Corvette Museum my car began to shake. The rumble concerned me at first. A vibration and rumble is not a sound one hears, even at 80, in a Toyota Prius. Then I caught them in the rear view mirror. Yellow bumble bee color, Silver hood latches gleaming in the sun, Raised breather on the intake, Convertible with the top down. The driver, a man with long gray hair blowing in the wind.

Getting larger in the mirror and the resonant rumble in the car getting to the level that I was concerned that my passenger might awake. They pulled alongside. I saw her.

But for the gray in her hair and the lines in her face the couple might have been on their way to the drug store for a soda or the drive-in movie.

The Homecoming queen and the quarterback, 90 miles per hour on Highway 65 in a bumble bee yellow SS396.

Fifty years late for the senior prom.

Some things change. Some never do.

As the car passed and disappeared out of sight I thought about letting the hammer down and showing him what an electric car can do. Out of concern for my passenger I let it go. I am much too mature for that sort of thing.

I did notice as he passed that the trunk didn't fit just right. Nothing wrong with it. Just like a thousand that I have seen before. Came from the factory like that. Like so many things in '69 they looked better than they really were. Mismatched colors, cracks in the paint, tears in the fabric.

And I am not talking about the cars.

But in some ways 1969 was the pinnacle of civilization. The couple likely lay in the back of that car listening to Moody Blues or Janis Joplin with the top down. They watched the moon as Neal Armstrong landed in the moondust and the owner of that Chevy took a giant leap for mankind.

Today they are just going north on 65 on a sweet September day. The rumble of the exhaust raising memories of a better time deep inside them both.

1969, Prettiest boy in school married the most handsome young woman in the county. Likely worked a lifetime, raised the kids and retired. Fifty years and the payoff is a road trip to Canada with the top down. One more trip as summer turns into fall.

And I am not talking about the trees.