CATEGORY: CENTRAL OREGON

Although it was, of course, illegal, I taught Eric and Jari to drive the car when they were 12 and 10 respectively, just as we had learned to drive the team and wagon and later the tractor on the ranch.  That is what ranch kids did.  They learned to help out at an early age.  After I had taught them the basics, I let them drive out across the pasture of our 40 acres by themselves.  I cautioned them to drive slowly.  They both became good and careful drivers, probably because they knew that what they were doing was against the law, so they were overly cautious.

Sometimes, when we went into town together, I would let one or the other of them drive for short distances on our road.  Then we would change places at the edge of town.  Once I let Eric take the car by himself into Tumalo to get something at the store.  I told him to park on a side street at the edge of town and walk the rest of the way.  He was tall for his age and looked like he was old enough to be driving anyway.  He did so well that it was tempting to have him run all my errands for me.

There was a certain errand in which others were in cahoots with us.  It was getting milk at a nearby farm.  We got raw milk in large gallon jars.  The people from whom we got it knew that Eric was too young to drive and didn’t have a license, but they thought it was great that he was driving, so I always let Eric go for the milk.  It was about a mile in the opposite direction from town, and off the main road.  He loved to drive and was extremely precise in his actions.  We never got into trouble over it, and when eventually they took their drivers tests, it was a slam dunk.  So to speak.