Ridin' Around--Tailights in Chrome, 8-Tracks on Wheels is an awesome trip that anyone who came of age in the late 70's early '80s will want to read. Elaine Fields Smith sincerely and poignantly brings alive memories so spot on as well as universal stories that stand the test of a time for college students in those magic moments of the waning 20th century. Learning life lessons while driving fast and feeling the wind through your fingers held out the open window were part of every day life. The road Glenda, Tanya, Janie and others take as they complete college are full of unforgettable highs and lows of friendship and love and growing up in a period not often written about, but worthy of these memories.

Smith recalls the truths of those times in a way only an observant, honest and genuine storyteller can bring to life over 30 years later. She easily brings readers right back to a time when Camaro's, Corvettes, Thunderbirds, TransAm's and pick ups were as important to a teen's life as their friends. And music was all the more memorable and remarkable because of a new-fangled technology called the 8-track. It "was wonderful to have mobile music at your fingertips" the girls of Central Texas University recall.

Dairy Queens and Taco Bells, Boz Scags and Otis Day and The Knights, love that deepened slowly, all in good time, life lessons from families where troubles ran deep, and the special relationships shared with dads and their daughters who were growing up--all of that is part of a decade that was at once happily naïve, kinder and easier than the life of today's college kids. My kids, many young men and women whose parents grew up exactly as Smith captures--they wouldn't go wrong gifting their parents with Ridin' Around--Tailights in Chrome, 8-Tracks on Wheels by Elaine Fields Smith. We'll be remininiscing forever!