How do your kids get to school....and a trip back in time (UPDATED).

Ok, this may seem a bit of an odd post....since I don't actually have kids.  You can thank one of my very old friends (we'll call him "the swimmer") who I recently reconnected with.  Talking to him reminded me of a lot of things, and for some reason this was one of the things rattling around in my head.

In the mid 1980's this was my route and the swimmer's route to school, if we chose to ride bikes.  It was just over a mile each way and included mostly residential streets (2 lane roads) and followed by some "totally awesome" (it was the 80's you know) two-track roads and trails around a gravel pit.  It finished by popping out at the sled hill (shit...do they still make ziffy-whompers) and then down into the school yard.

And for the record folks...our parents let us do this starting in 3rd grade (8-9 years old).

Here's the routes of a few of the other kids too. 

And my parents weren't alone.  A slew of other kids in our neighborhood routinely made the trip.  As you can see...because we all lived close together, we'd meet up at various street corners and cruise over in a group (the bike train of the 1980's I guess).  While there weren't any parental escorts, there also were no fatalities....even though there were jumps, barbed wire fences, and large gravel pits on the way.  Basically, we had a blast every time we rode to school....it was a huge adventure.

So....are your kids having an adventure on the way to school?  And if not...then why not!?

UPDATE:  And this is the bike that made it all happen back then....the Huffy Pro Thunder 3.  I bet that thing had more miles on it than some of Reno's local roadies!

Ok, so this isn't my actual bike....but it's still awesome.

UPDATE:  After I posted this, the swimmer dropped me an email with a couple of his rides from back in the days of our youth.  Makes you want to head over to ebay and shop for a BMX doesn't it!

Team Murray (both rims demolished by poor landings from humongous jumps!

Look at chrome on this Mongoose.  I actually remember the swimmer on this one.  And yes, I remember being seriously jealous!