As was typical in this area from about 60 years ago and back there was a lot on intermarrying between neighboring families. That resulted in a lot of what local folks call double first cousins. Two or more brothers from one family marrying sisters from another family, or a brother and sister from one family marrying a brother and sister from another family, produced offsprings that were cousins through both their fathers and mothers. In my case, the Browns, Hesters and Deans intermarried through two or more generations so there's a plethora of double first cousins in my family.
My father and his brother married sisters, so I have several double cousins, one of which was Vernon. Vernon was three years older than me and different from the rest of us. We had a great grandmother on both sides of the family that was an indian, Cherokee on my dads side and Chickasaw on my moms side, and Vernon was a throwback. Except for his sandy colored hair he looked like an indian, and was just as wild as we perceived indians to be from the old movies and books. He was tall and slim for his age with long legs, would fight at the drop of a hat, and use anything handy he felt would get the job done, but was also eager to try anything most youngsters would have better judgement than to try. Here's one of things he attempted that had different than anticipated results.
When he was 14, I was eleven, he saw a guy in a movie jump a motorcycle over some cars using ramps and had to try something as close to that feat as he could manage. He decided to jump Highway 6, a prodigious feat if he could accomplish it. Just down the road from our houses, on the north side of the highway, there was a very steep hill. It sloped down from about 200-250 yards and leveled off just a few feet from the road. There was an old dirt logging road that ran up the hill from the highway and Lusby Bottom road was straight across from it so Vernon decided to use the logging road for his runway and Lusby Bottom road for stopping after he cleared the highway. He took an old bicycle that didn't have any brakes, removed the fenders, put a bigger sprocket on the front, put about twice as much air in the tires as they were supposed have and started building a dirt and plank ramp right beside of Highway 6. Highway 6 was the main road through our area and was still graveled, Vernon's intention was to jump the bicycle all the way across it.
He built his ramp right up to the edge of the road and about 5 feet high at the takeoff point. It took almost a week to get it the way he wanted it and then he spent another day making short practice jumps and working on the bicycle. There was little traffic on the road except early in the mornings when folks were going to work and late in the afternoon when they were coming home but Vernon had me and his younger brother Fred stand in the road and warn him if a car, or other vehicle, was coming. Finally he had everything like he wanted and told us tomorrow was the day, he was going to jump all the way over the road.
About 9 the next morning I met Vernon and Fred at the ramp. Vernon was pschyed up and ready to go, Fred was begging him not to try it because if their father found out he would beat both of them half silly, but there was no stopping him now. He pushed the bicycle to the top of the hill, Fred and I took our positions to watch for traffic and Vernon climbed on the bike and started down the hill. Vernon was the champion bicycle racer in the community, he always won every race the neighborhood boys had and halfway down the hill he was flying. Two thirds of the way down he decided something wasn't right and started trying to stop. Having no brakes made stopping difficult and he ended up running the bike in some bushes to stop it. He said the chain was too tight, was making it hard to peddle and slowing him down. A quick trip home for some tools, a couple of minutes adjusting and he was ready to go again.
He pushed the bike back up the hill, straddled it, put his right foot on the peddle and started rocking it back and forth so he could get a fast start. Fred and I looked both ways down the road, didn't see anything coming and gave him the go signal. Vernon came off the hill like a rocket, he was standing up leaning forward over the handle bars until it looked like his head was almost touching the front tire. Halfway down I bet he was doing 50 mph and getting faster. Fred and I got caught up in the excitement and forgot about watching for traffic, a critical error. Old man Emmitt Todd, in an old 1930's chevy pickup, had pulled out of the road to his house that intersected the highway just a few yards from where we were. When we saw him Vernon was two thirds of the way down the hill and still picking up speed. We started yelling and waving our arms but there was no stopping now.
Vernon hit the ramp, jerkup up on the handle bars just as he went off the top and Emmitt drove right in front of him. When Vernon saw the pickup his eyes got as big as saucers but it was too late to do anything but scream, and he did plenty of that. Vernon was a lot higher in the air than the top of the pickup but Emmitt was driving in the middle of the road and by the time Vernon got to him he was coming down. Luckily he and the bicycle went about 6 inches behind the cab, over the bed, of the pickup and continued on to do what he said he was going to do. He completely cleared the road, but the near miss of Emmitts truck had him all out of position and when he landed he made a left turn off Lusby Bottom road and ran into a fence beside the road. The fence was hog wire on bottom with two strands of barbwire over it, the hog wire stopped the bicycle but not Vernon. He skimmed the barbwire with his chest, stomach and legs, leaving long and bloody, but not deep, gashes. Still fairly OK, but then he landed on the top of his head and flopped foward to where he was facing up.
Fred yelled, "SH!T" and hauled a$$. I ran over to the fence and looked down at Vernon, he was bloody from the barb wire cuts but his eyes were open and rolled way back. I didn't know what to do, but started to run to the store a few hundred feet down the road for help when Vernon started groaning. Two men who were standing outside the store saw the whole thing and came running. They picked Vernon up, took him to his house and pumped water on him. He was groggy for a couple of hours and in spite of his injuries he was tickled he had actually jumped all the way over the road. Emmitt Todd never saw Vernon or the bike, and never knew it happened. If he had saw him and hit the brakes Vernon would have hit the truck and been hurt much worse, possibly killed.
By the way, my double first cousin Fred and I married sisters. What kin would that make our kids
?
My father and his brother married sisters, so I have several double cousins, one of which was Vernon. Vernon was three years older than me and different from the rest of us. We had a great grandmother on both sides of the family that was an indian, Cherokee on my dads side and Chickasaw on my moms side, and Vernon was a throwback. Except for his sandy colored hair he looked like an indian, and was just as wild as we perceived indians to be from the old movies and books. He was tall and slim for his age with long legs, would fight at the drop of a hat, and use anything handy he felt would get the job done, but was also eager to try anything most youngsters would have better judgement than to try. Here's one of things he attempted that had different than anticipated results.
When he was 14, I was eleven, he saw a guy in a movie jump a motorcycle over some cars using ramps and had to try something as close to that feat as he could manage. He decided to jump Highway 6, a prodigious feat if he could accomplish it. Just down the road from our houses, on the north side of the highway, there was a very steep hill. It sloped down from about 200-250 yards and leveled off just a few feet from the road. There was an old dirt logging road that ran up the hill from the highway and Lusby Bottom road was straight across from it so Vernon decided to use the logging road for his runway and Lusby Bottom road for stopping after he cleared the highway. He took an old bicycle that didn't have any brakes, removed the fenders, put a bigger sprocket on the front, put about twice as much air in the tires as they were supposed have and started building a dirt and plank ramp right beside of Highway 6. Highway 6 was the main road through our area and was still graveled, Vernon's intention was to jump the bicycle all the way across it.
He built his ramp right up to the edge of the road and about 5 feet high at the takeoff point. It took almost a week to get it the way he wanted it and then he spent another day making short practice jumps and working on the bicycle. There was little traffic on the road except early in the mornings when folks were going to work and late in the afternoon when they were coming home but Vernon had me and his younger brother Fred stand in the road and warn him if a car, or other vehicle, was coming. Finally he had everything like he wanted and told us tomorrow was the day, he was going to jump all the way over the road.
About 9 the next morning I met Vernon and Fred at the ramp. Vernon was pschyed up and ready to go, Fred was begging him not to try it because if their father found out he would beat both of them half silly, but there was no stopping him now. He pushed the bicycle to the top of the hill, Fred and I took our positions to watch for traffic and Vernon climbed on the bike and started down the hill. Vernon was the champion bicycle racer in the community, he always won every race the neighborhood boys had and halfway down the hill he was flying. Two thirds of the way down he decided something wasn't right and started trying to stop. Having no brakes made stopping difficult and he ended up running the bike in some bushes to stop it. He said the chain was too tight, was making it hard to peddle and slowing him down. A quick trip home for some tools, a couple of minutes adjusting and he was ready to go again.
He pushed the bike back up the hill, straddled it, put his right foot on the peddle and started rocking it back and forth so he could get a fast start. Fred and I looked both ways down the road, didn't see anything coming and gave him the go signal. Vernon came off the hill like a rocket, he was standing up leaning forward over the handle bars until it looked like his head was almost touching the front tire. Halfway down I bet he was doing 50 mph and getting faster. Fred and I got caught up in the excitement and forgot about watching for traffic, a critical error. Old man Emmitt Todd, in an old 1930's chevy pickup, had pulled out of the road to his house that intersected the highway just a few yards from where we were. When we saw him Vernon was two thirds of the way down the hill and still picking up speed. We started yelling and waving our arms but there was no stopping now.
Vernon hit the ramp, jerkup up on the handle bars just as he went off the top and Emmitt drove right in front of him. When Vernon saw the pickup his eyes got as big as saucers but it was too late to do anything but scream, and he did plenty of that. Vernon was a lot higher in the air than the top of the pickup but Emmitt was driving in the middle of the road and by the time Vernon got to him he was coming down. Luckily he and the bicycle went about 6 inches behind the cab, over the bed, of the pickup and continued on to do what he said he was going to do. He completely cleared the road, but the near miss of Emmitts truck had him all out of position and when he landed he made a left turn off Lusby Bottom road and ran into a fence beside the road. The fence was hog wire on bottom with two strands of barbwire over it, the hog wire stopped the bicycle but not Vernon. He skimmed the barbwire with his chest, stomach and legs, leaving long and bloody, but not deep, gashes. Still fairly OK, but then he landed on the top of his head and flopped foward to where he was facing up.
Fred yelled, "SH!T" and hauled a$$. I ran over to the fence and looked down at Vernon, he was bloody from the barb wire cuts but his eyes were open and rolled way back. I didn't know what to do, but started to run to the store a few hundred feet down the road for help when Vernon started groaning. Two men who were standing outside the store saw the whole thing and came running. They picked Vernon up, took him to his house and pumped water on him. He was groggy for a couple of hours and in spite of his injuries he was tickled he had actually jumped all the way over the road. Emmitt Todd never saw Vernon or the bike, and never knew it happened. If he had saw him and hit the brakes Vernon would have hit the truck and been hurt much worse, possibly killed.
By the way, my double first cousin Fred and I married sisters. What kin would that make our kids
?
But, all's well that ends well so I bet ole' Vernon was proud as a peacock. Another interesting and fun read JB.
