What Was Riding In The Back Of A Pickup Truck? A Dirt Nap City Dead End

If you grew up somewhere in the southern US, you probably remember riding in the back of a pickup truck when you were a kid. Riding to little league practice, riding to the Dairy Queen - these were some of the memories many of us have from childhood. But was riding in the back of a pickup truck really a good idea? While we don't want to say what people should or should not do, riding in the back of a pickup truck has become less acceptable to many people. Check out our memories of riding in the back of pickup trucks and why not as many people do it today.

Dirt Nap City Dead Ends are short stories about the traditions, sayings, technologies, and businesses that used to be popular but now reside in Dirt Nap City.  If you have an idea for a Dirt Nap City Dead End story, drop us a line at our email address: not@dirtnapcity.com

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Transcript

Kelly: 0:05

Alex, remember a couple of weeks ago, we talked about the X ray shoe fitter? Yeah.

Alex: 0:11

Yeah, seems like just yesterday.

Kelly: 0:13

You mentioned that there were states that outlawed it, but then some states didn't. Yeah. I similar to that. Today. It's something that you've probably done before. I know I did many times. But here. It's about 2020 states that haven't outlawed it. 3030 states have, but 20 states have not a fun thing to do. Nobody thought twice about it. But you would maybe have a buddy whose dad had a League game or you'd be going to get some ice cream. Hey, can we ride in the back? pile in the

Alex: 1:05

You know, I never did that. I grew up in Michigan and there weren't as many pickup trucks did it. Live in Texas.

Kelly: 1:16

Michigan's probably one of those states that's outlawed it and Texas is one of those there's no laws against riding the back of trucks, but that is national, there are certain laws in remember going a little town outside of Houston, in Northeast side. And we would go to the Little get out there. You went on 1960 for a little while to get out to this park, you know where we played the back of one of my one of the coach's pickup trucks. There's like you know 12 Little boys in remember in high school, my same buddy Matt that had the waterbed he had little Chevy love pickup like a little one of the little mini trucks you know one of those little small trucks and it was actually a truck it wasn't like a car but it but the Chevy love you know, look it up sometime place in the back of his Chevy love. His dad owned a construction company and had a big Ford you sites and sometimes his dad wouldn't even let us in the back in the cab after we had been working. sweaty. You guys were out in the back with the all the lumber leftovers and stuff like that. And, you any incident. But this is a major, major, very dangerous thing to do to ride in the back of a cars. Yeah, so you're saying you never did that? No. Was

Alex: 3:10

it fun?

Kelly: 3:12

It was such a blast. It was such a blast. You're back there. There's no adults, right? All in the back of a pickup truck, you're usually sitting on either the wheel well, or a lot of there was nothing OLD NEW and notice the edge.

Alex: 3:30

Like yeah, the edge of the bed. No, I think the closest to this I've ever done is I've been on everything?

Kelly: 3:44

Well, you know, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna make fun of your Michigan ways. In Texas, in did it. I also went to camp in Missouri, another another very back of the pickup truck friendly you had to do that, as part of your experience at camp, you had to go around and pick up all the And we all rode in the back of pickups and you'd start off with like two or three of us back there go to the next spot and pretty soon you're like squeezed in between the trash barrels in the back.

Alex: 4:26

Feel dangerous when you were doing it? Or was there like horsing around and all that back

Kelly: 4:32

second thing, the second thing it it didn't feel dangerous. And you know, to my to my never any thing other than occasionally you'd have somebody driving that would intentionally, you no one ever fell out or anything like that. Other than that was pretty wholesome. I think wholesome Luke Bryan called we wrote in trucks if you if you really want to get into the A spirit of this but seatbelts were mandatory before airbags were a thing. But also pickup trucks back then were just bedliners.

Alex: 5:14

So you're saying as dangerous it was in the back. It was just as dangerous for the guy

Kelly: 5:19

Not quite. Not quite. But But. But close. But no, I'm talking about the truck beds, you pickup truck?

Alex: 5:29

Well, I just Oh, you mean just written in? Written in? Yeah. Yeah, it

Kelly: 5:33

was just Yeah. Yeah, it's

Alex: 5:34

been a minute. I

Kelly: 5:36

gotta tell you that truck technology has changed a lot, especially truck bed technology of course, we have bedliners. You've seen those black sprayed in bed liners that are like, doesn't slide that would make writing back there a little easier because they're there. They've got

Alex: 5:58

steal, right or double check. Yeah, yeah.

Kelly: 6:02

And then of course, there are rails now. There's all kinds of little hooks and places you on to that didn't exist back then. The Have you ever seen one of these tailgates where you can put there's like a cage that flips out and makes your bed longer? I think I think I know what you're more kids back there. You've got the swinging tailgates that'll that'll lean down and swing to Honda, I forget the name of that truck, but it's a Honda makes a pickup truck. I have a friend who's trunk under the bed, like you have a key and you open it and there's a thing the size of a car lock in. And there's an optional cooler that is down there that is watertight, and has little drinks in it, you close it up, you go to your tailgate party, open it up, and you got a cooler

Alex: 7:10

men. Oh yeah,

Kelly: 7:11

that's power outlets. hammocks. And all of that said, I'm not even including the cyber truck. truck?

Alex: 7:23

I don't think so. While there is no back is there? Do they have pickup versions of the

Kelly: 7:28

No, it is it is it has a truck. The cybertruck has a thing that goes over the bed. on these tracks. And so when you're driving it, it kind of looks like a flat bed. It's just you know when it slides up, it has a bed that

Alex: 7:49

oh, okay, I never have you seen these yet?

Kelly: 7:53

I've seen two. I've seen two in the wild. Yep. Two Two here in Austin.

Alex: 7:58

is like something you'd want to know. No doubt have.

Kelly: 8:01

It definitely is eye catching. I mean, I've seen lots of pictures of them lots of videos, I've you see when on the road, it is like what the what I mean, it takes a second. As a matter of fact, one and she was like, I don't think she'd ever heard of it or seen any pictures or knew that it was like, Yeah, I think she thought it was a military vehicle or something.

Alex: 8:27

Yeah. But you say these are, it's banned. You cannot ride in the back anymore?

Kelly: 8:32

No, no, no, what I'm saying is, there are 30 states where they have regulations about it. So under the age of 18, can't ride back there. Or if they are they have to be with a parent or it can't it has to be on like a farm or a ranch, right? You can do it on these ranch roads, but not on a guess these are the states same states that didn't outlaw the shoe, the X ray shoe machine. They're have any regulation for riding in the back of the truck. So if you're in one of these states like just you know, load up the whole team and head down the highway to the game. Well, I

Alex: 9:25

mean, I know this is a way to get a lot of workers to job sites, right. So you don't have to You can just throw a bunch of guys back there and take them to the job sites.

Kelly: 9:39

Yeah, I guess I guess ultimately, they're generally they're adults. And generally, you know, not giving each other new keys or wedges or trying to, you know, bounce people out like we did when I stupid things we did.

Alex: 9:58

It does seem odd though that In a state that can have a seatbelt law, that you could still because there's obviously no seatbelts back there. Yeah,

Kelly: 10:10

but I think the seatbelt laws generally are only applied to the front seat.

Alex: 10:14

Well, they do. But the whole idea behind the seatbelt law is so you can contain all the people

Kelly: 10:21

yeah. No, I mean, maybe maybe, because riding the back of a truck is more of an edge case

Alex: 10:29

no, you say that this is dangerous. And we can imagine why it's dangerous. But were there a

Kelly: 10:38

yeah, yeah, yeah, I looked up. I looked up, like kind of statistics about it. And it's like trucks, you know, whether whether they fall out whether they hit it's, I couldn't tell you terms of, you know, the amount of danger, if you're someone who believes a motorcycle is you'd ride in the back of a truck, especially on a highway, then you're kind of missing the boat.

Alex: 11:07

Now, occasionally, I'll see dogs in the back of these. Yes. Is that prohibited? Is that a good

Kelly: 11:18

I think it depends on the state. You know, I would say there's probably some where it is think, you know, I have seen them in crates in the back of a truck. And that sort of makes sense. But you've seen like, if you ever slammed on the brakes of your car and had something in the car happens in the back of that truck is whatever it is going to fly forward into the into the cab and dog, you know, dogs are already kind of off balance in those situations. So right

Alex: 11:55

now I've had I have heard that. The worst thing though, is to put a dog on a leash in the

Kelly: 12:02

Yeah, because they'll basically get decapitated. Yeah, yeah. And on that note,

Alex: 12:10

So you're saying don't put any living creatures in the back of a pickup truck? If you're

Kelly: 12:18

Here's here's Yes. Here's my personal philosophy on that. And I don't mean that this is you were out in the country, and on some sort of a ranch situation or something like that, somewhere a four wheeler, or you're in a parade and you're going slow, and there's, you know, it's those situations, it's probably fine. You know, I would hope that as a matter of fact, my kids went in the back of a truck. And I didn't have a problem with it, like doing the same things I was that, you know, I knew the drivers in those situations were being saved. And again, there were you can't control if you're on a country road where there's nobody else or on a ranch on a swerve out in front of you or hit you from the side or cause you to have to get out of the way. a road a public road or a highway where there's lots of other cars and things going on that you

Alex: 13:26

And you're doing horseplay with 12 other kids and yes

Kelly: 13:29

yeah, I'm so I'm survived I'm surprised we survived yeah, there's a great song I don't know dangerous everybody get dangerous you know that one? No. It's it's basically written about all the kind of how he's he's He's surprised we all survived

Alex: 13:54

Well, as we've mentioned before dead ends are about things that don't happen anymore. But you can picture a world where maybe Evil Knievel is driving. And then you've got Eleanor Roosevelt, the back sparking went up doing a horse flip.

Kelly: 14:22

Alright, everybody, thanks. This was another dead end from dirt nap city if you have story. I'll email it to us at not at dirt nap city. And we hope you'll tune in next week where about a resident of dirt nap city and also tell us what you think about these dead ends that we're any ideas, email is not a dirt nap city. I know I sound desperate