During our travels in the summer time as we were growing up, 3 kids in the back seat traveling the country with our parents as dad preached...My mother tried to break up the monotony of the miles... sometimes we sang, sometimes we played games, and often the 3 of us got tired of sitting so close to each other, so we did our share of griping and complaining. After all, this was a CAR, not an SUV! ... with No A.C...
One of the games we played was to see who could score the most points by being the first to see:
a white horse...
a volkswagon bug...
and the most points always went to whoever could spot a red haired lady!
I'm not sure how many of them we ever spotted, especially in the middle of Wyoming or Nevada, where the miles stretched for days...
My dad loved cheese, and he especially loved limburger cheese! I don't even know if they still make it... probably not, why would they keep making anything that smelled that bad!
He would take that cheese out of a cooler and eat it with some fruit, usually an over ripe banana, the kind with LOTS of black spots. (He assured us that those spots just brought out the full flavor and goodness!) ...
ALWAYS, the windows were rolled down to try to keep a little breeze going, and when that limberger smell flew out of the front window into the back seat, all 3 of us shouted & GROANED!!
Dad just smiled and enjoyed every bite! And on we drove...
"So eat your meals heartily, not worrying about what others say about you..."1 Cor.10:13 (MSG)
18 comments:
Sonja, I love reading about your family car trips. We used to drive to Florida to visit my mother's parents after they moved. We had no air conditioning either and there were three of us kids too. My dad often drove through the night and we'd sleep in the car and us kids would fight for position. LOL
Lindburger cheese stinks! I can imagine having to bear that smell...
Keep sharing your stories with us. I'm loving it.
The 3rd sis,
Debbie
Well, yer dad sounds like my kind a guy! HUGE cheese fan, but not Limberger, no thank you.
One time I even insisted on bringing my cheese on the airplane. I put it in a cooler and stowed it in the overhead bin (this was before the days of heightened security). All of a sudden the lady sitting in the row ahead of me is wondering why something is dripping on her head. You would have thought the plane was going down! Turns out, my cooler was upside down, and the ice was melting. Oh well, what can I say? It's cheese! It's so worth it...
Oh yes...what did families do without A/C, video games and TV in their cars? They got creative and made memories. Dad would say, "if you don't stop arguing I am going to stop this car!" I don't remember him ever doing it!!! I guess we got quite!
My Dad would stop and buy beef jerky...we would each get one small piece to chew on for hours!!!
When you put this out in a book I want a copy!!
Oh Sonja, I just laughed and laughed when I read this. I can just see you guys smelling that cheese! Wheee! When I was young, we didn't have AC either, so we went with the windows rolled down. We used to count "cows" on our trips. I so enjoy your stories!
Dear Sonja,
I'm out on permission, enjoying your rides.
You are telling family history as well as a piece of American history. Back in those days, where everything seemed to go up, up and the good times would never end.
I don't know about your father's cheese, but You made me remember that my Dad also ate smelly Roquefort cheese when I grew up. We called it moldy cheese, and no one could or can make me eat that cheese.
Please, keep those stories coming.
From Felisol
Loved this! I remember those Sunday car rides too--I did not like them! The smell that I recall is my grandmama's juicy fruit chewing gum!!!! How funny!
Hugs!
Susan
Your stories make me smile
haha How I enjoy these stories of your car trips. How it brings me back to some of ours too. Talk about smells. We had 6 kids and a beagle dog that frequently got sick...Oh how did we ever bear the day of no air conditioning?? We counted just about everything there was to count. Such good memories. Thanks for sharing yours ~ keep them coming. HUGS, Debbie
Sonja so very touching. Your family stories bring such warmth, thank you. Blessings.
The stories you post about your childhood touch my heart deeply Sonja. Stories are what unite us to one another... and as you share, you open up the window to your heart a little bit more.
This one is funny and really made me smile.
Love
Lidj
Enjoyed the story. I don't remember Dad ever pulling over, but mom..........yes. Great memories.
I am loving this series because it is so different from my childhood. I laughed when you mentioned car, not SUV. Now that brought back memories of enduring my little brother!
Loved reading this Sonja! You told it so vividly it was easy to imagine being there with you.
My older children love to tell their younger brother how they rode for 12 hours at the time stretched out in the back shield window of the car traveling to Disney World! Of course that was long before seat belts!
Nice memories of a much simpler time in life. So enjoyable!
Blessings,
Debra
Felt like I was there just in reading your heart.
Love and blessings!
Sonja! I just love reading your stories! You bring a chuckle to my heart every time!!
Love and Sweet Blessings!
Jackie
dear sonja..i was so happy to hear you on my blog what you said about mr.old geezer's post..
and now i have finally got some time to visit you and what a lot of memories this post brought to me!
your dad was a preacher...how great is that!!
when we lived in my beloved manitoba, the christians would drive every sunday 33 miles to pick up the nine kids and mom golden and take us to sunday school...oh boy they put in 132 miles a sunday..two round trips to take us to sunday school.
and like you guys we would sing a lot..and sometimes along with mom golden and her tribe, would be a few extra kids that were pentecostal coming with us to sunday school and we learned so many great songs from them..."what a day that will be" etc..maybe that is why i grew up to be a southern gospel lover sonja!
and that volkswagen game..my! !whenever any one of us saw one and whoever saw it first, would be allowed to punch the rest of the kids...saying with each punch.."one two three volkswagen...no return!
it was just bedlam one day when we passed a volkswagen factory and by the time THAT was through we had almost beaten each other to smithereens!!..ha! those were the good old days.
this is one great post sonja!!!love terry
ps..those people that put up so much with our wild bunch will sure have their reward in heaven! most of the kids and mom golden are saved and now all we wait for is dad golden and one sister to take god's gift of salvation.
that is a funny scripture to pick for such a 'smelly' story :) Mom loved this same smelly cheese too! Must have been the era of Limburger cheese. It probably lasted forever without any adverse effects :(
I found the following interesting form wikipedia.org :
It was first produced by Rudolph Benkerts in 1867 in his cellar from pasteurized goat's milk.
In its first month, the cheese is more firm and crumbly, similar to the texture of feta cheese. After about six weeks, the cheese becomes softer along the edges but is still firm on the inside and can be described as salty and chalky. After two months of its life, it is mostly creamy and much smoother. Once it reaches three months, the cheese produces its notorious smell because the bacterium used to ferment Limburger cheese and other rind-washed cheeses is Brevibacterium linens, the same one found on human skin that is partially responsible for body odor.
Hahahaha - body odor :)
hugs, patrina <")>><
I just scrolled through to read other great stories of your life on the road with your ministering parents. I laughed out loud at your mom wanting to soak her feet in beer. So funny! I loved the family trips with our family and so much of what you describe we did too.
You know, I feel sorry for these young families today who have all their fancy schmancy technology to keep them "occupied" on the road. What they're missing!!
Great post. I want to read more. Your blog is very much my cup of tea!
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