Remember that old theme song from "The Beverly Hillbillies"? ....."Let me tell you all a story 'bout a man named Jed....." So that tune is playing in my head as I get ready to tell you all the story 'bout the Red White and Blue.
Our old 1966 Ford Falcon was painted Red White and Blue (according to the legend we were told) by its then-owner, who wanted to celebrate our country's bicentennial by taking his family on a cross country trip in a van decorated to commemorate that occasion. I can only imagine the spectacle of it----but then, this was 1976, and colorful, offbeat "statements" were popular then. I suppose they still are.
When Stu and I went to look at it in the spring of 1985, the paint job was NOT a selling point. In fact, another friend had looked at the van and turned it down because of it. But the thing ran well, and we liked the price, so we took the plunge. As it turns out, it has become an icon for our business! At the time, we needed it for deliveries, since we were doing the business on a wholesale basis, and delivering bagels, bread, and cookies to locations in Grants Pass and Medford. We had not had the van for very long before we discovered that we were expecting a second child. I took a giant step away from the business, Stu decided to take a job baking for a local company, and the van waited quietly for its next assignment------which turned out to be a moving job! As the pregnancy continued, we came to the conclusion that we needed more income than we were generating in Grants Pass. My parents owned a restaurant in Big Bear Lake, California, and they offered to hire Stu as their baker. It was decided that after the baby was born, we would pack up and move down to Southern California. We removed the back bench that had come with the van, outfitted the van with a long counter/shelf storage unit that ran the full length of the driver's side in the back, and packed it full of all our belongings.
(That move was providential, because our daughter Becky was born with a cleft lip. The move was already planned, so we followed through with it, and were blessed to be able to have the surgery done at Loma Linda, by a brilliant surgeon. That in itself is a whole story, But right now I'm telling the story of the Red White and Blue, so let's stick with that :-)
What stands out for me is how we traveled. This was before the days of mandatory car seats, so we just had Rachel (4) sit right on the hump between the driver's and the passenger seat, and I rode in the passenger seat with Becky in my arms, where she was happiest. And we lived to tell the story! Oh, my heavens, when I think of it now, all I can say is, God is merciful, and he must have surrounded us with angels!
As it turns out, Big Bear was only a temporary haven for us. Perhaps it was only for the surgery that we went, even though we hadn't planned it that way. In a short ten months, we were on a return trip to Grants Pass, with full pockets and a renewed determination to make a go of it in our hometown. Because it had become clear to us that that's what it was.
So. Stu found work at a couple of local places, I concentrated on taking care of the kids, neither one of us thought much about baking until......Stu lost his job. We found ourselves broke again, depending on food stamps, wondering how the rent would be paid. Stu decided to revive his leather business and take his goods to the Ashland Saturday Market. My girls have happy memories of running up to the van on Saturday evenings when Stu got home, shouting "How much did you make???!" Out he would climb from the driver's seat, often with some handcrafted toy that he had gotten in trade from a fellow vendor.
Eventually, though, it became clear that we needed another source of income. I thought again about baking, and strategized about how I could do it with two kids and no vehicle. Once again my parents came to the rescue and loaned me money for a little Datsun station wagon, and I re-invented the bagel business. Within a couple of years, it was chugging along so well that we realized that we would do better if we both worked the baking business, and Stu kept his leather as a side business.
And so, once more, the Red White and Blue changed hats, and became our Grower's Market vehicle. And so it continued for many many years-----until last year, 2011, when Stu suffered his devastating stroke.
By now, the van was not really freeway safe, although it still drives well enough to take to the Market. Last year I parked it out front and decorated it with flags for the Fourth of July. But as the year passed by, I realized that, even if I returned to Grower's Market, I would not be using the Red White and Blue.
So now, it has a new purpose in life :-)
I have parked it right outside my new cottage, put the old counter back in it, and filled it with toys and books. It is a playhouse for the grandkids! What a hit! Now Lucas wants to come over to Mimi's house, not so much for Mimi but because he can drive to Madagascar-----or was it Malaysia? Nice to think that the old Red White and Blue has new horizons----just imagine what places it can take its passengers to now!
