Good Gawd, I thought us Kermit boys were the only ones who chased the DDT truck. My best friend got tagged by a car crossing behind the truck as we chased it on our bikes. It was a real heart wrenching decision to stop and help him. He had a little road rash but it was nothing compared to the woopin we got from our dads when we got home.
Of course we were also the geniuses who shot out the mercury vapor street lights and let them drip on our heads and in our mouths, and chewed on lead shot when we were trap shooting and dove hunting too.
It'll be a miracle if I make it to 50 but it won't be any of those things that kills me. The double-ended candle syndrome will surely get me first.
We never chased the DDT truck on our bikes because it was too much fun to run/walk behind it. The truck that sprayed our neighborhood didn't go fast enough to ride our bikes behind it, we would have outrun it. Heck, our parents knew what we were doing since our truck had a regular schedule and there would be times the parents would be outside watching us play. No one ever gave the fact the truck was spewing poison a thought.
We were the geniuses that would take our bb guns around the neighborhood and pop almost anything that moved. Dogs and cats were off limit since there weren't any strays and they all were our pets. People were fair game though. No one ever lost an eye or had any injury more serious than a small welt where the bb had hit.
Guess we were just lucky! Don't count on dying before age 50. I burned both ends of the candle up until 4 years ago and I'm 52. I started to say I wish I'd known I was going to live this long because I'd have taken better care of myself but my last check-up was all good. The worst thing I have to worry about is low blood pressure.