The Tale of Two Travelers
Part II
We parked year the Y and went in quest of a clean-up. We hadn’t washed for six days and hadn’t shaved for eight — and then wondered why we caused so much attention. After the clean-up, we went out to Scatter and there were Greeted by a large crowed that goes to a fair.
We made lots of friends and got plenty of compliments and directions, etc. We started out to find Roy’s aunt. We hunted and hunted, but not in vain. We were acquainted with the whole neighborhood five minutes later and everybody thought Scatter was the Kat’s Pajamas.
Seeing the sights
A neighbor offered us a garage so we took him up, had our supper and then were taken out to Signal Hill oil fields, Long Beach, Rodondo Beach and Palace Verdes. Got home at 1 a.m., went to bed, slept while an earthquake shook up the town and got up the next day in time for 6 o’clock dinner. Felt fine.
For the next two weeks we traveled all over Southern California. We were to beach parties and everything. One day Uncle Gene took us up to Big Bear and Arrowhead lakes. It was some trip.
Lake Arrowhead is way up in the altitudes. It is marked by a large arrowhead which covers several acres of a mountain side. It is said that the Indians made this arrowhead by killing all the vegetation, and to this day not even a spear of grass can be seen on it. It is easily visible 45 miles away.
Big Bear Lake is a conservancy lake and supplies a great deal of H20 for irrigation and also is a link in the aqueduct system of L.A. There is a hot spring there and also a miniature volcano of boiling mud and if you care to climb you may play in the snow. It is a noted sanitarium.
On the Pacific
The most few days we spent fishing in the Pacific. Our luck was extremely good I caught 200 pounds of sea bass and barracuda and Roy and Uncle Gene following close. One day while over near Catalina one of our party landed a 102-pound Jew Fish and his brother pulled in a 32-pound halibut. These were two of the largest fish I ever saw.
Sunday we took in Catalina Island and the submarine gardens. This trip was the first time that I ever saw any flying fish. We visited a lot of people, went to the Ohio Picnic at Long Beach, took the girlfriends out to Venice (swell park) and left for Frisco the next afternoon.
The whole neighborhood got up a motor caravan and escorted us about 50 miles on our way. Tears were shed and lunches thrown at us by the carload and we hit the trail for Santa Barbara. I sure hated to leave L.A., but I soon got over it as the scenery changed.
A party in Santa Barbara
It got so cold along the coast that I had my sheepskin on when we were about 100 miles out of L.A. We hit Santa Barbara about 8 p.m., and as they were celebrating Founder’s Day we stayed there all nite. It was the swellest sight I ever saw. Everyone was dressed in Spanish costumes and some riding fine horses. The town was all fixed up with roses as big as sunflowers, and the old mission bells were ringing and displaying the old Spanish flag.
After dark everyone went out of town to a natural bowl in the mountains where a pageant was put on while the mountains for miles around were lit up with different colored torches and fireworks. Almost 1 a.m. we left for Frisco and slept the remaining nite in an orange grove.
That evening about 8 p.m. we pulled into Oakland and went to Roy’s Aunt Mabel’s. We stayed here a week and took trips to the Redwood forests, Golden Gate Park and everyplace of interest in the surrounding country. We got a letter from the governor giving us permission to go through all the Prisons.
We had a swell time up here going out to China Town and to the coast bluffs to get star fish etc. We created quite a sensation when we rode over to the Oakland airport to watch the Doyle or Dole fliers. We even got a smile from Miss Doran.
Homeward bound
After these flyers hopped off across the Pacific we started on our homeward way. We made record time the first day, reaching Lake Tahoe by dark. It was practically low gear work, but we made it. Plenty of switchbacks to watch.
We saw two antelope and once when we stopped for H2o, Roy scared a cub bear out of a bush. It sure scared us, cause mama bear was somewhere close and we were quite a way from Scatter. The cub sure was cute.
It sure was cold that nite, and in the morning, the mountains were all covered with snow. Lake Tahoe, to my notion, is the prettiest lake in California.
In the morning we struck out for Carson City, Nev. Roads were all sand, rocks and mountains. A ranger said you could ride it on a good horse as soon (fast) as you could drive it and I’ll say he knew his country.
It took us seven hours to go 65 miles. Scatter didn’t like this and started to shimmy. It sure was dangerous driving this way and after we came near going over a switchback, I stopped and made temporary repairs with some pieces of tar.
A dusty, neglected town
When we skidded down the last mountain to Carson City, I was never so surprised in all my life. Here was the capital of Nevada. The dustiest, smallest and most neglected looking town in the world. I managed to dig up a Ford service station and make necessary repairs.
We then took out for Reno, and, much to our surprise, found that we had paved road nearly all the way. While riding along this valley we noticed a geyser, the first one that we had seen, so we went over and got a close view of it.
Reno wasn’t such a bad city. It had a streetcar and the state university, which was about the size of Witt(enberg). We bought gas here and had to bust our last $50, and all of our change came back in form of “iron men.” For once I was glad I wasn’t treasurer.
A game of 21
From here on we had about 500 miles of desert, but it wasn’t as hot nor as dry as the southern desert. That night we camped on the bank of the Humbolt River and had some visitors.
The sheriff of Elk, Nev., and several cowboys who were deputies. After they had satisfied their curiosity, they became real friendly and told us all about the history of the surrounding country and where there was a volcano lake where we could take a swim in some nice warm H2O. We fished a little but as the Humbolt never has no beginning nor ending the fish must have been left out, too.
When our friends got ready to leave they offered us a drink, and the sheriff said, ‘Well, boys, we’ll have to beat it, cause there is a game of 21 waiting for us’ ... as they hopped on their ponies and left.
The next morning we were on our way at daybreak and noon found us about in the middle of Nevada with a hind wheel that was ready to bust. We stopped in the first town and tried to pick up a second hand one and found out that we couldn’t even get a new one. At last we ran across on old Smithy who claimed that he could fix it and as it was 110 miles to the next town we decided to let them try. It worked.
Before we got ready to leave, Scatter started on another shimmy parade and we had one sweet time to get her through traffic.
Keeping their ears on
We decided to stop in the Grand Canyon and fix it, so the next day we climbed out of the canyon in first class condition and thought that we would try to make Cheyenne, Wyo., before we would stop. But, as usual, we couldn’t. There was nothing much to see but cowboys and cattle.
One mess of cowboys we ran into were all dressed for war — guns and everything; so we thought it would be nice to photo them. When we pulled out the camera one guy yelled, and says, “You put that damn thing away and get the hell outta here or we’ll shot yer ears off.”
Now that wasn’t nice, but we put that damn thing away and we didn’t get our ears shot off, so I rather believe we moved on P.D.Q.
It was so cold up here that I thought perhaps it was Santa Claus’ summer home. One guy would wear the sheepskin and the other would wrap up in a blanket like an Indian.
Trouble in Medicine Bow
We were in the Medicine Bow Mountains of Wyoming, and it was raining and turning colder. We had on slickers, a poncho and part of a pup tent. We looked very much like the remains of a bankrupt circus.
The little burg of Medicine Bow, Wyo., presented itself, so we stopped to by eats and gas. I noticed everyone standing around with a firearm of some sort, so I asked the reason and was told that there were a bunch of murderers due there in a short time, and if we wanted to see some fun, to stick around.
We stayed for about 15 minutes and then left.
The clouds started to settle as it started to hail; this made driving bad, so we pulled off the road to sleep. We put the pup tent over us, but the hail went right through and soaked everything. We ate the few soggy crackers that we had with us and tried to sleep, but it was too cold and wet, and in the morning, the ground was still covered with hail and was melted together like ice.
Seeing an old friend
It took us about an hour to get Scatter to go, and by the time we put the chains on and got back up the mountain side, we had killed two hours. I trained and hailed all the way to Cheyenne and Denver, Colo. We went to the Y, cleaned up, got our mail and meal; the first real food since we left Frisco. We still had $35 and only about 1,400 miles from home.
We thought we could make it to the Kansas (border) that night and then start in and drive the rest of the distance without a stop. It was raining when we left Denver at 3 p.m. and was still at it when we reached the state line at 1 a.m. Next morning we cleaned carbon, tightened rods and set forth.
We heard that they had been having floods in Kansas and be careful of washouts. The roads were terrible, and in one nite we had 12 of these washouts to go through and the mid was on Scatter so thickly that you couldn’t see the paint, and the wheels looked like discs. Luckily we had no tire trouble till we reached the paved pike near Topeka the next morning. We stopped at the ranch where we stayed during the tornado on our way out and fixed everything and had a fine visit with the rancher.
Pavement at last
It seemed like we were almost home with paved road all of the rests of the way. We had fine luck till we reached Columbia, Mo. Here the lights went bad and the wheels commenced to shimmy again, so we pulled off in a cornfield and I worked on a tin can with a can opener until I got some shims made and then rebushed the front end.
Roy drove the next day while I worked on the lights Both them fixed just at dark; then the fan belt broke, but it wasn’t hard to get another, so we sailed on and on. The next morning we passed through St. Louis and here we had to fix a tire, had good luck till midnite and then another flat.
It’s some tough job to fix a tire without a lite. The carburetor began to leak, but by driving fast it could be kept from flooding, so we drove.
Sleeping it off
The sun cast its first glow on us in Richmond, Ind., and we just ate up the road the rest of the way. Got in Springfield about 9 a.m., popped in on Roy’s aunt just as she was talking to his mother over the phone and she hung up without another word. Took Roy home, received congrats for our fast time, went home and surprise om, who didn’t expect me. Ate all I could and then crawled in bed and slept for 24 hours. Finis.