Taking The Twins For A Driving Lesson

[Gary Lewis]

Facebook told me that 8 years ago today I took the grandtwins for a ride in Rusty, the '81 F150.  In fact the caption says "Did some off-roading with the twins in "Pop Pop's rusty old truck"."  What's odd about it is that this very morning Holly suggested I take them for another driving lesson in Big Blue.

We did that last summer in the church parking lot (where the show is held) and I just put it in 4 low and 2nd gear and let them putt putt around.  Not sure where we'll go this time, but the picture was taken in the pasture at a friend's house so we might go back there and let them drive in the pasture.

We shall see, and I'll have more pics.  But here they are 8 years ago today:

[1986F150Six]

Gary Lewis wrote

We shall see, and I'll have more pics.  But here they are 8 years ago today:

And there you were 8 years ago, today!

[BigBrother-84]

Nice moments!


Every 8 years isn't too much for driving lessons!

[Gary Lewis]

Yes, there I was - 8 years younger.

We are set for another trip tomorrow, so I'll get another pic or three.  We are going back to the same place where we went for that pic, the field of a friend.  But last summer I let them drive around the parking lot at church in 2nd and 4 Low, which helped a lot with their idea of driving.  Tomorrow we'll have a lot more room in the field.

[Ford F834]

Old pickups make great memories!

[Gary Lewis]

Well, we did it!  Same field as 8 years ago, but today they were in charge. I put it into 2nd gear and 4 Low and they operated the clutch, the brake, and the steering wheel. We putt putted any place they wanted to go, up hill, down hill, through the ditches and around the trees. And they never once killed it.

[ckuske]

Great picture Gary, looks from the faces that a fun time was had by all!  Memories made all around.

[grumpin]

That’s awesome!

[Gary Lewis]

Thanks, guys!  We had a blast.  Each kid drove as long as s/he wanted to drive, and there were plenty of turns and obstacles to negotiate.

The EFI system really makes this easy.  With the idle RPM set to 650 the ECU keeps you there, uphill and down.  And in 2nd + Low range it just goes and goes and goes.

[Machspeed]

Beautiful grandchildren, Gary! And..... you've not aged a bit....LOL!

[Gary Lewis]

Thanks, John.  But you might want to re-read Luke 4:23.  

[BigBrother-84]

Gary Lewis wrote

Well, we did it!  Same field as 8 years ago, but today they were in charge.

Always fun to see growing kids!
Time goes so fast!

There was clearly a lot of joy and love in the truck's cab today!

Gary, you're building your grandchildren some endless memories, that's great!

[Gary Lewis]

Thanks, Jeff.  We have a lot of fun together.  

Just now my granddaughter and I got to talking about dust explosions and I explained that even steel will burn if ground fine enough.  She said her brother would love to see that, so later today we'll scoop up some grindings from around the bench grinder, get the propane torch, and see what happens.  

[BigBrother-84]

Lol!  I LOVE that kind of real life lessons.

[Dorsai]

I assume the next experiment after that will be proper thermite?  You're definitely the cool grandpa!

[Gary Lewis]

No, I don't think we are going to play with thermite. But we did do the ground steel experiment:

[BigBrother-84]

This demonstration definitely ignited the flame of science in their eyes.

[1986F150Six]

Good stuff, Gay!

[grumpin]

Cool! Neat to see the look on their faces!

I want to do that!