Tradition

One day, I found out we were all going to drive to Estes Park, Colorado, wherever that is. We were going to take my grandmothers car, an Oldsmobile Delta 88, because for some reason our red Mustang wasn't good enough, and my Gammy was going to be in Estes Park when we got there and she wanted to use the car, so we would drive it there, let her use it and drive it back. So me, my mom and dad were going to take a "Big Bye Bye" to Colorado.

We were going to a ranch and be cowboys, live like the real cowboys did in a cabin and ride horses. We were going to some place called a "dude ranch" and the name of it was Wind River Ranch, high in the Rocky Mountains. But to get there we were going to drive, it would take a long time since up to now my frame of reference for driving distance was going to the market with mom, or "little bye byes" to visit with my cousins in Hollywood, or a day trip in Palm Springs. But this was a BIG bye bye and would take a long time spending many days in the car going hundreds of miles. We were going to eat in the car and stay in motels along the way and we were going to see many wonderful things along the way that I had no concept at the time were interesting or not, in fact I had no idea what we were getting into for the next 40 years.

I was too young to have any responsibility of packing and preparing for the trip, I was just coming along. The packing and planning was up to my mom and dad, and it seemed like mom was a little unhappy about the whole thing. But dad was all into it. The day before the trip, when things were probably the most hectic, it became an annual tradition before the trip for many years to come, to take out a selected collection of 45's (the little vinyl records with the big hole) and play them for hours, and dance to a couple of the favorite songs. The main song of the collection was "A Summers Place" by Percy Faith and his Orchestra. This was the theme song for the trip since we started the 'big bye byes" during the Summer and Estes Park became our Summers place. On the flip side of "Summers Place" was a happy little instrumental song called "Go Go a Pogo" Which was really fun to hop around and dance to. Dad and I would dance so vigorously that we would shake the house and sometimes break things. Another important theme song vital to the musical tradition was "Baby the Rain Must Fall" by Glenn Yarborough, a very masculine and inspirational song that expressed the true spirit of the big bye bye and was the official theme song for my dad and all he stood for and believed in. This song more than others was the personality of the big bye bye. Some of the other songs we would play was "Transfusion" by Nervous Norvous, a cheap 50's novelty song about crazy drivers getting into accidents and needing blood transfusions due to injuries caused by reckless driving habits. I guess this was a cautionary tale meant to set the tone for expert driving talents my dad claimed to have above all the other drivers on the road, and we were sure to encounter all of them. There was "Downtown" and "I Know a Place" by Petula Clark, and the theme from "Mondo Cane" which was fun to pretend you were riding a horse to. "Walk on the Wild Side" was a cool movie theme song that had 2 versions on each flip side of the 45, I can remember the label artwork for each specific record and since I couldn't read that was how I kept track and knew which record I wanted to play.
Mom was always annoyed at this ritual and stayed far away, probably because it was a way for my dad to avoid work and also motivated him to act a little crazy. This was my dads tradition, this was his "big bye bye" and this was the official start of our Summer vacations.