Tag: Owendale

Friday Photo Flashback

Every summer I think back to our summer trips up to Caseville. My grandparents had a mobile home up there. As we made the two hour drive up there, my brother and I always looked for the familiar landmarks along the way. Romeo had an old country store with penny candy. Almont had the Almont Saddlery. Imlay City had an A&W, as did Marlette. Marlette was the halfway point. As we continued north, we’d pass Cass City. The next stop was Owendale, which had a small market where we’d stop and get Faygo pop. We then would look for the grain towers in Pigeon. Once we passed them, we were in the home stretch.

When we arrived at my grandparent’s place, we’d pull into the driveway, which was all gravel. Trips were usually on the weekends and never long enough. This picture was taken in the kitchen.

My dad is at the stove, my brother is in the middle and I am on the right. Looking at this picture, I can smell the bacon and sausage, which were breakfast staples up north. If my grandparents were there with us, my dad would share the cooking with my grandpa. We always looked forward to those big breakfasts!

It’s amazing how I can picture the things that are not in the picture. Directly to my left in the picture was the fridge. Behind me was dining room table. There was an air conditioner in the middle window. In the top right of the photo, you can see what is sort of like a hutch. There were two cupboards at the bottom and a “counter” on top of those. Above those were two shelves where they had a ceramic mallard duck, a candy dish, and a few of my grandma’s Erma Bombeck books. There was a mirror at the back of the shelves.

The raised counter that is behind the sink was where we usually ate. There were barstools there and the kids ate there while the adults were at the table. The living room was in front of the barstools. That was where we’d watch the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon every year. I can remember there was always a big, loud lady on there that sang songs. She was probably someone famous, but for the life of me, I cannot think of who it could be.

The bedrooms, bathroom, and laundry area were down the hall. We almost always slept in my aunt’s bedroom. She is four years older than me, so she was probably 13 or so. She had Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books in her room and plenty of cat posters on her wall. If I remember correctly, she had a deck of Uno cards and I played it for the first time up north. Coincidentally, today is her birthday. Happy Birthday, Jodi.

I am sure that I have written about Caseville in other blogs. I probably have posted pictures, too, but not this one. This was one of those surprise finds on a hard drive. It is a reminder of some amazing family trips with family members who have since passed away. Those were some wonderful times. My pipe dream is to one day be in a position to get a place up there.

The Red 8 Track Tape

8-TrackTape

Recently a friend went to buy a new car.  He was appalled when he found out there was no CD player in it.  As a music lover, I totally get this.  I want to be able to pop in the music of my choice when I am driving.  Up until recently, the CD Player was a standard option.  Now they provide a USB port for you to plug a thumb drive or iPod into for music.  This wasn’t always the case.

Prior to the CD player, it was the cassette tape that was the choice for music.  You could record your music to these 60-90 minute tapes and have your favorite cruising tunes at your finger tips.  The only trouble was that if you wanted to hear a song again, you’d have to rewind it (or fast forward the other side if there was no rewind option).  Prior to that mode of media – there was the 8 Track tape!

The 8 track was a continuous looped tape that had 4 stereo tracks (8 tracks total), and the player head would move play which ever track it was positioned over.  You could buy 8 tracks with music already on them or, if you had a recorder (like my dad did), you could record your own.  With prerecorded 8 tracks, all the songs played in their entirety with no type of interruption.  My dad recorded his own, and sometimes a track would run out during a song and switch to the next track, so the player would “click” in the middle of a song.  It’s humorous to try to explain it in words here, but if you know what I am trying to explain, you are chuckling!

My dad had quite the collection of his own 8 tracks.  We’d listen to them often.  My mother asked him to put some songs together for her.  He put them on a red 8 track.  He may have had other red 8 tracks, however, this one in particular I remember. It contained mom’s songs … mostly ballads.

As a child, we’d go to Caseville for weekend summer vacations.  From our house, it was approximately 2-3 hours to drive there.  We’d sit in the car bored out of our minds and listen to music.  I remember when mom’s 8 track went it, it was like someone gave us a double dose of Benadryl.  Oh man, TRY to stay awake with these songs on.  The only thing that would keep me awake was listening to my mom mumble through the first 3/4 of the lyric (the part she didn’t know) and belt out the last two words of the line. “mumble, mumble, almost intelligible, mumble, half a word, mumble ….CAUSE I’D REALLY LOVE TO SEE YOU TONIGHT!”

To this day, there are songs that make me think of those rides to the trailer.  When they come on, I think “Caseville 8 Track!”  I remember driving up 53 through the towns of Romeo, Almont, Imlay City, Marlette, Cass City, Owendale, Pigeon, and finaly arriving at Caseville and listening to them all!  Here is a partial list of some of them:

  • Sad Eyes – Robert John
  • Babe – Styx
  • You Needed Me – Anne Murray
  • Heartlight – Neil Diamond
  • Just The Way You Are – Billy Joel
  • Sweet Music Man – Kenny Rogers
  • You Are So Beautiful – Joe Cocker
  • You Light Up My Life – Debby Boone
  • Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue – Crystal Gayle
  • Your Song – Elton John
  • If You Could Read My Mind – Gordon Lightfoot
  • Lyin’ Eyes – The Eagles
  • Longer – Dan Fogleberg
  • Blue Bayou – Linda Ronstadt
  • Annie’s Song – John Denver
  • Keep On Loving You – REO Speedwagon
  • I’d Really Love to See You Tonight – England Dan and John Ford Coley
  • Who’s Crying Now – Journey
  • Sundown – Gordon Lightfoot
  • Song Sung Blue – Neil Diamond
  • Could It Be Magic – Barry Manilow
  • The Way We Were – Barbara Streisand
  • Three Times a Lady – The Commodores
  • All Out of Love – Air Supply
  • If – Bread

….and those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head!  I am sure there are plenty that I am forgetting.  I am sure there are probably a few more Barry Manilow and Neil Diamond songs that should be on here, too.

While most of these songs are never going to make my “favorites” play list, they do take me back to a time when I was a young boy driving in our station wagon up to our favorite summer get away.  They also remind me of mom.  What I wouldn’t give to hear her mumble through some lyrics today.