1965 at 8 years old & lived in the city I would ride my bike several a couple miles from home and be gone most of the day. I walked to school {about 4 blocks actually I rode my bike}, I'd take short cuts to get to a mom & pop store that by road was two miles away on two roads I wasn't allowed to ride on but by a shortcut in the woods it was less than a mile LOL. A quarter in my pocket got a coke, bag of chips, and change for penny candy.
My dad who grew up in the 30's and 40's would ride a bicycle 35 miles up to a family hunting & fishing camp on Saturday and back home 35 miles again on Sunday. In the summer he and his brother stayed camped on the river unattended until school started. His dad worked 12 hours 7 days a week so dads uncle would drive up and check on them on the weekends. They did have a friend of family who was a farmer they could go to if anything was serious.
I'm thankful I got to experience what I did when I did. That USA is gone. I go to the lake now I carry. Heck I go to the store now I carry and I'm in a rural area.
I was born in 1970. Heh.
When I was a kid, we left the house at the crack of dawn and got home when the street lights came on. We never checked in unless we had a broken bone, even that was iffy.
Besides that, my Depression-Era grandparents raised me. They had strict rules about morality and responsibility but virtually no rules when it came to “You can’t do that. You’ll shoot yer eye out!”
I was blessed. I was loved more than I could stand and experienced things that most people my age will never know or understand.