[Yawning Chain]

I grew up in a small town in central California. The summers where I grew up were both hot and magical. Neither me, nor any of my friends had swimming pools so we would lie to our parents and go swimming in an irrigation ditch that ran through town. I was the only decent swimmer of the group and on numerous occasions I had to rescue friends who got carried away in the current. No tragic mishaps, just lots of good memories. I also remember learning to ride a dirt bike way too young, maybe seven or eight years old. My step dad gave me his old Hodaka 90 and I would ride it up and down the alley for days on end. When I got older I would go ride through the vineyeards and eventually through town. Back then the police would just stop me and tell me to go home, no ticket, no call to my parents. I guess I'm getting old and sentimental but it seems like the you could get away with more back then. It was sort of a "boys will be boys" type of thing. Nowadays, everything is a major crime. All the stuff we did then would have us in jail now.