on the road about a hundred years

Nancy writes: "This fire truck came zooming down the Kanisstraat this morning, contained in a large box mailed to us from California by our brother-in-law, Charles Berrard, who had found it while clearing out my parents’ former house in Pacifica. Boy, does this bring back memories. My grandparents were Dutch immigrants, unlettered Ellis Island immigrants. My grandfather worked in Ridgewood, New Jersey, as an odd-job man, and one of his customers had given him this fire truck. It must be a hundred years old at least. They kept the fire truck in their basement, next to the coal chute. It was the only time I've ever seen a house that still had coal in it. I remember thinking that it was a very old toy when I was little, 50 years ago. I remember playing with it in my grandparent's house in Ridgewood. It had belonged to my father when he was a boy."