Reader Comments for Ridin’ Out the Recession:

Reader feedback From: Larry Dear Dub and Deb, Made me laugh. Several summers ago, about 50 plus or minus, I took my trip to the "Big Lake"! My Uncle Bob had been in an auto accident and was in a wheel chair. He could drive but not get around very well on his own. He was a little crazy on a good day! Anyway, his Dad had a trailer park on Marathon Key and Uncle Bob decided to drive from De Land to Marathon with myself and his three small children. He sold it as a better place to convalesce for awhile. I think he wanted to get away from my Mother’s younger sister! We had one of those crazy trips that all kids love. We stopped at all those eccentric roadside tourist traps. We saw wigwams, snake pits, alligator farms, the largest Magnolia Tree, biggest Cypress, we saw it all! We all decided to go to the "Big Lake".

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Uncle Bob had a cast on one leg, a cast on his arm.  Uncle Bob pulled his Ford up to the dike and we drug his wheel chair out of the trunk and started for the lake.  We discovered a glitch in our plans.  We had to push Uncle Bob up the dike to see the lake.  It all seems easy except, Uncle Bob had to depend upon a two year old, a four year old, a six year old and a 10 year old to get him up the dike and back to the car.  Well, as you can imagine, this was a recipe for disaster!  Uncle Bob weighed about 180 lbs, had a left leg cast and a right arm cast (latter he cut off with a dovetail saw!), anyway, we got him up the dike and lost him on the other side.  It was one of those America's Funniest Video's moments!  We were soon helped by the kindness of strangers!  It was a great summer for a kid.  I fished every day, stayed up late, lived in a trailer by myself, ate mangoes and lived the life of Huck Finn.  It was great.  Uncle Bob never let us forget how we dumped him in the lake, he was a tough guy that didn't like to be embarrassed!    Thanks for the memory.    Larry, New Orleans, by way of Texas, Florida and other wanderings! More...