Bud Lockhart – Trucker Extraordinaire

I was about 13 years old, up underneath an old dump truck, single handedly putting in a new clutch. We were allowed to use an old covered platform dock down at Pure Stone for the purpose of working on our trucks. It had originally be put there as a loading dock, to load rail cars, but was no longer needed for that purpose. I could tell that a fellow had walked up and was standing beside the truck. I continued on working. About then this fellow squatted down so he could take in what was happening. We chatted as I … Continue reading Bud Lockhart – Trucker Extraordinaire

Some Of The Craziest Things I’ve Even Seen Involving Fire

I was watching the PBS Program Nova tonight. It showed a guy cutting a metal baking pan using bacon for the fuel. He had fashioned a tube out of bacon and by sending oxygen though the tube it made a dandy, yet crude cutting instrument. It made me think back to other wild things I’ve seen using fire. Of course growing up, I was like many kids that got out and built fires, like camp fires but we weren’t camping. We just built fires to entertain ourselves. The following is a story about those campfires https://www.facebook.com/groups/729839877052650/permalink/2260462960656993/ Below is a story … Continue reading Some Of The Craziest Things I’ve Even Seen Involving Fire

Tommy Houy was a Honda Motorcycle guy all the way.

I think his first one was a 125cc that he had when I first came to Marble Falls, starting the 8th grade. I don’t think he ran all over town on it, but rode it over on his side of town. Then he jumped up to a 350cc. It was metallic blue. That’s the one he wrecked on. During the repairing of it, he switched the color to a metal flake orange. A few years later he went up to a 450cc, then a 750cc. Buy the time he and I became reconnected in the 1990s he was riding a … Continue reading Tommy Houy was a Honda Motorcycle guy all the way.

We Were A Couple Of Night Owls

No one else that I know has his first car 50 years later. Much less all the paper work that came with it. If I could write about all the things that happened, just when it was the two of us in that Blue “68” Roadrunner, it would fill several books. Some things would be worth telling, yet others we may not want to admit. We drove the streets of Marble Falls and the roads all around Burnet County almost nightly for a few years, almost always in that Roadrunner. Many times our adventures wouldn’t start until we had each … Continue reading We Were A Couple Of Night Owls

Andrew Theron Lewis – Graduate of The Sweeney School of Automotive Repair.

May 29, 1920 I was going through some old files this morning and ran across this diploma of my grandfather. I had seen it before but never had really examined it. But to find this and look at the dates help me to understand how being shortly after the end of WW I and with more and more automobiles coming about, there was a real need for mechanics to keep them running. I don’t know how long he worked in the business of fixing cars, but being a farmer, the skills learned here were put to use throughout his life. … Continue reading Andrew Theron Lewis – Graduate of The Sweeney School of Automotive Repair.

We Did Things Much Differently Back Then

I grew up around construction equipment and trucks. In the 60s when I was in high school Cecil Lewis ran a fleet of dump trucks. Among other things we had the contract to haul the blasted rock from the Pure Stone Quarry out south of Marble Falls back to the crusher in town. Even as young and as small as I was at 14 or 15, I commonly and single-handedly pulled transmissions and replaced clutches in those old dump trucks and did brake jobs. I knew how to do all that then. Now I have trouble putting a spare tire … Continue reading We Did Things Much Differently Back Then

Don’t Wait Too Long To Rekindle A Friendship

I was reminded today when a post from 2 years ago popped up, that this friendship almost got away from me. You can’t imagine how much I appreciated this thank you from him. A person would have only needed to have been around a few years prior on Facebook to know how crosswired the two of us become, arguing about stupid politics. Then with a special amount of coaxing on my part, he and I reunited and formed a special friendship, albeit for a fairly short time maybe just a year or so, before Larry passed on on May 22, … Continue reading Don’t Wait Too Long To Rekindle A Friendship

The Wreck At The South End Of The Marble Falls Bridge

Early one Sunday morning with it raining and the road slick, I had taken Kenny out to the Pure Stone Quarry to pick up a dump truck. I would have been 14 or 15 years old. For whatever reason they thought a 14 year old had any business back in those days. It was just becoming light and as I came down the hill and that old “63” short wheelbased, step-side Chevrolet pickup spun out and smacked the guardrail right on the end of the bridge. I was more than likely going too fast for the conditions. Let me back … Continue reading The Wreck At The South End Of The Marble Falls Bridge

My Morning Trip To The Doctor

I bring you this soliloquy this fine morning reminding us all to do the right thing and don’t take shortcuts in life. These shortcuts come with there own set of problems. My point at hand started when I drove over to Marble Town this morning for a doctor appointment. Out of all my doctors I go see, this is one I don’t really mind going to. This little gal is a cute as a bug in a rug, and she can out talk me. Besides that the things she does, I can see the results within a couple of days. … Continue reading My Morning Trip To The Doctor