Skyline Drive in Millington, New Jersey was and still is a straight shot down a steep hill. It was a dead end street off of Long Hill Road. Long Hill Road literally ran the length of the top of a long hill, therefore appropriately named. There were 2 or 3 streets that spurred off of Skyline Drive to the right and only one that took off to the left. That street was a very short dead end. Skyline was lined with homes on both sides with only a few vacant lots near the top and across the street from my house. Most of the homes had densely wooded backyards with only small trees in their front yards. Neighborhood block parties were frequent in the summer and in the winter we would Christmas Carol at each home and drink hot chocolate or eat cookies given to us at the homes we sang at. Skyline was a wonderful street and holds many great memories of Trick or Treating, mischief and general kid play.
Skyline’s steep hill allowed for many exciting opportunities. I rode my hot pink Spyder bicycle with the glittered banana seat down Skyline at what seemed like warp speed many times. We lived at the top of the street, so I would exit our gravel driveway and turn right and coast down the hill as far as I could go without pedaling. I would get about halfway down the street and then turn around for the dreaded haul back up the hill. This was a daunting challenge, as you could barely pedal straight up to the top. All the neighbor kids, me included, would have contests to see how close we could get to the top of the hill without having to switchback across the street to make it to the summit. Switch backing only once would put you in second place. Switch backing twice would be third, and so on. I believe I made it to the top a few times and celebrated victory on each occasion.
The winter brought out another great event, sledding. On snowy days all the neighborhood kids would convene at the top of our hill in our front yard. Some of the kids would have to pull their sleds all the way up from their homes at the very end of the street. This would leave them tired, but pumped with anticipation of the incredible ride down the hill. Once in position at the start, we would run as fast as we could and throw ourselves down onto our sleds and begin the journey across our front yard and over the driveway to jump the railroad ties to the next door neighbor’s yard. After crossing 3 yards we would jump the curb onto the street for the straight shot downward. The same contest of distance on bicycles held true in sledding also. The goal was to go as far as possible, even though the longer trek uphill was the result of our sledding skills. Most of the neighbors tolerated our sledding path, with one exception. One unsuspecting neighbor discovered that their mailbox had taken a hit and had been placed upright into the frozen mound of snow. Once the spring thaw set in, and the snow melted, the mailbox dropped to its side.
I am not certain whether we moved to our new home in Atlanta later that winter or not, but I often wonder if the children who lived in our home on Skyline Drive afterwards ever made the sled run the following winter and if the Bakers allowed the kids on sleds into their yard.
A note from Allison and Marcia: Tami wrote this beautiful story while she was participating in one of our workshops. The assignment was to think about a road or a street. Tami remembered the street where she grew up and then wrote about it. What memories do you have of a road or a street or perhaps a crossroads in your life? Write them up and send them to us at ourstoryconnection@gmail.com. We'd be happy to post them here.
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