Joy Ride

This morning I woke up from a strange dream and remembered a funny event that I just felt like I needed to write down here for my kids. I often dream about my childhood home and last night my dream took place there in the pasture around my parents house and I think that is what made me thing of this incident which really did happen even it does sound like a dream.

Here is an old picture of my parents house at about 1990  notice the long drive way up the hill and the white fence all along the driveway. There is an island that the driveway wraps around and then there is space at the top for three cars to park.

When I started driving I was given a car to drive that looked a bit like this one but this is not it I just found this one on the internet. I can't remember what year the car was made. I was just happy to have a car to drive.  I would drive up this driveway and park backward into my spot at the top. 

One Saturday a few months after I started driving we got a knock at the door. The lady standing there wasn't familiar at all but she told us one of our cars was down in the street. I ran out onto the lawn and looked down to the street and sure enough my little black car was down at the bottom of the hill tangled in the barbed wire fence that ran along the road. It was partly sticking into the road and partly stuck in the swampy area that always seemed to be at the bottom of the hill.

How did the car get there?

I ran down the driveway to the car and then looked back at the house and followed the path it had taken from the parking spot up near the house, down a 3 ft drop onto the little island the driveway wraps around, then another 3 foot drop to the driveway, through the white wooden fence which now had a few planks busted down, through the pasture and down into the swamp.

I looked at the car and it still looked fine except for the barbed wire scratches across the hood. I ran back up to the house and got my keys and returned to the car. While on my way to the drivers side I noticed some little muddy socks in the mud. That is strange! Then it hit me. My car didn't go down the hill on its own.  I realized my little 9 year old sister (with downs syndrome) had gotten into my car and released the parking break. The car, by shear force of gravity took her on a ride.

I ran back up to the house and called for Julie and sure enough she was there in the house playing as if nothing strange had even happened.  She did have some muddy pants which confirmed my theory about how my car ended up at the bottom of the hill.

The car needed a little help to get out of the mud and wire but once it was out it ran just fine. In fact I drove it for a year or so after this incident. I wish I could say that was the only joy ride Julie went on in this car. There was another time she did a similar thing but must have turned the wheel because rather than going down over the island she turned and crashed through the fence higher up and into the field on the right of the above picture. That was a close one however since she had headed the car toward my parent's propane tank. That could have been a major issue but luckily she missed it.

Growing up with Julie was always eventful! She certainly kept things interesting.

This was just one of many events in the life of my family!

I tried to find a picture of my sister from about this time and couldn't find one in my limited collection. Maybe my Mom can find one. I would love to have one of Julie from about this time.