Rammy Kackin’ Through Past and Present

Take a drive down memory lane to go Rammy Kackin’ looking for vintage treasures in old barns and shops from another period in time.

By Anthony B. Lovelace
Updated on June 8, 2022
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courtesy by Anthony B. Lovelace
This scene shows a creative solution to a stationary engine breakdown.

Happy Anniversary! It’s been exactly one year since we sat down to visit for the first time. I appreciate all the correspondence I have received. Even though I cannot respond to everyone, I do read every email and letter I get. I appreciate all you readers out there taking time to let me know what the view from your back roads looks like. I really look forward to our visits!

We are all collectors. That is the reason this magazine exists. Some like old tools, others fancy hit-and-miss engines, and some find pleasure in antique tractors. Yet others lean toward small engines like Maytags, Briggs & Strattons and Clintons.

No matter what we accumulate in our shops, there is one thing we all collect. We hold them dear and every so often we shake off the dust and bring them out of storage. They always bring a peaceful smile to my face. While I am wandering the back roads, my mind often drifts to some previous life memory. These memories are pulled out of storage by various things. It might be something I saw in that small town I just passed through or some piece of old iron sitting in a fence row. Sometimes they just seem to pop into my head of their own accord. The life experiences that provide these memories are probably everyone’s single most cherished and collected item. My problem is I live my life with my feet on both sides of the line: One in the “here and now,” the other firmly planted on the other side, trying to pull me back to a time long past.

Wandering through the back roads, my mind drifts back down the line and my imagination kicks in. I can almost put myself back in time, if only in my mind, as if it was 1930. I picture folks walking along a now abandoned Main Street, making idle chitchat with a neighbor. The weather, crop conditions, and the new addition to their herd are well-covered topics. A couple of farmers chat in the barber shop as the local radio station softly plays on the counter-top AM radio. Women are busy in the grocery or maybe buying fabric to make a new Sunday dress.

My desire to experience those times is so strong at times it almost hurts. I know the past was not easy, and I know people worked a lot harder back then. The struggle of the Great Depression and Dust Bowl took a generation of people who possessed a great amount of physical and mental strength, but even with all the advancements that are supposed to make life easier, I really do think something has been lost.

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