I miss hookeybobbin'

[herr_oberst]

When I was a kid, when it snowed a bunch, we'd latch onto the rear bumper of a car (any car!) and get a tow down the street. No skis, no sled, just our boots. Called it hookeybobbin'. All the kids young and old did it, sometimes dads and moms would just take the car around the block so everyone could have a few trips. I'm not joking about this, and it was fun. I don't remember anyone ever getting hurt.

We had the perfect hookeybobbin' snow here in Portland, for 3 days running, but I never saw anyone doing it. Lost to the ages. I know, cars don't have appendages to easily grab, but all the pickups do.

Saw a lot of moms and dads dragging sleds on foot with one or two kids packed in. Looked like more trouble than it was worth - for everyone concerned.

[Eric Hahl]

Saw a video of a new 911 Targa pulling a skier in downtown Portland the other day.

[Dantilla]

With worn tennis shoes, it works great on wet pavement when you live in soggy Washington.
Grabbing the tailgate of a pickup is best.

Edit: we called it "Hickeybobbin".

[cabmandone]

We called it bumper skiing. We used to do that whenever dad took us to the reservoir to go sledding. It's all fun and games till ya hit that one lousy dry patch of pavement on the entire road! Lucky for me there was a St Bernard that decided to come help me up by scaring the ever lovin hell out of me seeing it running towards me.

[javadog]

We used to go rent skis. I got a lot of miles on skis, towed behind mom’s station wagon...

[gregpark]

We called it hookybobbin too! Haven't heard that term since the 60's

[DonDavis]

And we called it Skitchin’. Last time I did that was in the Navy in Norfolk behind my buddies new ‘87 Toyota 4x4 pickup....after a few beers while playing pool at a dive bar.

Worst part was, we had no gloves. Even my then girlfriend did it with us. Shoulda hung onto that one and ditched everyone else. But alas, I was a too young to know what I had.

[flipper35]

We used to do that. We also would ride on a 2x4 with a rope attached to an ice raging bike out on the ice. Nothing like 70mph 1.5 inches off the ice.

[stevej37]

We did it also...just never heard it called that.
Cars now have nothing to grab onto in the back...would have to be a pick-up

[2porscheguy]

That brings up some fun memories of winters while growing in the 70s! Except we called it "bunking" up here!

[LWJ]

Yes!

[TimT]

And we called it Skitchin’

Same , Long Island late '70's...

Some people really didn't like a bunch of tweens hanging from their bumper..

One guy stopped, jumped out of the car and beat the snot out of my friend... and drove off..

[flatbutt]

Mom called it "giving me grey hair!".

[1990C4S]

We used to go behind my friends AWD Audi in northern Ontario. One day I said I thought he was going a bit fast, he told me he hit 70 MPH....the roads were polished snow, smooth as glass.

[wswartzwel]

We called it Skitching a ride to school in the 60s in Lombard, IL.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

I did it once but on a skateboard with my brother driving our mum's Datsun

Had a massive speed wobble and found out I could run at over 20 mph

Didn't crash completely but wore my finger prints off both hands trying to stay on my feet until I slowed down to a running pace

[Eric Hahl]

We called it..."Hold my beer and watch this!"

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by Captain Ahab Jr

I did it once but on a skateboard

I used to do that too. Have the scars to prove it LOL

[Eric Hahl]

How about a toboggan being pulled by an Artic Cat El Tigre 550! Yeah, been there, done that, crashed hard, lol.

[Nostril Cheese]

We would grab the tailgates of trucks on skateboards in SoCal. Friend snapped his leg once.