Paving

We lived on Stevens Avenue, a main thoroughfare in the city. From Morrills Corner to Westgate Shopping Center, it's a direct shot of just a little over a mile. In that short distance you can start your schooling in kindergarden, attend elementary school, middle school, high school and graduate from college. Kind of unique, if you ask me. Since it was such a main drag, it got plenty of attention. During my elementary school years, there were quite a few summers that the paving machines and tar trucks lined the Avenue, and the smell of new laid tar permeated the air. After the layer of tar went down, sand was applied and was rolled. The sand was allowed to work its way into the new asphalt and vehicle traffic could proceed. For us and on our bikes, this was always a fun time (you could fly down the street at top speed and slam on your brakes and skid and slide all over the place, kicking up sand in all directions) and a dangerous time (during this activity, kids often went flying off their bikes rolling and tumbling in the street). These were times of major scraped knees, legs and yes, butts. It was summer in the city.