Skip to main content

Flashback Friday

Richard Barton lives in Burgess. Burgess is an unincorporated little undiscovered jewel of Mercer County that contains, acre for acre, the best people around. Richard had a Ford pickup that he tweaked into a lean, mean, green, machine. In fact for a few years this deceptive looking truck was a staple at the county fair. It became quite an event and Richard enlisted some of his friends as his pit crew. It was an honorary thing, of course, we sure looked professional and snazzy among the other friends-of with our green polos that sported our logo and on the sleeve "Richard's Rod - Burgess, Illinois" on the sleeve.

Alas, the green machine is no more, however, a victim of time, money and a bad curve in the road.




Andrea and Richard Barton

                            
In a truck pull they tie sled to the back end, and the truck drags it while weights shift making it tougher to go forward.  When the truck stops either because of too much weight or a blown engine, the pull ends.  They then measure the distance to see how far the truck went.  I learned all that from my pit crew days.









Richard's Rod dragging the sled.



Give 'er Hell, Richard!


It's a loud evening with bootleg adult beverages and lots of fun.  Thanks Richard for having me on your team. The Green Team, Richard's Rod Squad, Team Green Dream, Green Team Dream, see the fun is endless.  Get another truck, Richard.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Flashback Friday

Class, Or Lack Thereof The Dwight Vice gravestone in Oquawka, Illinois. I bring this old chestnut out every so often just to remind me that class is classless.  Dwight Vice was killed in his home near Oquawka in 2001.  It was one of those things that can generate crime:  two guys thought Dwight had a lot of money stashed at home because of his pot-selling sideline to supplement his fishing job.   Not really one of those big drug deals gone-bad things.  Marijuana was, according to the trial, about the only stuff Dwight sold.   But these two guys barge into the house and killed Dwight and attempted to kill his 11 year old kid, Darryl, before they took off with what money they could find.   His son, now 23, was stabbed in the back and left for dead.  He survived and is wheelchair bound and has undergone several surgeries to repair his wounds.  He will be paralyzed for life.   None of this is pleasant.  Reading the f...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Mary Davis Home - Part 2

None of these pictures were taken by me,  they came right from the MDH website.  I am posting these so that friends who have never seen inside where I worked can gain access.  After 27 years I have many stories, tales and acquaintances.  But, I wouldn't know how to express them appropriately in a few paragraphs.  I enjoyed 98% of my stay there and hope I made a difference in the lives of a fraction of the kids who entered.  The original MDH at this site was just the front part.  The large red-roofed area in back was added on in the 90's. This is the Jerry Carlton library.  It was unofficially named after one of the counselors who truly loved the place.   He passed away around 2002, I think.  Mr. Farber looks like he is explaining a few things to a client. The classroom. Activity area with the gym behind the windows. Another shot of the classroom. It was a little different area to teach since we had 2 classes and 2 teachers i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Statuary In North Straub Park

The Vinoy is not the only park in town.  The place is fairly littered with them, and almost all, except Bum Paradise, are pretty nice.  This is North Straub and they have some old pieces in that seem to have suffered from time and perhaps human folly.     These and some 30 other statues were imported from Italy by local developer C. Perry Snell to help beautify the city.  Mr. Snell was in real estate and during the depression he went on a European shopping trip to collect items for the city.  He obtained these from Italy and installed them in this park even after the bottom fell in the markets.  He fulfilled his obligations at great personal loss to his own company and wealth.  Halso continued to pay his staff during those tough times.  He developed many areas in the city, Vinoy, Snell Isle, Crescent Lake and the beach area down around Fort DeSoto.  He lived from 1869 until 1949 and then buried in Kentucky.  I wo...
Post a Comment
Read more