• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Remember Skitching?

We skitched in college. 4x4 s10 pulling us, standing on a 68 beetle hood.

Think water-skiing, but on snowy/icy parking lots.

How did we survive this long?
 
Bumper- skiing?
We used to call it Bumper Skiing or Bumper Riding up here. On snowy mornings, there would be 10 kids in the school bus and 15 hanging on the bumper. A cop once pulled in
behind us about a quarter mile from the school. PANDEMONIUM!! The braver (or smarter) kids were flying off left and right. About 7 of us rode it out and ran like hell before the
cop could get out of his car. Later that afternoon the whole school was called to an assembly that started with the principal yelling "THE SCHOOL BUS IS NOT A TOY!!!"
Funny enough the bus driver, a real old dear, never ratted us out.
 
Last edited:
SE Pennsylvania. We called it Boot Hoppin'. We would get off the bus and boot hop to our houses.

That was back when you would walk to a centrally located BUS STOP. Unlike today where the bus stops at EVERY DAMN DRIVEWAY to pick up "Connor" (or Dylan or whatever trendy name his hipster parents named him) because it's too dangerous for his pampered *** to actually WALK to a bus stop. Oh, and precious Connor takes his good old time walking to the end of his driveway (because he waits inside until the bus is waiting at the end of the driveway) to catch the bus while the entire working world has to wait while the busses red lights are flashing.
 
SE Pennsylvania. We called it Boot Hoppin'. We would get off the bus and boot hop to our houses.

That was back when you would walk to a centrally located BUS STOP. Unlike today where the bus stops at EVERY DAMN DRIVEWAY to pick up "Connor" (or Dylan or whatever trendy name his hipster parents named him) because it's too dangerous for his pampered *** to actually WALK to a bus stop. Oh, and precious Connor takes his good old time walking to the end of his driveway (because he waits inside until the bus is waiting at the end of the driveway) to catch the bus while the entire working world has to wait while the busses red lights are flashing.
TRUTH!!!
 
Just remembering the 70’s….

Growing up in the Chicagoland area in the 70’s winters we used to skitch behind cars with unwitting drivers. Was a lot of fun. Reminded me of the Cheech and Chong skit called “Ralph and Herby”………

Kids today are either too smart to do this or too busy on their phones. Life was good back then!
I grew up in Chicago too SW side and used to “skeetch” as we called it in the mid 70’s. Kids can’t do that now with the plastic bumpers. Another thing we used to do with no worries was hitchhike, but John Wayne Gacy put an end to that. Fun times back then.
 
One time I did this on my stomach hanging onto my parents' station wagon. Scratched the hell out of my Van Halen belt buckle.
Haha
 
Great memories guys!Loved reading how similar we had it! Today just ain’t the same…… skitching may contain nuts….
 
Great memories guys!Loved reading how similar we had it! Today just ain’t the same…… skitching may contain nuts….
Grew up in Oak Lawn during that time and we called it the same thing. Back when cars had real bumpers to grab on to...
 
Grew up in Oak Lawn during that time and we called it the same thing. Back when cars had real bumpers to grab on to...
Were you in Oak Lawn when the tornado came through in 1967? It missed us by less than a mile when it went through St. Mary’s Cemetary.
 
Were you in Oak Lawn when the tornado came through in 1967? It missed us by less than a mile when it went through St. Mary’s Cemetary.
1967? I was in Desplaines IL and that snowstorm that winter is in the history books. I remember it and was 6 years old. I didn’t know about any tornado that Spring.
 
That was a bad few months in 67 with the crazy weather, big snow in January and tornados in April. The tornado killed 33 in Oak Lawn, another tornado on the same day killed several people in Belvedere , Illinois. I was 5 years old then, I remember it was 75 degrees the day of the tornado, the next day we got a few inches of snow.
 
Were you in Oak Lawn when the tornado came through in 1967? It missed us by less than a mile when it went through St. Mary’s Cemetary.
We moved to Oak Lawn in 68. Early years in Orland Park then overseas. I do remember the blizard and being tossed off the second story balcony into a snow pile several times until my dad discovered us... I went to the high school that had been damaged by the tornado.
 
Were you in Oak Lawn when the tornado came through in 1967?
I remember my Dad relaying messages on his HAM rig after that from Romeoville.

Just remembering the 70’s….

Growing up in the Chicagoland area in the 70’s winters we used to skitch behind cars with unwitting drivers. Was a lot of fun. Reminded me of the Cheech and Chong skit called “Ralph and Herby”………

Kids today are either too smart to do this or too busy on their phones. Life was good back then!

We moved back to Chi (32nd & Western a block away from Holleb Trucking), a couple new friends would do that, but it was out of my interest. I did other goofy sh...tuff with them.
 
Yup, did that in Buffalo. We just called it "hitching"
 
We moved to Oak Lawn in 68. Early years in Orland Park then overseas. I do remember the blizard and being tossed off the second story balcony into a snow pile several times until my dad discovered us... I went to the high school that had been damaged by the tornado.
Some of my first memories as a kid were the fun we had after that snowstorm and then the destruction of the tornado a few months later. Most of the people killed were at that intersection in their cars by the school 95th & Southwest Highway. A buddy who lived on our block, his parents owned the drug store about 97th st. on SW Highway, his dad saw the tornado and ran to the back of the store, the tornado blew by north of him. Lot of crazy things happened in the 60’s.
 
I targeted city buses, a lot of fun if the streets were slick. There were hazards though, as in the bare patch of street, where one could get to kiss the bumper pretty quickly.
 
Auto Transport Service
Back
Top