(tea kettle whistling) (car rumbling) (tea kettle whistling) (man yawns) (car rumbling) (tea kettle whistling) - [Dave Steolk] Now I freely admit to being a member of the younger, more privileged generation.

You know, one of the guys who didn't have to walk five miles to school in three feet of snow or who's never had to change their own oil.

(tea kettle whistling) (car rumbling) (birds singing) You see, like toothpaste in a pump in our national debt, I'm a product of the 1980s.

But today, (cheerful swing music) well, today's the day I get a glimpse of the past.

(cheerful swing music continues) Today, I have a rendezvous with the milkman.

(cheerful swing music continues) ♪ Milkman, keep those bottles quiet ♪ Meet Don France, one of a few remaining milkmen in Indiana.

♪ Milkman, keep those bottles quiet ♪ Now, I've only heard tales about the milkman, and today I actually get to ride with one on his route through Martinsville.

This is a treat because I know the milkman and his milk truck are something of the past.

I mean, before MTV and stuff.

♪ Milkman, keep those bottles quiet ♪ Don's been delivering milk for 33 years.

- Well, of course I'm an outside person.

I enjoy being outside.

I enjoy dealing with people.

I like to talk to people, and you have to do a lot of that when you're on a milk route.

But it's a satisfying job.

- [Dave Steolk] Stepping out of Don's milk truck was like stepping into an episode of the Donna Reed Show.

When the customer isn't home, Don goes right on in to put milk into the fridge.

He even has keys to some of the houses.

- [Don] Milkman.

(cheerful swing music continues) - [Dave Steolk] A typical delivery will work something like this.

The customer leaves a note detailing his or her dairy needs.

- [Don] She wants a gallon of milk.

- [Dave Steolk] Don fills that order back at the truck, then of course, he'll turn right around and hand deliver.

- [Don] Yeah, just put it right in that white box for her.

- [Dave Steolk] Fresh milk on your front stoop.

How convenient?

- [Don] Nothing to it.

- [Dave Steolk] But according to Don, it's convenience that drove most other milkmen and their milk trucks right out of business.

- I think that's the main contribution, that everybody is so busy and everybody, with both people working just to make ends meet, there's nobody home to really receive it.

And then the grocery stores are so handy with their convenient markets on every corner like that.

It makes a big difference.

♪ No milk today ♪ ♪ My love has gone away ♪ ♪ The bottle stands forlorn ♪ ♪ A symbol of the dawn ♪ ♪ No milk today ♪ - "Nothing today, July 9th, '92."

That doesn't hurt your feelings, does it, Don?

- Oh, no.

No, not at all.

That's part of the service.

This is an elderly lady.

She don't use a lot of product, so I stop twice a week, but one day a week, sometimes, all she needs service, so that's fine.

(customers chattering) (dishes clanking) - [Dave Steolk] Somewhere along his route, Don stops by the local Waffle House for a cup of coffee.

Without cream, by the way.

Well, as I was sitting there with Don, I was dying to ask him something.

Don, I don't know how to ask you this, so I'll just be straightforward.

I've heard rumors about milkman, et cetera.

In your 33 years on the milk force, as it were, have you ever had an affair with a married woman?

- No.

No, I've never took that chance.

I've been a happily married man, and I've never wanted to gamble like that.

A lady in an upstairs apartment just woke up.

She was all fuzzy-eyed and in her negligee and she looked out the window and she seen the milkman down on the sidewalk, and she hollered down- - [Dave Steolk] Through the years, Don's heard a lot of milkman jokes.

- Looked around, he said, "Yes, lady."

He said, "I've got the time."

But he said, "I can't find no place to tie my horse."

(upbeat old-fashioned music) ♪ My very good friend the milkman says ♪ - [Dave Steolk] The milkman still seems unreal to me, whereas my next door neighbor will regularly pill for my morning newspaper, the milkman will gladly make up for the paperboy's short arm.

Heck, he'd probably caulk your windows or clean out your gutters.

It's just his nature.

He's mythical.

(upbeat old-fashioned music) I'm not alone though in putting the milkman up on a pedestal.

- It's homogenized!

♪ It's Milkman!

♪ - [TV Announcer] Brought to you by Nick at Nite.

Tonight's episode, "The Prom."

- [Dave Steolk] Nick at Nite, a TV network geared to a generation raised in front of the tube, pays a homage to the milkman with a 60-second serial entitled "The Adventures of Milkman" - That prom dance is over, but you two go out and have a good time tonight on me.

Gosh.

Thanks, Milkman!

- [TV Announcer] Brought to you by Nick at Nite, dedicated to better living through television.

- [Don] Yeah, she wants a gallon of milk today.

- [Dave Steolk] Well, in my brief time with Don the milkman, I never saw anything which would refute his legendary status.

(lively swing music) - [Don] Be right back.

(chuckles) - [Dave Steolk] So how do you like Don your milkman?

- Love him.

He does a real great job.

Every Monday and every Thursday, he's here just like clockwork.

- You know, he actually milks the cows every morning, don't you?

- Oh yeah.

And he's told me that.

(laughs) ♪ I love you ♪ ♪ I am the milkman of human kindness ♪ ♪ I will leave an extra pint ♪ - [Dave Steolk] Joyce, what do you think about Don your milkman?

- He's great.

He's a part of the family.

We just consider him a member of our family that drops in.

(gentle music) - [Dave Steolk] Finally, I realized that the myth isn't just the milkman, it's also his truck.

Like Don's 1964 Divco milk truck.

The speedometer stopped working years ago and Don never knows how much gas is left in his tank.

- My truck is getting old and getting a lot of rust on it and getting loose, and it gets harder every year.

My legs and my feet start to bother me quite a bit.

I still feel pretty good, but it's telling on the legs and the feet and I think this type of work ethic, the work that starts in on you.

- [Dave Steolk] Which led me to wonder what will happen when Don puts away his bottles and parks his truck for the last time?

Who will take over his milk route?

- Probably nobody.

Your younger boys, younger men don't wanna work the way we have to work.

We work six days a week.

There's no days off, no holidays, no paid holidays, and the younger people just don't like that.

- [Dave Steolk] I don't want to think about that right now.

No use in crying over milk you haven't even spilled yet.

- To the old milkmen who never die, they just clabber away.

♪ Milkman, keep those bottles quiet ♪ ♪ And use that jive on my milk diet ♪ ♪ Milkman, keep those bottle quiet ♪ ♪ Been jumping on to swing shift ♪ - [Speaker] For more Across Indiana stories, go to WFYI.org/AcrossIndiana.