Every city has it's own Inspiration Point. You know, that desolate back road where teenagers would go on dates once the movie or the football game was over. In the 60's, they called that "necking", in the 70's it was a place to "make out". It seemed to be more talked about by 14 year old boys who had big plans when they turned 16 and got their license and a girlfriend to go on a date with. When I was 14, we had heard from all the older brothers about each place and we were mystified about all of Chaffee's "parking" spots. We couldn't wait to get a car, so we could have a date and for some reason, be driving down one of those roads and run out of gas. It was all sort of like an excerpt from the movie "American Graffiti".

Chaffee was a small town, but we had plenty of back roads. The stories I have heard is that the same spots were "parking" spots from generation to generation. Each guy picked their favorite road, perhaps it was recommended by their older brother or a friend. That became their road, much like a guy sticks with a certain brand of beer. The key to picking the best spots were:

1)Out of the city limits. You didn't have cops to come by. That is assuming the Sheriff didn't travel down your chosen spot.

2)Limited traffic. You had to deal with a local resident or two coming by but you didn't want to have cars regularly coming by because in a town the size of Chaffee, the chances were, eventually someone would recognize your car and inform your parents next Sunday in church.

3)Practical. You didn't pick a road that your girlfriend's aunt and uncle lived on.

Let me draw out the "Foggy Windows Map" for you.

Dooley's Road
West of town, the primary spot was Dooley's Road. It was a simple farm road with only a house every mile or so. It was a straight road so I guess the advantage was that you could see another car coming from a mile away. I never went there because I thought it was too close to the cess pools, the city septic ponds so the smell seemed to be less romantic.

Crites Road
East of town, also called Nunn Road. This road was paved and always had cars lined up just beyond the city limits. There was a bit more traffic but this always seemed to be the most popular spot.

The Round House
Long ago torn down, the old roundhouse location was just off Frisco street. First bad rule, it was in the city limits. See rule 1 above. There was no traffic as it wasn't a through road, but if you saw lights, it might be attached to a police cruiser. As a fan of the railroad, this seemed a good spot because you could watch trains, but for teenagers,

even train fans were not concerned with seeing the evening freight train coming from St. Louis. Plus if your dad was a railroader, again you ran the chance of getting spotted.

Next To the Train Tracks just south of Gray Street
Okay, this was close in but how lazy can you be? Unless you were really about to run out of gas, this wasn't a good place. Mosquitoes from Heeb Creek and the nearby cornfields were everywhere. And worst of all, since you were next to the tracks, a derailment meant getting crushed by a box car and if you survived, the parents were bound to find out.

Lake Tywappity
This was the place people went and claimed to be watching the submarine races. Not sure if it was in city limits, but if not, you still had to deal with the sheriff plus the game warden. Plus there was the chance a local preacher is backing in his boat to do some night fishing and recognizes your car. The last thing you want is to be a part of the Sunday Sermon.

As you can see, the east side of town provided the bulk of the parking spots. The North side had nothing unless you were Rex Meyr because his family seemed to own every piece of land on the northern border. South was also pretty much corn fields with no roads. Like I said, once you actually got a driver's license, it wasn't such a mystical place because you were driving to Cape or Sikeston for dinner and a movie. I guess those places in town were more just legends to those who were too young to go there. Maybe things were different in the 60's. Perhaps after homecoming dances these places were gridlocked with traffic. Guess we will just have to wait for someone from that era to write their own article and tell us.