ME AND MY CARS

ME & MY CARS

            Eighty years adds up to a lot of automobiles. The other night, I was trying to remember the various makes and models of all the cars I have owned. 

            I remember my first car. It was a 1934 Dodge, given to me by my former baby-sitter and downstairs neighbors, Louise and Ned Stevens. I never did get to drive it, but don't recall whether my Dad had it hauled away to the junk yard because of the way it didn't run, or as a disciplinary action for something I did or did not do. At any rate, I was only 15 at the time and don't remember being that sad over losing it.

            That was the same year my Dad brought our first family car. It was a 1947 Plymouth sedan, purchased from Spartico "Spot" Neri at his garage on East Main Street. A few months later, I turned 16 and Dad taught me to drive. Subsequently, another few months passed before I was driving down Route 30 in Vernon one late night and ran off the road, managing to stop before striking a very large tree, but buckling the undercarriage in the process. It was several months more before I was again allowed to drive that car.

Our 47 Plymouth

             The next family car was a newer Plymouth and then a nice DeSoto and we had moved to Westport by then. I started dating my bride of many years and her cousin had this cool 1937 Ford, 2 door sedan. Tim and Joy sold me the car for $150. It sported Cadillac fender skirts, had a 65 hp engine and mechanical brakes, perfect for a high school kid. The brakes had to be adjusted every few days and I was able to rig it with a loud muffler, a suicide knob and chopped off the gearshift which was on the floor so I could shift faster. I kept that car all through high school but unfortunately don't recall taking any photos.

My 48 Chevy- Vacum shift 3 speed on steering wheel

          I always worked part time and after graduating from Staples High School, entered the working world full time. It was time for another car and cousin-to-be, Tim who was a mechanic at Blue Ribbon Motors, quickly found me another gem.

         My 1948 Chevy was spotless, had low mileage, a vacum shift on the steering wheel and was fun to drive. It was also a sedan, but more of an adult car.

         By this time, I had quit my job at the grocery store in hopes of learning a trade and Frank Decker got me a job as an apprentice carpenter, working for Zarelli Brothers Construction. At the time, development in Westport was at full charge, and houses were going up everywhere. Louis and Tony Zarelli were leading the way with developments in several sections of town.

         Carpentry work was great fun and paid pretty well, but it didn't take me long to realize that I didn't want to make it a career. Once again, fate intervened. I received my official draft notice from the government and was told to report for a physical. In the process, I talked with a recruiter and found out that if I enlisted, I could have my choice of Army schools. It would only cost me an extra year, and at age 18, a year didn't seem like any time at all. I reported to New Haven on the 27th of Decmber, was sworn in and joined a bunch of other draftee's and enlisted men, heading for Ford Dix, NJ. I turned the Chevy over to the love of my life to use while I was gone. At the completion of basic training at Fort Dix, I was transferred to Fort Monmouth, NJ and was able to bring my car onto the base. 

        It turned out that my school choice was a good one for my immediate future, as the school lasted 33 weeks. I was able to get weekend passes and commute between Monmouth and home for almost my first full year in the Army. The Chevy served me well. I had to replace the generator brushes a couple of times and did one valve job, but in those days, all of us did most of our own repairs and I was able to give the car back to Mary  Anne when I was transferred across Country to New Mexico where I spent the remainder of my enlistment time. I also gave my best girl a ring and we were officially engaged.

WE honeymooned in Cape Cod in our classy little 53 Studebaker

         Over the next 2 years, most of my driving was of jeeps, pickups, 3/4 ton vehicles all painted olive drab.. Mary Anne took good care of the Chevy. I received my honorable discharge on December 13, 1957 along with Bill Dowler and a couple of others from back east and we drove cross-country, stopping only for food and gas.
          I took a job in a factory, tired of that, tried direct sales, then back to clerking in a grocery store before a high school friend, Officer George Call, pulled me over one night and suggested I take the test to become a cop. I bought a 1953 Studebaker. Loved the lines but it ran like a---Studebaker.
         Once I decided on a career in law enforcement, there were lots of cars. I recall a 63 Chevy, a 55 Chevy, an Audi, an Opel station wagon,  another Opel sedan. a fun little Volkswagen Karman Ghia,  a couple of Volkswagen Beetles, a Ford sedan, another Ford sedan, three different motorcycles, a Mazda pickup, a Nissan pickup, An International pickup, a Ford station wagon, a 96 Olds Ciera which Mary Anne still drives and my current car, a 2013 Mazda 6. Almost forgot my 65 Plymouth which preceded both Opels. Every car had a story.
         My son Todd wrecked the Opel Station Wagon. The Opel sedan was demolished while parked next to the house when adolescent 5 year-old Billy Mills released the brake on Daddy's Garbage truck. The 65 Plymouth blew the transmission while exiting I-95 to pick up the new Opel station wagon. One of the Ford's. I purchased in Florida after my Dad died. I rented a trailer, bought the car loaded all my parents possessions in the trailer and headed for CT. Someplace in Va. I blew a radiator hose. That fixed, I made it to D.C. where I blew a head gasket. I limped to a small town garage in Maryland, left it there for repairs and rented a car for the rest of the drive home. A week later, I returned, picked up the car with a new set of heads and drove it for another year or so before I sold it.
           I bought my first motorcycle, a tiny little 50cc bike for fun, soon upgraded to a 125 cc dirt bike. A car made a left turn in front of me and I ended up with a busted leg,. Once cured, I bought a 500 cc Honda and rode that one until I needed my first computer and sold it to buy the machine. Bikes are great fun, dangerous but worth the risk.
         The Audi was  one of the nicest cars I owned and my bride's favorite. Only problem was having to hire a mechanic to ride along on the hood to make all the repairs.My 55 Chevy that I bought from George Call for $150. bucks burned oil almost faster than gas, but never failed to start and was my second car for many months. My Karman Ghia, I bought from Bill Stefan and it was almost as much fun to drive as my motorcycles.
          Cars offer freedom. I can go anywhere and any time I'm unhappy or frustrated, there's nothing like a nice ride to sort things out.

                                                                      endit
       

WILD TROUT ALL YEAR LONG

WILD TROUT ALL YEAR LONG


By Dick Alley



                 As a youngster, I was introduced to trout fishing at Walker's Reservoir in Rockville. The surrounding property was owned by the Belding family. It was posted and the grounds and waters were patrolled by a caretaker. My buddies and I wouldn't dare go fishing in the stream running out of the "Rez".

              Many years passed before I found out about the Wild Trout Management Area in this same stream that was formerly forbidden. Today it reigns as one of the best "wild trout" fisheries  in the State.

A trio of the "wild ones" tagged and returned to the WTMA

  Recently, I was invited along on a DEEP survey of the Belding Wild Trout Management Area, located in Vernon, CT. I was happily surprised to learn it was only about 5 miles from my home in Manchester. I was even happier when I learned it was a fishing spot that was forbidden territory when I was a kid.
       Having grown up in the area, I always remembered the Belding property as a stream running through a stretch of woods below Walker’s Reservoir in Rockville. It feeds the Tankerhoosen River in Vernon. Walker’s was the place Grandpa took me on my first fishing adventure for sunnies and the spot where I caught my first trout only a couple of years later. I enjoyed many days in the 1940's and 50's, riding my bike to Walker’s, a telescopic rod and a can of worms balanced precariously on the handlebars.

They are as frisky as they are pretty

       As kids, we were absolutely convinced that sneaking onto the Belding property could result in certain death. We knew it to be patrolled by guys with guns and had little doubt we would be executed on the spot for fishing there. Besides, fishing at the “RES” (Walker’s) was good enough. Why take the chance.
      At that age, I didn’t know there was a difference between wild and hatchery-raised trout. All were beautiful fish that fought really hard and tasted great. While we weren’t really poor, Mom always welcomed free fish dinners.
      It rang a bell when the Belding property was listed as a TMA by the state, but I didn’t really make the connection with my youthful adventures until I visited the spot.. It was the first designated Wild Trout Management Area in the state.
      My reintroduction to the Belding property more than a half-century later was revealing and exciting. I accompanied a crew of DEEP biologists, led by Bill Hyatt and Neil Hagstrom, to the TMA. It is located on open land off Bolton Rd. in Vernon. There is roadside parking on Bread & Milk Rd. next to a cornfield, but the stream is most easily accessible by walking to Bolton Rd. and down through the open field opposite Bamforth Rd. A stone bridge marks the spot where the stream flows beneath Bolton Rd. Upstream of Bolton Road, a short hike through a cathedral of towering pines leads to a small pond, which feeds this brook full of wild trout.
      My first thought on viewing the pond on a windless day was that catching fish didn’t matter. The sheer beauty of the spot makes every moment there, a time to be treasured.
   

These little guys  can grow to lengths of 10 to 12-inches

  The stream itself is small, probably too small to fish comfortably with an 8 or 9-foot rod. It is more ideally suited to a four or five-foot, ultra-light spinning stick or a tiny 5 or 6 foot flea rod. It is maybe 10 feet across at its widest spot, and the water is waist deep in the largest pools.
      Neither would any of the trout caught here be big enough to decorate an office or playroom wall. The stream is first of all catch-and-release fishing only. The biggest trout may measure 10 or 11 inches, and there will be far more 5 to 8-inch specimens, but they will be among the prettiest trout you will catch in a lifetime.
      They are wild trout, native to the stream and they spawn and continue their particular strain from one year to the next. Yes, an occasional stocked fish does show up in the annual survey (this year, there were two out of more than 400 fish counted). They probably make their way downstream from Walker’s Reservoir in a spring flood, but they are easily distinguishable from the wild fish. The colors on a wild trout are brilliant.
         Bill Hyatt is excited about wild trout in Connecticut. He revealed that there are many streams in the state like Belding that hold wild trout. In some there are only brookies, while others contain brooks and browns. In fact proposals have already been written to establish some of these areas as wild trout management areas in the near future.
        The DEEP survey team was comprised of 6 biologists or people training to be biologists. Neil Hagstrom leads the way, wearing a backpack machine that delivers enough electricity to a pair of probes, to temporarily stun the fish so they can be gathered, measured, counted and returned to the water with no visible harm. Two additional crew members work in concert with Neil, netting the fish and placing them in buckets. They are followed by another pair of crew members who measure the fish, record the condition, species and size and then return them to the stream.
       The fish are hardy, so much so that we were even able to pose some for photos before returning them to the water no worse the wear. The data recorded by the team is then compared with previous surveys to determine just how well the fish and the habitat are doing.

Another pretty specimen - Lots of fun on ultra-kight
either spinning or fly

      Spin-fishermen and fly-fishermen alike can enjoy this spot. Fishing is restricted to single-hook lures or flies. No bait fishing allowed! The daily creel limit is zero, meaning that fish must be immediately returned to the water without avoidable injury.
      Early settlers in Connecticut enjoyed good trout fishing in most rivers and streams before the industrial revolution. There were no hatcheries and every trout was a wild trout. Stocking operations have enhanced trout fishing for the many more anglers who fish today, but it’s nice to know that we can step back in history and experience the same fishing today that was available then. Belding is the place to be.


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