I grew up close to Whately in South Deerfield and spent a lot of time riding my bike along the back roads. I have a few spots in mind for shots depicting Whately. The hard part is making time to do it. Seems there's always something more pressing to get done but I've made it my goal this weekend to make the effort. It will be fun to visit old venues. I may do it on my bike, the same one I had back then. I never replaced my 10-speed that I worked summers picking cucumbers to purchase. Hours of laying on my stomach on what we locals call a "polish airplane". (and before someone gets tweaked about a now politically incorrect statement I'll have you know it was a polish farmer that told me that was the name for the contraption.) The vehicle was an old truck with the bed lowered and wings added to the sides to accommodate a full size mattresses on each side turned so three teenagers on each side could lay belly down with their arms and heads hanging over the end. The "plane" would move at a crawl while we, with rubber gloved hands, foraged through the cucumber plants for the vegetable. You picked it and tossed it into a basket in front of you without looking up so you didn't miss any cukes. At the end of the day you're filthy, sweaty and sore, but that's farm work. Honest work. I wish I could find a picture of the custom vehicle but there doesn't seem to be a vintage 1970's cucumber harvester on the web. Understand why I don't get rid of the bike? Not only that but I took better care of the bike than I do my cars. Okay, enough nostalgia. I need to go check the air pressure in the bike tires.
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