You ever had a dream car?....I mean a car that every time you saw one you followed it with your eyes till it was out of sight.....When I was a young man I had just such a car in my sights.....A brand new Corvette Stingray convertible.....Now by the time a Corvette Stingray convertible was my dream car I'd already gotten drag racing out of my system.....

I no longer thought it necessary to have a 500 horse power motor, and if some guy in the next town or my town had a faster car than me, well good for him....Somehow a car that shook the ground when you cranked it wasn't as appealing as it used to be and nobody was happier when I sold my ground shaking drag car than my next door neighbors, and the people that lived next door to my neighbors and the people that lived....OK, lets put it this way, everyone within a 1/4 mile radius of our my house were exceedingly glad when I finally sold my car....:)

Now that car cost me a lot of money, how much money? A lot, and to make the money to buy that racing motor, transmission, rear end, bubble hood and everything else you needed so your car would bring the front wheels off the ground when you rev-ed it up and put the pedal to the metal so to speak, I got me a job finishing concrete.....Sorry what was that fellow gardeners? You haven't ever owned a car that could bring the front wheels off the ground? Well my goodness, why ever not?....:)....."It sounds ridiculous, who would ever in their right mind want a car like that Paul from Alabama?".....Why me, fellow gardeners....Back in them days I couldn't understand why everyone didn't have one of those cars or at least wasn't busy getting one.......:)

Now about finishing concrete, let me put it to you the way the man who hired me put it to me that first day that concrete started slowly flowing out of that concrete truck and piling up on the ground and I was expected to take my shovel and start moving it around where it was supposed to go......Mr. Law said to me,"Paul, finishing concrete will either make a man out of you, or it'll kill you".....I started working in May, finished working in August and when I picked up my last check I told Mr. Law, "Mr.Law, I couldn't really say if you made a man outta me or not, but Lord a mercy a few days there you nearly killed me"....Mr. Law looked at me and smiled and told me I was a really good worker, that was high praise from a man like Mr.Law and I always remembered it fondly and still do today......I made really good money for a guy 19 years old back then and I worked more hours than David Copperfield ever did on his worst day over there in jolly old England back when they worked children from morning till night.......:)

Now I had about $3,000 in cash put together and I was going to borrow my parents station wagon and with a buddy of mine, Derrick, drive to Charlotte N.C. to Holman & Moody, the Ford racing capital of the South.....How can I explain what going to Holman & Moody meant to me back in them days?.... I know, think the Israelites (me) on their way to Mt. Sinai (Holman & Moody) after being released from slavery(finishing concrete) to receive the Ten Commandments (a Holman & Moody racing motor).....Got it fellow gardeners?, "Paul from Alabama, you sure that ain't blasphemy?", Blasphemy?, that ain't blasphemy, that's a Holman & Moody Ford racing motor!!!!......:) I kinda figured the Lord was on my side anyways cause I didn't die of heat exhaustion finishing concrete to make the money to buy the motor in the first place......"Paul from Alabama, we're going to give you the benefit of the doubt but no more Israelite analogies, OK?".....OK fellow gardeners, not even one more......:)

Well I pull up in the parking lot of Holman & Moody Racing Enterprises and thinking to myself, "Hey, when I tell them how much money I got to spend and how much I've dreamed of this day, how much I love Ford racing motors, what a fan I am of Holman & Moody, why they'll probably take me and Derrick on a personalized tour of the facility and let me drive Fireballl Robert's old race car once around the block.....:)

Well I walk up to the counter, tell the guy what it is I want, how much money I got, what I'm going to do with the motor when I get it home, how much I've dreamed about this day and my life story from birth.....:).....And you know what happened then fellow gardeners? "What Paul from Alabama? How are we supposed know anything, we weren't there, its you telling the story goofy"!!!.....There's no need to get testy fellow gardeners......:)

Well to make a long story short (I better not hear any applause fellow gardeners, like when I finally finished the camping story..:))...The man behind the counter had the back of my parents station wagon chock full of Ford racing motor stuff, a short block, sodium filled valves, medium riser heads and manifold, 2 Holley racing carburetors, racing pistons, a cam shaft that gave your motor that sound that made your heart feel like it was going to jump right out of your chest when you car was running straight outta the headers.....Is that too graphic? Not graphic enough?.......:) And me? I was broke and it took me exactly 22 minutes to spend what it took me nearly 4 months of hard work to earn......but I had me the motor of my dreams...:)

"But Paul from Alabama, what about the personalized tour of the facility?...Driving Fireball Robert's old racing car around the block once?", Ah maybe my next trip to Holman & Moody fellow gardeners........:)   And so I'm on my way back home and into the pages of drag racing history in the little small southern town I'm from....."Paul from Alabama, exactly what does that mean?".....It means fellow gardeners I gave up a college diploma, a pocket full money and all for a car that was a ground shaking, 500 horse power,flying death trap if there was one......:)

Well times change and so did I, and I sold my ground shaker for a substantial profit......You do you believe that don't you fellow gardeners? "No we don't Paul from Alabama, we don't know much about cars that bring the wheels off the ground in first gear but we do know that no young man's passion for race cars turn a profit".....Hmmm, my fellow gardeners are smarter than I thought.....OK, I'll come clean, let me put it this way.....If I sold a race car like the one I had every year for 10 years for what I sold the one I did have, well I'd be about $40,000 dollars in the hole...Sounds like to me with money making skills like that I'd be qualified to run our economy in Washington today......:)

But back to my dream car.......Now if you're going to buy a new Corvette Stingray convertible you gotta have car insurance, my folks, much less the bank ain't going to loan no 21 year old dreamer the money to buy his dream car or drive it two feet down the road unless you got car insurance.....Now when we investigated getting car insurance for a Corvette (they're made out of fiberglass by the way) with a 21 year old driver behind the wheel, imagine my surprise when I found out it was a substantial amount....a lot of $ and it had to be paid every year.....I saw how much it was but I wanted that car of my dreams, I saw every beautiful woman in town just itching to ride around with me in my new Corvette Stingray convertible.....Yes it was going to be a dream come true, me and my Corvette Stingray convertible.....Life is sweet, its great to be young and 21 and its, well its mighty expensive to get insurance when you're young and 21 is all I got to say.......:)

"Paul from Alabama, some of the fellow gardeners want to know why those beautiful women that were going to ride around in the Corvette with you were itching? Were there lots of mosquitoes in Piedmont at that time of year? An outbreak of poison Ivy?.....Diaper rash?" Cute, my fellow gardeners, real cute.......:)

Well Daddy and me go down to the bank to see the president of the bank, Granger Latta,  a man I've respected and admired all my life, and a man that was a great friend to my parents as well as my grandfather for many years.....And what did the bank president think of me getting my dream car?....The worst idea I'd ever had, in a long line of bad ideas he knew I'd had over the years, but if I wanted the car he'd loan me the money.....I thought about his words of wisdom, in full knowledge of him having my best interest at heart and what did I do? I said, "Mr. Latta, loan me the money, I gotta have that car, that brand new Corvette Stingray convertible, the car of my dreams"...Now before you ask, I guess some of you want to know how long I gave his words of wisdom some thought? About 15 seconds, could've been less......:)

Well I got the money, all I gotta do is get the insurance....Now to get the insurance I got to go to Birmingham to the insurance headquarters where you have to go if they're going to issue a policy for a fiberglass Corvette to some starry eyed 21 year old dreamer like me and my mother has to sign for me too cause I still reside at home or I didn't have enough sense to buy it myself, I never knew which......:)

But I got the insurance, but there's one catch....It'll take 3 days to clear it and for it to be activated.....THREE DAYS? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I GOT THE MONEY FOR CAR!!!........:)....Well on the way home we go by the Chevy dealership and take a gander at my new Covervette Stingray convertible......The salesman, who is a nice fellow seems, tells me he knows how much I want the car now and seeing as how its going to be 3 days till I can actually drive it, how about him driving it to my house and parking it in the driveway.....How about it?....Hey Cool.....Thanks mister.......And you know what fellow gardeners?, "What Paul from Alabama, what now?".....:) That was the worst decision I ever made, well not the worst but in the top 10 for sure....You can't imagine what its like to have the car of your dreams in your driveway and can't drive it for THREE DAYS!!!.....May I share something, something very close to my heart fellow gardeners? "Paul from Alabama, if it'll help you get to the end of this story for God's sake pour your heart out to us right now, if not sooner."........:)

Thanks fellow gardeners, I've always counted on your sympathy and understanding since May 1st when I started writing these little stories.....:) Well fellow gardeners those THREE DAYS WERE THE LONGEST DAYS OF MY YOUNG LIFE....I walked out there a 100 times a day to look at that brand new Corvette Stingray convertible sitting pretty as you please right there in my my drive way and couldn't even back it up and couldn't drive if forward either......but Daddy did let me crank it up if I swore not to put it in gear.....I don't know how much gas that car was delivered with but it was nearly empty by the time them THREE DAYS WERE UP....:) I let that thing run in neutral till my feet starting falling asleep with me sitting behind the wheel every day......:)

And finally the day came, I could drive my dream car...and drive it I did.......I drove that thing everywhere, top down, hair blowing the wind, smile on face, a song in my heart and an insurance payment that would choke a horse........:) "Paul from Alabama, what about all the beautiful women that were having skin irritation problems they were so excited about a mere chance of riding around with you and your new Corvette Stingray convertible?".....Well my fellow gardeners, that was the one thing about my dream car that never panned out really, other than that, it was the car of my dreams.....But now I did take 3 beautiful women to ride after all, but the 3 women were my mother, my granny and my sister, and 5 beautiful women if you count my 2 best friends wives....So that makes 5 beautiful women riding around town with me, I told you that brand new Corvette Stingray convertible was a 'chick magnet' even if the 'chicks' were relatives or good friends of mine that were married already.....:) My granny, I guess she rode in the car more than anybody, Lord I'd put the top down and we'd ride and ride through the country roads around Piedmont, Lord how she loved that car.....

Now one day I got to thinking how riding around in the National Forest would be a fine idea, it was spring time and well I wanted to ride in the mountains, so off I went in my Corvette Stingray convertible, top down and hair blowing in the wind, a smile on my face, a song in my heart and an insurance payment that would choke a horse........:) Now the road I was on drove through a creek, not a deep creek mind you, but one of those roads you drove across the creek and didn't need a Jeep to do it, one the Forest Service kept up, but one that maybe wasn't exactly made for a Corvette Stingray convertible but I threw caution to the wind and drove right through that creek and when I got to the other side I thought, gee that was fun, I got a great idea, another idea in long long line of great if not brilliant ideas that were sometimes great and sometimes brilliant too, and sometimes, well not so great and definitely not brilliant......If I'm going to have so much fun driving through these creeks and all through the mountains I'm going to have to get me something more suitable for driving in them....and so my fellow gardeners, the ones of you that have been reading my little stories with any regularity know the rest of the story.....

I'd had my new Corvette Stingray convertible almost one year, and when the next payment was nearly due on my insurance I decided to get me one of the new Jeeps from American Motors...The V8 Jeeps, that you could get with 8,000 lb. winches, roll bars and everything a guy my age could want in a Jeep that would go 'ANYWHERE'.....and you know what else I decided I needed, another in a long long line of brilliant ideas, I needed a Doberman Pinscher, not just any Doberman Pinscher, no an attack and recall Doberman Pinscher, a man stopper Doberman Pinscher.....Yes the smart thing and only sensible thing to do as far as I could see was to get me one of them new Jeeps, a Doberman Pinscher attack dog and go camping, go camping when it was forecast to be the coldest night in Alabama history ( http://web.mac.com/sinai/Site/Blog/Entries/2008/6/12_I_Went_Camping.html ), but first I needed to try it out that new Jeep, I think I'll take up to Seven Fords ( http://web.mac.com/sinai/Site/Blog/Entries/2008/6/14_.html ) and see what she'll do.

Yes my fellow gardeners, I've had the car of my dreams and I've had a pretty good life I think....but Lord have mercy, I don't think I'll last much longer if I have anymore 'brilliant ideas' like some of the ones I've had....."But Paul from Alabama, what are you going to do with your life if you don't have anymore 'brilliant ideas"?....Well fellow gardeners it's like this, I ain't doing nothing if I don't ask my wife first, unless it's a really really brilliant idea, like the one I had today...."Tell us Paul from Alabama, what was this brilliant idea?"......OK, you're not going to believe it, it' so good, ready? HANG GLIDING.......:)

Paul from Alabama