Remember a few days ago I promised to write about this?
Well, it's a Yankee Jumper. I don't know how popular they were everywhere, but growing up in SW Pennsylvania we all had them. They were cheap and easy to make. My father made one for me and then another for my brother. Our grandparents - Pop's parents - lived in the country about 30 minutes away, and every Sunday we'd go for dinner. In the winter when it had snowed, all of the cousins (about a dozen then) would meet on the top of the hill leading down the lane to their home and use our sleds or jumpers.
Some Jumpers had a metal strip for a runner. I don't remember one, but it probably was there. It would be much harder to "ski" without it. I call it skiing because that is how you guided it and stopped it. You leaned to the right or left to guide it, all the while holding on to handles on the side of the seat. To stop it, you did what skiers did, turning the runner and leaning inward digging into the snow.
Cheaper than a sled and faster too!
Now I get it. Should have read your Blog before Facebook but I wanted to carve out a good chunk of time and binge blog. Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting, but I wish you had told me who you are. I only know you're a FB friend!
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