I was 10 years old when my Father brought me a motor scooter, a Cushman, from Nebraska. He came hauling it home tied to the back bumper of his car. My Mother wasn't very happy, to say the least. I was too small to hold it up when not in motion. Dad would run with me to get it going, then I would ride it around the block until I was tired or wanted to stop. Then I'd holler at Dad and he would run out and catch me. In less than a week I was riding fine without any help. As it would run about 45 miles per hour, Dad mounted a governor stop so it would only go slow. I would get out of his sight and slide the governor off and it would run like %&^%$! When he was near, I'd slide the governor back on. After a time it broke and he just left it off

Covington, OK is a small town where everyone knows everyone and everyone knew me. Dad built me a trailer to tow behind the scooter and I became the town delivery boy. At 10 years old I delivered, ice, groceries, newspapers and anything else I could carry in the trailer.

My Dad owned a machine shop and a gas station in Covington. Anytime the scooter was at either place and Mom, Dad or one of the employees needed to run a short errand they would grab my scooter. I invented my own scooter alarm. I carried a Whistler/Chaser in the trunk. When I wanted to alarm it, I connected the wire to the sparkplug When someone tried to start it, the sparkplug wire would set off the whistler and it would whistle and smoke all ever the place. Eventually everyone was afraid to touch my scooter.

When I was 12 years old, while living in Covington, Dad was working on an oil lease below Marshall, OK. As we were going to move to Marshall, I wanted to start school there. So early mornings Dad would load my scooter in his pickup and I'd ride to Marshall with him. He'd unload my scooter at school. When school was out I would ride the scooter back the 16 miles home on a dirt country road. I rode the same route each day so if I had a problem, Dad would be home soon. I made this trip five days a week until we moved to Marshall.

Eventually I wore this scooter out. Dad bought me a bigger Cushman scooter with a transmission, clutch and all the accessories. In those days a scooter could be purchased for about $450. It lasted me for many years.