CNN is reporting that the little red Radio Flyer wagon of your childhood is getting an extreme makeover. Tricked out with the latest in modern safety features and technology. Gone is the flat metal bottom, replaced with padded seats with 5 point safety harnesses. Foot brakes provide stopping power (no word if they are anti-lock brakes). The digital handle tracks speed, distance and temperature to keep junior from getting too hot or cold. Cup holders to make sure there is adequate hydration. An MP3 holder and built in speakers mean kids won't be bored while their parents enjoy things such as "nature".
When I was young, we would build a small ramp at the edge of a ditch and take turns pushing each other over the ramp and play Evil Knieval, inevitably crashing down well short of the other side (I didn't have good parental supervision as a child!) Wonder how this would hold up to that type of abuse!
Reprinted with permission from the Half-Astrophysicist Blog.
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6 comments:
This isn't even sledding anymore, padded seats, brakes and seatbelts??? While in high school, we would snarf down lunch as quick as possible, we would then "cop" the plastic lunch tray and hit Washington Park hill. Those suckers were fast. We could get pretty wet before the bell to the next class rang. Now that was sledding.
Is nothing sacred anymore???
This brings back memories. I remember my wagon. (It's the yellow hot rod looking one) It was coolest wagon in the neighborhood. Like hale,I used to play Evil Kneival with it! I would fly off of ramps with it and have demo derbys. I was a crazy kid.
Growing up,I used to go sledding at the resevior(sp) across Durand Ave. During the winter of '77/'78 snowcliffs high as maybe 8 feet were formed about about a quarter of the way down the hillside. My buddies and I would FLY off these snowcliffs!! We destroyed a quite a few tobaggons and sleds. Inner tubes were indestructable...
I had the traditional red Radio Flyer, but a friend had the yellow one. We just are too parnoid about safety. What do we remember from our childoods? The days we played safe or that windy day when tumbleweeds piled up to the top of the second floor of my friend's house and we decided to jump off the roof through the pile of tumbleweeds on the theory that they would slow our fall enough to keep us from getting hurt? The tumbleweed day is the memorable one of course! For the record, they slow down your fall plenty, but scratch you up so you look like you got into a fight with a bunch of raid badgers.
Oh for shit sakes......
I wish they made “Big Wheels” for adults! I could foresee a few broken limbs, but what a blast it would be.
I never had a wagon. :(
However, I lived a block away from the lake bank, so I had a sled, a Flexible Flyer, which you could "steer." That came in handy in avoiding the metal poles cemented into the ground for the summer grills. You could also slide down the hill on cardboard in the late summer/early fall when the grass was dry enough.
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