The Last Load

The last load on the move from Lake Wales back to Cedar Key is one of the funniest stories Chuck ever told me.  In those days, the early forties, it took almost all day to get from Lake Wales to Cedar Key.  

Today it’s about two and a half to three and a half hour drive.  Depending on the route you take and how heavy the traffic is. There were not many roads back in those days and cars didn’t run nearly as fast.

Chuck was driving the Model T, and they were somewhere between Dunellen and Highway 19 when this story unfolded.  He was pulling a trailer with the wire chicken coop and a hundred, and forty seven head of chickens inside it.  All at once it began to shake and rattle. 

You had to stomp and stand on the brake pedal really hard to get it stopped.  They got out and looked, and discovered the tongue was broken.

Auger

So they took the ax and walked into the woods just off the road and cut a pine sapling, the size they needed.  Trimmed the limbs off and chopped the end off, till it was just the right length and bored a hole in the butt end with the auger.  Chuck used to call it a ‘hertie gertie’.  They eventually got it attached as a makeshift tongue, and got on the road again. 

A few miles down the road they had to stop again and bore another hole on the opposite side of the first hole because the first one had wallowed out and worn through.  They got back in, and another few miles down the road, all at once the trailer began to shake, rattle and roll over and over. 

Chuck stood on the brakes again and got the car stopped, but by this time the trailer had torn completely loose from the car.  The chicken coop had torn loose from the trailer and was squashed beyond repair, and all those chickens were loose.

They had to catch them all, and there was no place to put them except in the car.  Only two chickens died in the crash.  So now, there is Chuck, Papa, the two dogs, Jack and Skippy and one hundred forty five head of chickens inside the Model T. 

The chickens had been so traumatized when the trailer rolled over most of them just squatted and were easy to catch.  They still had thirty five to forty miles to go to get to Cedar Key. 

Invariably one of the chickens would step on one of the dogs, and the dog would growl and snap, and the chickens would squawk and try to fly.  By the time they did get to Cedar Key it was long after dark. 

Chuck said the car was about knee deep in chicken s**t, and feathers.  He said they never did get the stink out of that car.  Chicken poop stinks just as bad as cat poop and pee.

Chuck was a wonderful story teller, he could paint you a picture with his words, and expressions, and you could very easily visualize his story, and feel as though you were there too. 

And he had such a great sense of humor!  In fact he saw humor somewhere, in almost everything.  I loved his stories!  The ones I tell you now are from memory.  I never thought to record any of them. 

Oh, the things we take for granted and then it’s too late to do anything but look back and wish we had!  I do thank God for the many wonderful memories, and the ability to still remember and write them down for my descendants and whoever else might enjoy them!

To be continued