Neffuri@aol.com
When I was nine years old, my homelife left alot to be desired, my
parents were as straight laced and religious as they come. My father
was very controlling and life was pretty tough for me and my brother Craig,
once a year my father and mother would plan a giant family trip to the
beach in Florida, Panama City Beach to be exact, we would stay
at the Miracle Strip Camp Resort, we were "Happy Campers" so to speak
for that two weeks out of the year, my aunts and uncles and cousins
would all load up in their motor homes and drive down along with us,
my father and mother would relax and let us be kids during this two
week time period.
Anyway to make a long story short when I was nine we went down and
stayed at the camp park, well they had a wooden bridge over a lagoon
and on the other side was the most magical place on the planet
THE PETTICOAT JUNCTION AMUSEMENT PARK, a western themed
park with alot of older rides including a German Calypso and an old wooden
coaster called "THE CYCLONE" themed after Coney Islands ride I believe,
well anyway I had an older cousin her name was Danette and she was
beautiful and kewl and worldly and she took me and my brother and all
the cousins (about fourteen of us or more) over to the park, and as we
crossed the bridge and walked down the asphalt path a sight beheld
my eyes that I will never forget there wasn't a soul in the park accept
for the workers and a bunch of characters they were for sure, all flirting
with my cousin Danette, but I did not notice because all I could see
was a guy at the controls of the weirdest thing I had ever seen, it
was turning and whipping and it looked like a giant sea monster with
little tubs all over it, it had a mid section around it like an upside down
waste paper basket with bizarre painted characters all over it, and
what looked like two car steering wheels jammed together at the steering
column and ten colored M&M's on each wheel, 20 in all, the wheels
turned independently and then the whole top of the base turned as well
and the little m&m tubs sort of turned, so it looked pretty wild and scarey
to a nine year old kid especially one as sheltered as I was.
there was a badly painted sign right in front of the control pod that
said "THE TURBO! THE MEANEST SOB ON THE MIDWAY! WE DARE
YOU TO RIDE IT!!!
I was hooked, absolutely hooked, we did not even get tickets my cousin
sweettalked the guy into letting us ride, the park was not even open yet,
did not open til dark back then, so my cousin Danette and her best friend
Tweety and me got inside it was a tight squeeze, but comfortable
it was all padded in white inside, like a padded cell, creepy but kewl!
so the guy slammed the little door closed and we had a SNUG lapbar
across us and we could see him through the tiny holes in the wire
mesh door, kind of like a zipper.
about four seconds later we hear a whirring and the monster starts up,
at first it was ok, I think only the wheel was turning but suddenly he
cranked it up and then we were tumbling over and over and laughing
and giggling, it was like a car accident, but a fun one! I was absolutely
free, I had never been so free in my little life, I was HOOKED!!! I went
back again and again to ride that ride, until they shut down the park
in the late 80's and then the rides disappeared one by one.
A few years ago, I decided to go into the party business and on
a whim I put an ad in the AB classieds and a guy called me and his
name was Joe Harper he said he had THAT Turbo from that park
but I lost his number and nothing ever came of it, it is still my dream
to own my own CHANCE TURBO and I believe that oneday I will!!!
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