Speaker 1: Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves
Speaker 1: from coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living.
Speaker 1: I want you to stay a while as I share
Speaker 1: my stories and the country skills that will help you
Speaker 1: beat the system. This Country Life is proudly presented as
Speaker 1: part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you the best
Speaker 1: outdoor podcast the airways have to offer. All right, friends,
Speaker 1: pull you up a chair or drop that tailgate. I
Speaker 1: think I got a thing or two to teach you
Speaker 1: country vehicles. This week we're talking country vehicles. Your signature
Speaker 1: slid that gets you from the casa to the woods
Speaker 1: and back. Now, whether you're fixing fence, feeding cows, or
Speaker 1: chasing critters that ravel amongst the flora, how you get
Speaker 1: to and fro says a lot about who you are.
Speaker 1: It's your statement without making a statement, and it's for
Speaker 1: everybody else's eyeballs. We're going to talk about what makes
Speaker 1: a good one and where you might find these units.
Speaker 1: But first I'm going to tell you a story. My
Speaker 1: first truck was a six cylinder standard Ship three speed
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy three Ford F one hundred long wheelbase pickup.
Speaker 1: That inline's six cylinder motor didn't have enough power to
Speaker 1: pull a greasy string out of a catch behind. But
Speaker 1: it was easy to maintain, and it cranked from the seat,
Speaker 1: which is always a plus. It was powdered blue, and
Speaker 1: outside of the gun rack id installed in the back glass.
Speaker 1: It was as basic of a vehicle as you could get.
Speaker 1: If it had been a pack of smokes, the outside
Speaker 1: of the package would have been white and the black
Speaker 1: print would have only said cigarettes. No air conditioner. The
Speaker 1: only air turning in the cab was a direct result
Speaker 1: of how much glass you rolled down inside the door.
Speaker 1: It was not fancy. I bought it in nineteen eighty two,
Speaker 1: when I was sixteen years old, with money i'd made
Speaker 1: hauling hay and trapping. It cost me seven hundred dollars.
Speaker 1: The dimmer switch for the headlights was on the floorboard.
Speaker 1: It had an AM radio that could get the local
Speaker 1: radio station in Warren, Arkansas. But it also the grand
Speaker 1: old operator on WSM all the way from Nashville, Tennessee,
Speaker 1: clears a bell on Saturday night if I jobbed a
Speaker 1: fresh sweet tater down on that five inch nub of
Speaker 1: an antenna that had survived my ownership. I remember that
Speaker 1: we'd all gathered up on a back road and built
Speaker 1: a fire one time, and while I was trying to
Speaker 1: fine tune the dial to get the music to play,
Speaker 1: one evening, someone found a sweet Tater in the bed
Speaker 1: of the truck and as a joke, stuck it on
Speaker 1: there and Wila sounded like we was right on the
Speaker 1: front row. So every Saturday night that we gathered, someone
Speaker 1: would fresh tater the radio and we'd light a fire.
Speaker 1: I remember not long after I bought it, that I
Speaker 1: was taking our old cow dog Luke to the vet
Speaker 1: for a check up over in Monticella that was sixteen
Speaker 1: miles away from warn and twenty two from our farm.
Speaker 1: I'd ask a young lady whose company I was currently
Speaker 1: partial to to go with me and her mom and
Speaker 1: daddy said it was all right. So when I got
Speaker 1: to town, I scooped her up, and with her sitting
Speaker 1: in the middle next to me and Luke, loving life
Speaker 1: and seeing the sights of town from the bed of
Speaker 1: the truck, we took off from Montecella, Arkansas. It was
Speaker 1: a big deal for a young man to have his
Speaker 1: own vehicle back then, especially one that he'd bought and
Speaker 1: paid for himself, and I was feeling plumb, growed and
Speaker 1: like a big deal and more than a little proud
Speaker 1: of myself as we rattled down the highway, fitting the
Speaker 1: image in my mind of just about every country song
Speaker 1: that faded in and out of that single speaker in
Speaker 1: the middle of the dash. Pride is said to go
Speaker 1: with before a fall. That actual quote is from Proverbs
Speaker 1: sixteen eighteen. It says pride goeth before destruction, and a
Speaker 1: haughty spirit before a fall. Well, in my case, it
Speaker 1: was pride goeth just like the tailgate that fell off
Speaker 1: your seven hundred dollars truck and is now sliding down
Speaker 1: the highway behind you and under the wheels of that
Speaker 1: log truck that only a moment ago looked to be
Speaker 1: a safe distance away. Apparently, the bondo that had repaired
Speaker 1: and hit a previous owner's damage on the left rear
Speaker 1: quarter panel had vibrated loose, releasing my tailgate from its
Speaker 1: vehicular bonds and send it to its doom along the
Speaker 1: highway like a blind folded armadella. I pulled over and
Speaker 1: loaded what was left of the tailgate in the back
Speaker 1: of the truck, put Luke up in the front with us,
Speaker 1: and we went on to the vet. I decided how
Speaker 1: to work on fixing that. When I got back to
Speaker 1: the farm. Now on the way back, on that same
Speaker 1: stretch of road, and with old Lucas checked out and
Speaker 1: good to go, and the embarrassment of that tailgate situation
Speaker 1: behind me, I felt that old familiar pride for feeling
Speaker 1: sneaking back up on me. And why not? My cow
Speaker 1: dog was healthy. I was cruising down the highway with
Speaker 1: a pretty girl, and the truck we were riding in
Speaker 1: was paid for and belonged to me, And so did
Speaker 1: that muffler that had just come loose and slid off
Speaker 1: the highway and into the clean river, never to be
Speaker 1: seen again. It seems old Uncle Rusty had overtaken the
Speaker 1: exhaust system of my chariot of fire and separated the
Speaker 1: muffler and a good portion of the tailpipe from its
Speaker 1: designated spot at a most inopportune time. I ain't had
Speaker 1: that truck long enough to get it real dirty, and
Speaker 1: with every turn of the wheel it seemed gravity was
Speaker 1: working against me. That last four miles back to her
Speaker 1: house with no muffler on the truck was so loud
Speaker 1: I didn't hear her say goodbye when she jumped out
Speaker 1: of the truck at a stop signed about half a
Speaker 1: block from where she lived. Oh well, Luke's Dave was
Speaker 1: me till died, and when he did, that old truck
Speaker 1: was what I used to tell him to his grave.
Speaker 1: And that's just how that happened. Now, getting to where
Speaker 1: we want to go is important. Getting back home, now,
Speaker 1: that's important, and folks will have their drouthers about the
Speaker 1: best way to do that. Their loyaltis to a specific
Speaker 1: brand of vehicle is intense and unmovable. You hear them
Speaker 1: say forge stands for found on the road dead, or
Speaker 1: that Webster's definition of dodge is to avoid and go
Speaker 1: around Chevrolet, Toyota, GMC, Nissan, all of them. They've all
Speaker 1: got their supporters and detractors. And that's not what we're
Speaker 1: talking about here. We're talking about not walking. And I'm
Speaker 1: a fan of any conveyance that saves me steps. I
Speaker 1: used to work with a fello in the woods who'd
Speaker 1: shake his head in pity and say, whenever we passed
Speaker 1: by somebody walking for exercise on the road, look at
Speaker 1: that idiot. The good lord on it gives you so
Speaker 1: many stiff in your life. And that moron is burning
Speaker 1: his up on the side of the highway. So to
Speaker 1: keep from burning your steps up unnecessarily, we need some wheels.
Speaker 1: And guess what, it ain't even got to be a truck.
Speaker 1: There were several of us that worked in the woods together,
Speaker 1: managing timber on different crews. And one fellow was a
Speaker 1: hog hunner. And when I say he was a hog gunner,
Speaker 1: I don't mean he hunted hogs occasionally. Saying Harry was
Speaker 1: a hog hunter was like saying sometimes I eat when
Speaker 1: I'm hungry, because sometimes I eat when I eat hungry.
Speaker 1: What's hungry got to do with it? If we got victuals,
Speaker 1: let's eat. That's how Harry felt about hog gunning. Harry's
Speaker 1: hunting rig was a car, a two door or mute
Speaker 1: of blue nineteen fifty nine Rambler with the rear seat
Speaker 1: removed to accommodate his dogs. The hood came from the
Speaker 1: factory with two chrome ornaments that looked like front sights
Speaker 1: on a cold peacemaker. They were placed side beside inches
Speaker 1: off the center line of the hood. Now Harry had
Speaker 1: removed them and replaced them with the tusk of a
Speaker 1: big boarhog, and he'd wired them through each hole. He
Speaker 1: had a pair of ground grip tires on the back
Speaker 1: that would sing going down the highway, and even though
Speaker 1: it wasn't a four wheel drive, that little lightweight car
Speaker 1: was unstoppable in the woods, especially when Harry was properly
Speaker 1: motivated by the boys in Milwaukee, causing him complete disregard
Speaker 1: for the paint on the fenders or the bark on trees.
Speaker 1: There was no mistaken when Harry drove by. He made
Speaker 1: a statement, your rig needs to serve your purpose. It
Speaker 1: should enhance your opportunities in the field and add to
Speaker 1: your comfort, safety and security. Many nights I slept in
Speaker 1: the seat or on a dog box in the bed
Speaker 1: of my truck, waiting for a hound to come back,
Speaker 1: or to just have a jump start on a spot
Speaker 1: where I thought a turkey might be gobbling. The next morning,
Speaker 1: now old Harry had removed a hole rear seat from
Speaker 1: his little Rambler customizes his rig to fit his mission
Speaker 1: profile carry beating system. On the other hand, Michael Roseman,
Speaker 1: the owner of Sunspot hunting lights, the man who had
Speaker 1: the vision and wherewithal to say, Hey, why don't we
Speaker 1: put the light and the battery on the coon hunting
Speaker 1: helmet that electrical wizard of sunshine and literal light. My friend,
Speaker 1: my coon hunting buddy, his first hunting rig. It was
Speaker 1: an eighty model two door old mobile cutlass. It's been
Speaker 1: said that poor folks have poor ways, and old Mikey,
Speaker 1: like a lot of us, comes from humble beginnings, but
Speaker 1: through hard work and perseverance, he's risen to the top
Speaker 1: of his game in the coon hunting world and become
Speaker 1: a successful businessman. And that his first hunting rig might
Speaker 1: have been what lit the fuse on his methodical rise
Speaker 1: to glory. Michael told me about him and his best
Speaker 1: friend Timmy borrowing that cutlass from Timmy's aunt and how
Speaker 1: they'd load the dogs up in the trunk and leave
Speaker 1: to go hunting. He said the rear deck speakers had
Speaker 1: long been removed from that car, and hounds would take
Speaker 1: turns poking their heads up through the holes to see
Speaker 1: where they were going. I'm sure that was the sight,
Speaker 1: and one that makes me laugh every time I hear
Speaker 1: Michael tell that story. It's a feel good story to me.
Speaker 1: Two young boys finding a way to do what they
Speaker 1: loved to do, and one of them loved it so
Speaker 1: much he now makes a living inside the coon hunting world.
Speaker 1: They don't get much better than that. God bless America.
Speaker 1: There's two examples of a country boys having rigs that
Speaker 1: suited their needs, even when at first glanced you wouldn't
Speaker 1: think so. Because if I ask you to picture a
Speaker 1: hog hunting or a coon hunting ride, I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: out on limb and say that neither one of those
Speaker 1: conjured up a modified rambler or a cutler. Harry and Michael,
Speaker 1: they beat the system. Gary Nukelemb, you know Gary Nukelemb
Speaker 1: daddy to Clay, patriarch of the Newcomb Covey seer of
Speaker 1: panthers and other mythical creatures. Well, Gary says the measure
Speaker 1: of a man is directly tied to his ability to
Speaker 1: buy a used vehicle. I tend to agree it's as
Speaker 1: imported a skill as knowing where North is and being
Speaker 1: able to build a fire. Now, if you can do
Speaker 1: those three things, you can drive, survive, and navigate the
Speaker 1: better places and friendlier people. Be bad at buying a
Speaker 1: car and you could end up walking everywhere you go.
Speaker 1: Moo it at the speed of flip and flop will
Speaker 1: get you nowhere fast and having you depending on others
Speaker 1: for transportation. And since I don't recall ever seeing the
Speaker 1: city bus rolling down the country road picking folks up
Speaker 1: and toting them places, you best acquire that skill stamp.
Speaker 1: I recall my dad and I driving through Kingston, Arkansas,
Speaker 1: birthplaced a Johnny Cash on our way to Rising, where
Speaker 1: my dad's office was, and we picked up such a
Speaker 1: fellow once. This man was unknown to us, but back
Speaker 1: then it wasn't uncommon to give folks to ride you
Speaker 1: didn't know. There wasn't a whole lot of meanness going on,
Speaker 1: and my pat wasn't never out of reach of a
Speaker 1: pistol if some sort should someone take a notion to
Speaker 1: try to rob us. Anyway, this fella was what we'd
Speaker 1: call him, an in between her. He was in between
Speaker 1: where he started and where he wanted to go. He
Speaker 1: was in between jobs and in between baths. He didn't
Speaker 1: need no money to ride with us, but since it
Speaker 1: wasn't raining and he smelled like a goat, he was
Speaker 1: assigned to sit in coach, which was the bed of
Speaker 1: the truck. He had an extra big straw hat on
Speaker 1: that was covering him well in the heat of the day.
Speaker 1: When we picked him up, my dad told him hop
Speaker 1: in the back, and with the grace of a Boston ballerina,
Speaker 1: that rascal hopped up in there and sat down on
Speaker 1: the edge of the bed. My dad hollered at him
Speaker 1: to sit down inside, but he stayed perched up on
Speaker 1: the edge like a crow on a lightlight, one hand
Speaker 1: holding the edge and the other holding the crown of
Speaker 1: that big old hat. Now, my dad told him to
Speaker 1: sit down again, and as we pulled out on the
Speaker 1: highway for safety, but he didn't budge. It was then
Speaker 1: I could see my father took this as a direct
Speaker 1: challenge to his authority as being the captain of this flight.
Speaker 1: He looked at me and said, he's going to sut
Speaker 1: down or I'm going to blow that hat plumb off
Speaker 1: his head. And away we went. At sixty five miles
Speaker 1: an hour, the brim with that hat started to ribrate
Speaker 1: to where you could notice it a little bit, but
Speaker 1: that man never flinched. At seventy five, it was flopping
Speaker 1: up and down like a jackhammer, and he was mashing
Speaker 1: it down so hard with his off hand that you
Speaker 1: couldn't see his eyes. Ten minutes of eighty five miles prior,
Speaker 1: and the brim of that hat was hanging around his
Speaker 1: neck like a bouquet of flowers for winning the Kentucky Derby,
Speaker 1: and the crown of that hat looked like one of
Speaker 1: my grandma's shire caps. We had to slow down to
Speaker 1: almost a complete stop to let someone turn off the highway,
Speaker 1: and I guess that fella had had enough and decided
Speaker 1: to d plane. Before we reached the terminal gate. He
Speaker 1: bailed out there like it was on fire, and the
Speaker 1: last time I seen him he was lighting a shuck
Speaker 1: across the ditch into the woods and cussing up a storm.
Speaker 1: We felt bad about his hat, but had he had
Speaker 1: sense enough not to be walking and depending on other
Speaker 1: folks for his transportation, or if he had just sat
Speaker 1: down like my dad told him to, he'd still be
Speaker 1: sporting that cover. So where are we going to find you?
Speaker 1: A rig at word of mouth in somebody's yard Unless
Speaker 1: you know the used car salesman, steer clear and hunt
Speaker 1: for the deal where someone is settling it themselves. You'll
Speaker 1: see them advertised as just in time for hunting season
Speaker 1: or perfect for the farm. You know what you're getting there,
Speaker 1: and a seat warmer probably ain't going to be on
Speaker 1: the list at probably ain't gonna be a lot of
Speaker 1: wiggle room on the price either, but there'll be some,
Speaker 1: and you need to haggle a bit. Remember what Gary
Speaker 1: Newcom said about the measure of a man and buying
Speaker 1: a used vehicle. Haggling over a price makes men feel
Speaker 1: like men, and both of you come away a winter. Remember,
Speaker 1: we ain't buying a show truck. We're not looking for
Speaker 1: this unit to do anything outside of getting us to
Speaker 1: the country and back without breaking a sweat or swinging
Speaker 1: her arms. So a little dent here and there ain't
Speaker 1: gonna bother us. That's character like a broken pair of
Speaker 1: leather boots or scars that reminds you of a past adventure. Heck,
Speaker 1: if we add a din or two along the way,
Speaker 1: your first thought might have had nothing to do with
Speaker 1: getting it fixed. It could be thanks for the check
Speaker 1: insurance man. Ain't nobody gonna notice that little dent, cause
Speaker 1: they're gonna be too busy looking at my neutroller motor
Speaker 1: when our cruise passed them headed to the river without
Speaker 1: order to get you squared away and pointed in the
Speaker 1: right direction. If or win and you decide to update
Speaker 1: your fleet with a new to you country cruiser. I
Speaker 1: hope you all enjoyed our visit today if you have
Speaker 1: shared with other country minded folks that might enjoy it.
Speaker 1: Remember you ain't got to be from the country, Bee Country.
Speaker 1: This is Brent Reeves signing off. Y'all be careful.