I love it! “Be careful!” That’s great! Now a days, moms won’t let their kids walk around the block to play with someone or go to school. They have to be driven and picked up. We used to ride our bikes for blocks and blocks trying to get enough kids up for a baseball game. (and I’m a girl!)
Ours was a summer resort town in SE Wisconsin. Most of the year the population was around 2,500, but in Summer it grew to over 10,000. It was a larger area than the smaller figure implies because it straddled two lakes and had numerous summer homes. I knew every street in that sprawling community from riding my bike.
Before moving there, my Mom and I would summer in a smaller lakeside community about 7 miles from there (actually on the opposite side of the hunting area a mentioned earlier). We stayed with my aunt & uncle, Dad taking the train up from Chicago on weekends. I was grade-school age.
I’d almost daily walk down to the lake shore from the house, then around the lake to a tavern. We knew the owner and I’d fish off his pier and swim. He’d keep me in candy and pop, then Dad would pay my tab on the weekend. Those weekends, we’d go to the bar in the evenings. The owner would let me serve beer to my folks and relatives.