It’s so fun to hear Ralph talk about growing up on the farm in Mesa in the ‘30s and ‘40s, especially as his experiences were so different from kids today. For example, learning to drive prior to age 14. Love the following story he shared of a simple misunderstanding with his father about what speed to keep on the highway.
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On the farm in Arizona, I got to drive all around the farm doing stuff, loading hay and stuff like that. Tractors, cars, pick ups, whatever was there.
But my real driving experience - and I actually got a driver's license at age 12! My father, Virgil Mitchell, came out when I was, well let’s see, maybe I was a little older, ‘cause he came out and gave me that motor scooter when I graduated from [junior high], a Cushman, 3-wheel motor scooter. This was ‘48, so I guess I was 14. But I actually learned how to drive before that. But I actually had a driver's license.
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| A 1948 Cushman Model 52, Similar to Ralph's. Three-wheeled with a box on the front, though Ralph's was red and had an additional cushion in back too. Two friends would ride along to school! Image Source. |
So my father came out, gave me the motor scooter, and my mother said it was OK to go back and visit with him. It was the first time I had really seen him for years. So we loaded the motor scooter back up on his pick up, because he had driven the pickup out, from New Mexico, (they were living in Albuquerque). …. We were driving back to Albuquerque, and he pulled over to the side and said, “Ok, let’s have you drive for a while.” And I said, “Really?” He said, “Yah! It’s a straight highway.” So I got in and drove for hours, driving back there.
What was interesting, the speedometer was a big round speedometer - 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and so forth. I think it stopped at 80 or 90. But anyway, I was driving along and he looked over and said, “Why don’t you keep it just a little above 80. Now, if you look at the speedometer, here’s the 80, and he thought that above it would be lower than 80, but when he said above 80, I thought he meant faster than 80!
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| "Keep It a Little Above 80." |
So two or three times he leaned over and said, “I want you to keep it a little above 80.” And I said, “I am! I’m going about 82, 83.” And he said, “No, I want it on THAT side of 80.” A little misunderstanding as he was looking at the physical speedometer.
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From an interview with Ralph on 13 January 2017.
