Summer on St. Simons Island is the best, isn’t it? And if you’re a kid, it’s somehow even BETTER! I remember, as a kid back in the early 70s, I’d ride my bike everywhere! How in the HECK did we ride our bikes ALL over the island in 98-degree heat?!
Back then, your mom would go into Roberta’s women’s store and tell you to stay in the car because she didn’t want you to knock anything over. You’d sit there for 20 minutes trying not to get burned by the puke green “pleather” vinyl seating in the Ford Country Squire station wagon. Yes, times are different these days. But...
Back then, your mom would give you $5 and drop you off at the Casino in the village in the morning (NO, it wasn’t an actual gambling casino!) and wouldn’t come back until 6:00 p.m. You could swim in the pool, bowl at the bowling alley, and roller skate at the skating rink.
A young David Butler (left) ready to spend his allowance
Back then, you would swim out to the sandbar behind The King & Prince hotel—until you went to see “Jaws” in 1975 and then you NEVER swam out to the sandbar again!
Back then, you walked to your friend’s house if they lived in your neighborhood. If they didn’t live in your neighborhood, you’d ask your mom to drive you. Your mom would tell you, “Ride your bike.”
Back then, if you wanted an ice cream cone or a cheeseburger from the Tastee Freeze, you had to earn money by mowing lawns for a dollar.
Nowadays, instead of sitting on scorching car seats in the back of a hot Ford Country Squire station wagon, kids just Uber to Frosty’s to get their ice cream and cheeseburgers and Use ApplePay on their iPhones!
I think I’ll ride my bike to Roberta’s!
