There are a few things that I can remember with crystal clarity from my childhood. September 8, 1974 was one of those days. We had just come home from North Augusta, and I had learned that Evel Knievel did not make the Snake River Canyon Jump. Oh how I cried. The man was larger than life and he was, at the time, a hero of mine. Over the years, he had dropped of my radar until I read this morning that he had died.
3 comments:
Me too, man. I had the toy EK with the crank-thing to make his motorcycle go. I missed seeing the Snake River Canyon jump too (but I don't remember why) but I do remember being really bummed that he didn't make it. I tried to explain to my son what kind of hero he was, but it kept sounding so stupid. I guess you had to live it.
I had an EK motorcycle too. The kid across the street had the van you could jump over. I also had the sky cycle. I remember the jump over the Snake river and watching it on television. Oh the drama. Did he survive? Did he die? I even did a report on EK in the 6th grade.
I totally forgot about the EK van. I wanted one for Christmas on year, but 'Santa' couldn't find it in the stores. I got a crappy "Big Jim" camper instead. In case you don't remember, Big Jim was a GI Joe wannabe. He was about the same size as the original GI Joes, so he was almost twice as tall as EK, who looked ridiculous driving that gigantic RV to the locations of his stunts.
Post a Comment