[ponyakr]

we finally made it to denver & it was the strangest thing i'd ever seen. there was lots of traffic on the 4-lane main drag just like any big city, but this was different. instead of the normal mix of new & used cars, this looked like a scene from a hollywood movie set back in the 40's. all these old cars from the 30's & 40's were flying down the street just like the newer ones were. i'm sure there were some pontiacs in the mix. in La cars this old had long since rusted down & went to the crusher. the low humidity had preserved these old cars in col & there they were, in a nonstop parade down the main drag. its a scene i'll never forget. my dad was a cool dude. i talked him into going at least part way up pikes peak in our old ford. but the low oxygen content of the air soon made our ford barely able to move on flat ground, much less pull a hill, so we took it in for a tune up. we were able to see the rockies & me & my sister got to ride a ski lift & got some spectacular views of distant snowcapped peaks. in that crisp, dry air, just breathing was a pleasure. on our trip back home we began to see signs that said something like "litter barrel 3 miles". we weren't paying attention, we thought it said "little barrel", maybe a town with indian roots. but after we'd gone many miles we saw another sign & said "i thought we already passed little barrel". well, we finally figured it out & have had many laffs about it thru the years. my dad had 1 more treat in store for me on this trip. we circled thru kansas city to take in a pro baseball game. it just so happened my favorite team was in town, the NY yankees. & whats so special about this is that it was the year roger maris broke babe ruth's home run record. he hit 2 or 3 cheap line drives shots over the short rf fence at the game we saw. but let me describe the most awesome home run i've ever witnessed. micky mantle hit a ball farther than i thought was possible. cf was 421', then 30-40' passed that there was a tall lite pole. this ball cleared those lites by at least 20'. it must have traveled over 500' in the air. the image of that is still clear in my mind after 50+ years. it may be a record for the pre steroid era. i think maris hit 61 homers & mantle 54. they were called the M & M boys. we made it back home with a lifetime of memories stored up, & never had another family vacation.