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Tuesday, December 3, 2019

The Bates' Fiery Furnace


Lawson Bates: "When you pull up to a red light or you're driving around town, you don't get enough wind to blow 100-degree weather out of East Tennessee out of your fiery furnace."

Kelly Bates: "...The entertainment was the kids singing."

Zach Bates: "We were so loud."

Do you have any childhood memories like the vehicle that the Bates call the "fiery furnace"? Kelly Jo and her five oldest kids share the story of this infamous van in the video below.



Photo/video courtesy of UPtv

8 comments:

  1. Awww...cute memory!

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  2. I remember the days when nobody had AC in their cars. We had an 8 pass. station wagon and those windows would only go up in the summer if there was a rainstorm. Between the bugs and the straight-line winds, forget about your hairdo- you'd end up looking like you'd been rode hard and put away wet!

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  3. Not mine. But my hubby's memory. Him, his mom, stepfather and 5 siblings stuffed in a Fiat. 5 of them sitting in the back seat on each other's laps. And the smallest one on mom's lap, in the passenger seat. And his stepfather was 6'5. So Lord have mercy on the leg room, or lack thereof, for the ones who sat behind him.lol

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  4. We didn’t even have a car. Had to walk everywhere or ride the bus.

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  5. When I think of the Bates I think,fun,happy,loving,smiles,laughter,and sweet...Did I say fun? Now that's a win win in my book😇

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  6. My opinion is that there is nothing funny about this. The parents put themselves deliberately in this situation and placed way too many children, more than they could properly care for in it too. Nothing funny about their poor, under-provided for young lives. I don't think they should be admired or commended for doing so. Where would this family be without the TV show today? Still dirt poor, driving around in a vehicle held together with duct tape. Not funny.

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    Replies
    1. Oh, goodness. They had a working vehicle, it just didn't have the amenities that we pampered Americans think are necessities. Their family life was rich and loving, which is far more important.

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