I was born in Chicago Illinois. The city of big shoulders Carl Sandburg called it. It was 1959. The world was still black, and white,my parents & gramma the most important people on earth, and I was the center of the universe. About to boldly go where no man had gone before....kindergarden.
My first memory of Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin is of this huge two story rock house in the middle of the night. After all the brick,asphalt, and concrete of 1950s Chicago it seemed like a castle in the woods. I'd never seen a yard big enough for more than two trees. The only woods I'd seen was in Lincoln Park. Here was this edifice of stone, and wood looming in the moonlight amongst what seemed to my fire year old eyes a forrest of gigantic old trees. We had arrived from chicago in a car pulling a U-Haul trailer, there was a moving van with the rest of our worldy possessions sitting in the dark in front of the house under a million stars. Shazzam!
As is the case for us all, as my map of said universe became larger, my family seemed somehow smaller, and my place farther from the center. School was the first of these epiphanies. There were all kinds of kids in my class, and this "teacher" didn't seem to notice ME anymore than any of them. I didn't like this at all at first, but as I began to interact with my peers, and develope friendships I decided I could live with it until she adjusted.
It wasn't all bad. Lots of kids, and cool toys to play with, free snacks, and milk. Besides when I got home there was an ever expanding world to explore. In the city if I got to go outside at all it was in a fenced in area, and supervised. Now as we got to know the neighborhood I began to be allowed to leave the yard by myself..WOW! It was during these early explorations I started going to Bill's Texaco. My sister, and I were given niclels to go there,and get treats. A bottle of pop, or a candy bar, or even ice cream could be had for a nickel. My aunt Jessey had known him for some time livng nextdoor to the station, and soon Texaco presents started showing up at our house.Calenders,Hats, t shirts, and toys. One of these became one of those childhood treasures you never forget. My Texaco tanker! It was nearly three feet long, and battery powered. You could set the rudder, turn that sucker on and sail it straight across a pond, or make it do lazy circles of any size you wanted. Always being fascinated with big ships I spent hors playing with it. I still think of it from time to time to this day, and my thoughts go spinning back to sweeter times, when PRAIRIE DU CHIEN was my Maybury, and people like Bill fed me icecream, let me watch him run his station, and enriched my young life.
Thank you Bill
