Hay Rides

Hay Rides were one of our favorite things. They should always be part of growing up country, and we had quite a few during my school years. By the way, they really should be called straw rides. Hay is more expensive and is "food." Straw is bedding, and isn't wasted after a hay ride, because we could spread in the barn. Some of our hay rides were on wagons and sometimes for smaller groups we used the stock truck. Some of our hay rides were for couples, and other times they were just groups having fun. One time we even had two wagons hooked together for a large group. When we used the wagon, the straw was spread aroung loose. and a lot of it ended up on the road. When we used the stock truck, we lined the bed with bales and had loose straw in the middle. Our Father must have enjoyed the hay rides too, because he sure allowed enough of them. He took 4-H groups, Church groups, class groups, groups of friends, big and small.

After one of the school plays last rehersals, the cast and crew wanted to have a party before the play. We took the stock truck because of the high sides. That made it safe to dance, and since we weren't couples, it was more fun to be a group in the enclosed truck. Have you ever tried to dance on a moving surface going down a gravel road. Even in creeper gear that is a good mood for all. I was dancing with T when he realized we were driving through his neighborhood. My parents were in the truck cab and T climbed up the front rack and leaned over to the drivers window to suggest a road for Dad to drive down. He caught my parents kissing. T announced to the group that my folks needed a chaperone. Then he climbed over the rack on the passenger side and into the cab with Mom and Dad. There went my dance partner. Either I was bad company or my folks were just better company. Either way I was in for a lot of teasing. He stayed up front with them, and I had to dance with the group.

Most of our hay rides didn't cover a lot of ground. At least the wagon rides. Once or twice around a country square of county and township roads and back home for a weiner roast. Most of the time Dad drove the tractor. He always went so slow we could jump off and get back on after pulling someone else off. There was always a bit of horse play, but no one was rough and no one ever got hurt. (I suppose insurance concerns now would make a difference) I mentioned once taking two wagons hooked together. My brothers took turns driving that time. I think they were trying to outdo each other. They didn't drive very slow or very straight. They had the wagons weaving from one ditch to the other. The guys liked it. The girls had to hang on and the only thing to hang on to was the guys. Even if he wasn't your date. There was a lot of pretend screaming and yelling that night. Not one of our normal hay rides. Usually we had music and songs and teasing, especially if we caught someone groping or kissing. Good clean, innocent fun. A couple coolers of Pepsi, Coke, Root Beer and Orange Pop along with cookies and chips. Jokes and teasing and even some ghost stories. I loved our hay rides, even when my brothers drove.

I do have one other memorable hay ride and it was also in the stock truck. I don't remember it for what happened on the hay ride, but for the problem I had when it was over. It was a group from my class. One of the boys had always been a special friend, more like a brother than boyfriend. We were each going steady with someone else from another grade who wasn't on our hayride. He hooked up with one of our own classmates that evening. Actually they went on to be a couple and then married and are still married. But, that doesn't have anything to do with this story. Except that we can call this their first date. The problem for me that night, is that sometime during our hay ride, she removed the "going steady class ring" from his finger. And, LOST it in the straw. He didn't want his steady girlfriend to know he's lost her class ring. He wanted me to look for it when we emptied all the loose straw from the bed of that big stock truck! He would have been totally out of luck if we'd been on a wagon that night. I explained the problem to Dad and he told me he needed the truck first thing in the morning. But, he didn't need the straw in the truck, if I wanted to look till dawn. All of my friends had a curfew when they had to be home or be grounded. I couldn't talk anyone into helping me. So, after the hayride, everyone left. Dad pulled the truck into the main barn, where the stock stayed, and under a light. They all left me to hunt for a ring in a straw stack in a stock truck in a cow barn all alone all night. One handful at a time, I threw straw onto the barn floor. I didn't find that ring till almost 5 A.M. Then I went straight into the house and phoned my friend. I woke up his whole family......., he didn't get off scot free. He came back over later to get the ring. Then he took it to his "steady" and broke up with her! I don't know if she ever found out he'd been fooling around with S and lost L's ring. But, I didn't let my friend forget that he owed me. I don't remember ever getting even, but what are friends for. At our 35th class reunion we were given a chance to tell stories on each other. That was my chance to tell on my friend and to remind B and S, in front of our classmates, that they still owed me. That's what friends are for.