A Story From the Past

 

 

      Once upon a time, I had one of these. Back in the last half of the 70s, International Harvester put out the Scout as an all purpose vehicle, but the public was not in the mood to purchase, and I believe it was only manufactured in 77, 78, and 79.

    Now, all the above is not really important for this post. It began this morning as I noticed a text from Dwayne, telling me that IH had sold the rights to Volkswagen to use the Scout name and produce a EV, to be manufactured by 2028 in South Carolina.

    Then he closed his note with this ending "Pitchfork not included".

    And the memories came flooding back to my mind. I have not located a picture of my vehicle, but I'll post it separately if I can find one. Mine was brown, with a fold-down rear seat that gave us a big cargo area. The back opening was a big door and the whole door raised when opened. It was great for carrying stuff, but here is where the pitchfork came in.

    The door was heavy, and the hydraulics to raise it and keep it up were not adequate. Soon the door would not remain in a raised condition but no one we contacted could remedy the fault. The solution was a pitchfork. If you opened the trunk and raised the door, then took a regular pitchfork it was just the length to keep the door up. With the tines of the fork fitted into the rear bumper and the handle end pushed into a crease in the risen back door, it was a steady prop. When you finished, just slide the fork out of its places, and pitch it in the back. We used that system without incident, but if someone borrowed the car/truck without being briefed on the makeshift solution, there was trouble. The home for the pitchfork was in the trunk, and we knew why. That back door was heavy!

    
    There were two obvious faults with this, our farm car. The gear shift was between the front seats in the floor, and insulated with a rubber sleeve to keep the heat of the running car out of the inside passenger cabin. As that sleeve aged, more and more of the engine heat came into the cabin. It was great in the winter cold, but not so much in the summer season. The other was an economic downer. The Scout drank gas.

    Both Donna and Doug learned to drive the Scout, and both had experiences that wove themselves into the fabric of family lore.

     Donna was coming home one afternoon when she made a friend of the mailbox. She drove up to the box to check the mail, but got a little close and knocked the passenger side mirror from the door so that that mirror spent the rest of its short life dangling from the door held by a couple of wires. When questioned about the incident, her quip became a classic go to: "Well, that mirror was not very good anyway".

    Doug inherited the Scout when it was time for him to learn and then use the vehicle. One day in winter, coming thru the McCallie Ave tunnel after a slight snowfall. the backend of the car met a Carta Bus. The bus had failed to stop and Doug got a heavy bump. It was enough to dislodge the front drivers seat which put him in an almost prone position, lying on his back looking at the interior of the car from a rear seat. Fortunately, he was not injured. The bump from the bus was also hard enough to knock off the oil filter from the oil line. It fell to the street, resulting in all of the oil running onto the pavement. Doug had to be pushed out of the tunnel by a police car which had arrived on the scene.

    This very well could have been a tragic entanglement for Doug, but he was fine. The Scout however was not drivable . The Chattanooga Bus Line was self-insured, and offered us $1,600 and the disabled vehicle which we jumped at. The repair was minimal, and before many days, we had a new oil filter, and a repaired front seat.

    Doug continued driving a newly painted Scout to school and other events. The new color was Imron Blue, an airplane paint that looked great on a plane, not so much on a car. But it was a McCallie blue body with a white roof and stood out in a crowd.

    After graduating McCallie in 1980, Doug took the shiny blue Scout to Emory. One day it quit running and the local auto mechanic said he would get it back to Chattanooga, fix it, and take it off our hands. For a few years afterwards we would continue to see the Blue Scout around the Apison and Collegedale area.

        I have looked everywhere for pictures of the Scout, but unsuccessfully. It, however, is in our collective memories. We sold it to that aforementioned filling station mechanic, where we traded while we lived in Apison. Its mental images have brought many stories to light and quite a few laughs over this time.

    By 2028, this new version of the Scout should be seen around town. If you are prone to a vehicle of this type, check it out, but be sure to see if it comes with a pitchfork.

    

"If my people who are called by my name...."

 From 2 Chronicles 7:14:

If my people who bear my name, humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

(Holman Bible CSB)

Only Eighty More to Go..

   More than a decade ago, I read a news article that featured a man who had visited all the county courthouses in the country, some 3,000 or more. After visiting a few near us in South Georgia, Mayre and I decided that this could be a doable process, at least in a small way. 

   We liked the idea of traveling through Georgia, using the state roads, staying off the Interstate, and spending time in the smaller cities and towns here about.

   We began small, just visiting the counties near us, but then, as the bug bit us, we ventured out and covered the state's 156 county seats, each with its own courthouse, some new, but a lot of them older with a lot of history, and folks happy to reveal it to us.

   So why not pop the question to Carolyn? 

   No, not the "BIG" one, I got that one down already, but a simple one, "want to have a little adventure today?"

   After all, we had the afternoon after church free, and there were old buildings and people ready to impart facts in places we had not known about. 

   In the 5+ years we had been married, we had visited a bunch of cities and towns while getting acquainted with extended family, getting me in touch with Carolyn's bunch, and her finding out about mine.

   Tennessee is a medium size state, and we had already been several of these around here. But there are 95 courthouses, sitting in 95 county seats, ranging from small towns to pretty good sized cities.

   We have been in fourteen as this Sunday began, so, only 81 more to go.

   We scooted out of the metro Chattanooga area on 153, and just south of Dayton, we turned west to go through Jones Gap, down into beautiful Sequatchie County on my kind of roads; four -lane and limited traffic. South on 28 for a couple of miles, we came to Dunlap.

   One thing about courthouses on a Sunday. There is plenty of parking. Another thing; no one to answer questions. Maybe a standoff.

   I took a few shots of the exterior, read the inscriptions on a couple of monuments, and enjoyed the relative quiet and ease of the small town Sunday afternoon. Wanted to find some information on the building, but could not find a cornerstone. One possible clue was the plaque on the front near the front door which gave the names of a building committee and dated 1911. Google confirmed the date.

   One fact that I like to establish if there is someone who can; Since the country was formed in 1857, was there a precursor to this courthouse. Was the older courthouse(s) destroyed in some way, or was it still standing?

   After walking around the property (a true courthouse square), we started back for town central. A sign with the inscription reading Historic Dunlap Coke Ovens beckoned us drive west, which we did. At the end of a dead end road, we found a park with a museum, and exhibits from the coke ovens era. 

   At the beginning of the 20th century, a company was chartered and began mining coal on the higher land above the park. Then over the next 20 years or so, 228 beehive ovens were constructed to turn the coal into coke to supply the needs of the foundries located in Chattanooga, just down the road. The company then running the operation ceased operations in 1927 as the Depression took effect.

   The tour guide at the museum, Mr. Hugh, was a treasure trove of information about the park, the industry it contained, and answered our questions about the era and the business of coke. Carolyn can give you the how, when and why of this coke process and it's fascinating story.

   There are stories and there are people who lived, worked, and worshipped in the town. When you find a small county seat, you can be sure that the stories are there, too.

   Courthouses are the pretense for getting out, and you can never know in advance what the real reason will turn out to be.

   Adventures await!

   Eighty more to go.

   One at a time.

   

   

A Surprise Encounter

    I have written already about the Chattanooga District Pickleball tournament back in the first of this month (February, 2024), but there was one other item that should have been included. 

   The 2nd day of the tournament was for Doubles, and Jack and I, had to show up at the Community Center in St. Elmo. The directors had set up some matches for us. Even though we won our age group (85-89) (against no competition), we joined the 3 teams that represented the 80-84 group and played a round robin. This counted as the younger age group's medal round and gave us 3 matches to enjoy.

   As we met our first opponents at the net for introductions, I realized that I had seen this man somewhere in the past.

   He introduced himself as Carl. First names are the standard for these matches and I think I know why. It is hard enough to keep up with the score, who is serving, and which server number you are, without trying to remember names.

   As we walked off after the first game, Carl said "I think I know you from somewhere" and I replied the same. After a couple of minutes, he exclaimed "I believe it may have been church". That rang a bell with me, as we finished our match, and moved on to our next matches.

   On the way home, I related to Carolyn the exchange, and she acknowledged that that could be the point of our common recognition.

   As we waited for church to begin on the next Sunday, I saw Carl standing in the aisle close to our seats. He was speaking with a fellow pickle baller. (Carl is in the blue shirt.)

   It was the moment I realized where I had seen him and why the recognition was sketchy on both our parts.

   Most every Sunday, at the 8:30 service, this has been my view of Carl. 

   For about 5 years, we have been worshiping together at Brainerd Baptist, but never got much past "Good Morning". Now we are friends with several things in common. 

    Carl Ellis is his name. He is a newbie Pickleball player who has a good future in the sport. He made a bunch of good plays which did not look like a 4 month career in the game. Glad we got to play his team when we did.

   

Pickleball ......Day 2

 One plus One equals Two

    Yesterday I played 1 Singles game to 15, today Jack and I needed to play 3 other teams in best 2 of 3  doubles sets to 11.

    It was worth it. We both qualified for singles and doubles in the State finals to be held later this year. 

Day One--Singles

    Mission Accomplished

        3 People signed up for 85-89 age group playing singles

        2 People showed up to play

        1 Gold Medal

        

        

Here we come again...

    It's that time again.

   Tennessee Senior Olympics is holding Pickleball tournaments over the state beginning tomorrow as a prelude for the 2024 State tournament, which will be held in late summer. I will be playing singles and doubles in this Chattanooga Division action.

   Tomorrow will be the singles for my age group and Thursday will be the day for Men's Doubles. The age groups are the same as last year, so I will play in the 85-89 bracket.

   As in years past, the 85-89 list is slim in both singles and doubles, 3 players in the singles and 2 teams in the doubles. If you show up, you get a medal. Becoming an Olympic medalist is simply a matter of signing up for the tournament and being able to move and have a heartbeat on the date of play.

   Tomorrow is the big day. Singles at 8:30 in the morning. 3 men signed up. One is my doubles partner, Jack, and we play together at least once a week. We know each other's game and style. The 3rd man in the grouping has been my opponent in doubles but not in singles.

   It will be fun.

   Medals will be won.

   Look for results this weekend. They may sound impressive, but remember, the 85-89 bracket contains only those that can sign up and show up.