Dirt Roads & Dewberries

Dirt roads were plentiful around here when I was growing up. You had to take things a little slower on dirt roads. If you rounded that turn too fast, you could find yourself sliding off into the ditch very easily. If you met another car, you had to slow down and hug the edge of the road as you passed since there was barely enough room for two vehicles. More often than not, you knew who you were meeting, and it was not unusual to see people stop and chat for a minute on a dirt road. If you were riding with my daddy, even the passengers had to be alert. If you saw a snake in the road, you needed to brace yourself. My daddy took Genesis 3:15 seriously. He would try to time it just right and lock up the brakes on top of the snake. Then he would give it the same treatment in reverse. It usually took two or three rounds of this to satisfy him. Remember, this was before seat belts and way before anti-lock brakes. A little kid caught unaware could bang around inside a vehicle like a pinball.

But dirt roads weren’t all bad. You were much safer riding your bike on a dirt road. Back then, kids could do that. You could detect an oncoming car at least a quarter-mile away by the distinctive red dust cloud approaching. We would also walk down the road at times, too, so I was very familiar with Chambers Road from Walnut Creek down to around Mr. Aubrey Richardson’s place. If you walked down a dirt road in the spring, you might run across the magnificent dewberry. They would grow on the ditch banks, so you might have to climb a little, but it was worth it. If you knew where they were, there were a couple places above the line of sight where many dewberry plants gathered. Sometimes you have to get off the road a little bit to get to the best. Even as a kid, I had a sense of wonder that most people who traveled that road had no idea of the bounty that was just a few feet away. There’s a lesson there.