And here is the story if you care to read it:
In August of 1959, my grandmother purchased a new headstone for my grandfather who had passed away in 1928. He had been buried in Mintonville, Kentucky, where they lived. My uncle Raymond who had passed away when he was less than a year old in 1924, was also buried there and was getting a new headstone.
So, we were making the trip by car to see them set. We had a beautiful 1955 Ford Station Wagon with three bench seats.
No interstates.
My baby brother Dane stayed at Ruby and Taulbee's the parents of my cousins Lana and Lita, he was three months old.
My sister Myrna who was four years old stayed at my maternal grandmother's house.
So off we went....
Front seat: My dad, my grandmother (his mother), and my mom.
Middle seat: Mike, my brother, Danny our cousin, Bessie his mother (my father's oldest sister)
Back seat: (facing backwards) Me, cousin Linda, my sister Paula.
No fast foods generally available along the way. We stopped at a small cafe/gas station for lunch. At each booth was a jukebox selection machine. Linda had a quarter....songs were ten cents each or three for a quarter. We looked at ALL the titles and chose three:
Norman by Sue Thompson
The Battle of New Orleans by Johnny Horton
Witch Doctor by David Seville
We loved those songs. Later that day, we stopped for dinner. Another booth. Another jukebox. Linda got a quarter from her mother, and we played the same three songs.
That night we stayed at the TeePee Motel (see photo) and pretended to be Native Americans for the photo....except for Danny who liked to mug for photographs.
At breakfast....there was another booth. I asked my dad for a quarter. We played the same three songs.
At lunch just across the Ohio River.....another booth. The same three songs.
At dinner.....into Western Kentucky. Another booth. No one would give us a quarter. I remembered however, that Paula had a quarter in that purse she was carrying (see photo). BUT only one of our songs was on the selection list. After much consultation among the three of us, we decided to play that song THREE times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmjrTcYMqBMFor the rest of the trip, when we stopped to eat, the three of us had to sit at the counter.
