Colton’s Adventures Back in Time with Pop: Stories of Southern History, Humor and Folklore

By Dennis Martin

Colton’s Adventures Back in Time is a collection of memories and Tall Tales from his Grandpa’s youth. These memories are triggered by sight or sound as they travel along mountain roads and through the ridges of an old man’s memories.
Colton and his Pop use an old navy-blue Jeep as their time machine to travel eight decades back in time where a sight or sound triggers a memory from an ole man’s past. Step back in time as Pop, “The Story Man” shares the history of a time long gone. Listen to stories of adventures, experiences, and events from decades long ago as a grandpa shares them with his grandson. These stories are of a way of life that no longer exist, stories about home and family, stories that teach life lessons, stories that reveal the values and principles that are so desperately needed in the world today.
These memories are of a time when life was simple, less hectic, and more enjoyable. Travel back in time with Colton and Pop, back to a time where friends and family looked after one another, back to a time full of hope and wonder.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Sep 24, 2020
• ISBN: 9781665501668

Dennis Martin

Storyteller and author Dennis “Dink” Martin, called “The Story Man” by school children, was raised on a farm in rural Blount County, Alabama during the nineteen-fifties and sixties. He is an alumnus of the University of Alabama, Jacksonville State, and Athens State Universities. Dink taught high school history and coached various sports for twenty-five years all while serving as a bi-vocational pastor. The Story Man is the author of Grandpa’s Porch Swing Stories and has produced seven Tall Tale CDs. Dennis is married to Donna McHan and they have three children and a grandson, Colton Wayne (CW).

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© 2020 Dennis Dink Martin. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse  09/23/2020

ISBN: 978-1-6655-0142-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-0166-8 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Introduction

A Crossroad in Time

Coca-Cola

Ole General Store

Pot Bellied Stove

Chopping and Picking Cotton

The Peddler

White Thang at Mardis Mills

The Encounter

Making Camp

The Grub

Small Town Café

Cades Cove

The Church

Funeral Home Fans

Homecoming and Dinner on the Ground

Dinner at Grandma Massey’s

Legend of the Whompus

A Storm is Coming

The Ride Home: Be a Man

The Rant

Three Ideologies

The Speech

Epilogue

A collection of stories about

growing up in the South with

a Tall Tale or two thrown in

Told by:

The Story Man

Dennis Dink Martin

Dedication

This little book is dedicated to my grandson, Colton Wayne Martin (CW) for wanting his Pop to tell him scary stories. May you grow in knowledge, strength, and wisdom, always trusting in the Lord. The only advice I can give you is: Be A Man! Always do what is right! And never follow the advice of the world! Love Pop.

Acknowledgements

Authors and storytellers often rely on others’ help for the material necessary to make their stories come alive. These stories are from my memories of past experiences growing up on a farm in rural Blount County, Alabama. There are stories of life experiences of growing up on a farm and teaching and coaching high school football for thirty years. A few of the names have been changed to protect the guilt.

A special thanks to Mark Keathley for the cover and Mara Burk for editing my mess.

Introduction

As a little boy or little girl, can you remember spending time with your Grandpa or Grandma? Maybe you called them Pawpaw, Granny, or Memaw or Pop? Whatever you called them do you remember the times you spent with your grandparents? Take a moment and mull this question over in your mind!

Shut your eyes and let your mind carry you back in time. Back to a time you spent with your grandparents. What did they teach you? Can you still hear their voice as they tell you a story or tell you about their lives when they were growing up? Can you smell the smoke from your Grandpa’s pipe, or the smell of his Old Spice aftershave? Can you smell the scent of baking coming from your Grandma’s kitchen as she teaches you how to make tea cakes or pineapple upside-down cake?

Step back in time as I share the history and stories of a time long gone. Step back in time as I share the adventures, the experiences, the events, and the stories from decades ago with my grandson. Come along and travel back in time through an old man’s memories as he remembers times spent with his Grandpa and Grandma. These are my memories of my youth, memories of my grandparents telling me stories while sitting in a porch swing or sitting on the back porch listening to the night sounds. These are stories of a way of life that no longer exists, stories about home and family, stories that teach life lessons, stories that revealed the values and principles that were important in my grandparent’s lives.

Grandpa Martin told stories of the ole days and ole ways of living on a farm from way back when. He and my Grandma Massey, along with uncles and aunts, not only told stories of life, but their stories taught me how to live life. Their stories also told me how to become a man, and how to become a father, but more importantly, these stories were preparing me to become a Grandpa, a Pop to my grandson.

These stories are to be a legacy of their past. These are stories about a way of life that is to be passed down from one generation to the next. These stories change lives, these stories build character, and they instill the values and principles that are so needed in the world today.

When my grandson looks back and remembers his Pop, the way I remember my Grandpa, I hope he is sharing these stories with his grandson. You see these are much more than stories! These are the memories of my youth, memories of growing up in the country, memories of a time long forgotten, memories of a time that no longer exists, memories that can only be shared with a grandson or granddaughter.

Come along and ride with us as Colton and I use an ole navy-blue Jeep as our time machine to travel to way back when. Who knows there may be a yarn or two along the way?

A Crossroad in Time

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E veryone comes to a crossroad as they travel through life! The direction you choose determines your life’s outcome. You can choose to go right, or left, or continue forward, but you can never go back! The direction you take at the crossroad determines success or failure, happiness or despair. The direction you choose is yours and will produce a lifetime of memories.

The other day Donna and I carried our grandson Colton to Chattanooga to visit the aquarium and go to the IMAX Theater. We hooked Blue-J up to Rambler, and away we went with music from the fifties and sixties blaring from the speakers. We all sang at the top of our voices along with Jerry Lee, the Platters, Fats Domino, and others. Yes, Patsy Cline and Hank Williams too, as we traveled up the interstate toward our campground.

We got to Raccoon Mountain (campground) early and got a spot next to the creek. Colton and I set up the RV (Rambler) and had time to kill. Colton said, Pop, let’s go for a ride. We decided to ride along the ridge of Lookout Mountain in that ole navy blue Jeep we call Blue-J.

The road along the top of the mountain ridge was curvy, nice, and wide and was newly resurfaced. It was just right for the jeep ride’en, riding along at thirty-five to forty miles per hour Blue-J hugged the curves of the road. We had the top down and doors off of Blue-J, we were enjoying the warm afternoon sun with Them Oldie Goldies cranking out on the radio. Then we passed it!

Was it real? I turned the Jeep around and went back, back to my past, back to a time in history that I thought was forever lost. Yet here it is, my past! It is here that Colton will learn the joy of pulling an ice-cold Coke from an icebox and tearing into the wrapper of a Baby Ruth candy bar, and just maybe, just maybe, put peanuts into a Grapico drink. As I am carried back in time by what I see, I swear I can taste the salty sweetness of Grapico and peanuts as I pulled into an Ole General Store.

It was on the Georgia side of Lookout Mountain. It was situated at a crossroads of some small forgotten community. The paved top road we were traveling on crossed a dusty dirt road that led to only God knows where. Roads from the past and roads of the present crossing right here, at this moment in time. Here, a sixty-nine-year-old Grandpa and his nine-year-old Grandson, riding along in an ole blue Jeep had crossed the roads of time. Here on the mountain top, here on Lookout Mountain is where past and present met one another.

I turned the Jeep around in the middle of the road and went back to make sure of what I had seen. Was it real, or was it just my imagination? But there it was sitting on the right side of the road, sitting on the corner of where those two roads crossed, past and present. And I had almost passed it.

As I pulled the Jeep slowly into an ole general store’s drive, my mind carried me back nearly seven decades in time. As I stopped that navy blue time machine, memories of the past flooded my mind. All I could do was sit there and look at it. As I looked at it for just a moment, that moment in time covered sixty-nine years of living. At that moment, I became a little boy once more, a little boy spending time with his Grandpa in an old porch swing learning of them olden ways. I became a little boy once more out on Hamilton Mountain hearing the Taylors make music across the holler, learning about plowing a mule, woodburning stoves, and Sunday dinner at Grandma Massey’s.

At that moment, I was carried back in time as a little boy, back to Royal, Alabama. I was looking back to that ole general store that carried so many memories of my youth. Memories that I am going to share with my