Getting there from here...

[trfour]

Originally Posted by Barney Bear

Trfour - thanks four your wonderful story of your trip west. How many states of the then 48 states did you visit on this great adventure? In 1947, our family of five took a long trip to the west coast in an Oldsmobile sedan. Our most expensive overnight stay was in Carson City, Nevada [$19.00]. ��

Awesome Barney!!

Here they are, Oh and I wrote them down and put them in a safe place, so it took me a Loooong time to find them.
From Stoneham MA. south to, RI. CT. NY. NJ. DE. MD. DC. PA. OH. IN. IL. IA. WI. MN. SD. WY. UT. NV. CA.
PS, I don't want to hurt myself Barney, so you do the math...
Funny, the only two States that I haven't gotten to visit yet, [ my loss ] is [ How'areya and Alaska! ] How are ya?
Also, we needed a biggah cah wash...

[trfour]

Thank God the snow Angel was taking a Napa when we traversed Donner Pass in the Rockies...

It was late when we arrived in Artesia, southeast of Los Angeles.The trailer was in place and Dad decided he would put the stabilizers in place the next day.
It was here at 5:00 AM the next morning that we discovered one of California's notorieties.
"EARTHQUAKE!" The Tahachapi earthquake paid us a visit. Had our wheeled trailer rocking and swaying like a washing machine. Most of us ended down on the floor, me falling from my top bunkbed out of a sound sleep, and thought that our trailer was going to, see us on the flip side.
Opened the back door and saw the COWs, in a field and pasture, falling and tumbling over like candle pins.

[trfour]

Shortly after getting to California, my folks decided to sell the 49, as it was brutal on fuel. My Dad was in Transportation Management, and got transferred up to Santa Maria. We had to load the house trailer on a flatbed tractor trailer unit, by crane, to bring it up there. Although the 1948 Buick had the same engine, it was a three speed standard shift, and if we tried to tow the big trailer with it, we probably never would have made it out of Stoneham without burning up a clutch! Being a custom built trailer with accommodations for 11 people, plus all of the provisions loaded inside, it took a lot of torque just to get the thing rolling. This is where the Dynaflow transmission shined!

My Dad and I went down to the trucking co's yard to tow the trailer to the park and set it up on the lot. Well it didn't take very long and you could smell that old clutch burn'in up!! Only had to tow it about three and a half miles, and we made it okay, but had to replace the clutch that week!

Pic#1. Dad on left, watching over Home loading.
Pic#4. Coast Highway 101, on a rest stop.

[trfour]

We stayed at Fort Wayne for a few days doing some general maintenance and such. Us children could be very inventive and were not afraid or shy in any way to pitch in get our hands dirty.

There was an awesome indoor basketball arena right there beside the trailer park and my older brother Mel was a phenomenal player and he'd sneaker over and maid friends with a large group of Indians that invited him into their shoot around for practice before a big game that was going to take place the fallowing night. Well, when they got to see what brother Mel could do, they were fighting to get him on their team!

Well, don't ya know come game time night that Mel, while playing Center for the Indians, scored the winning HOOP to the delight of the huge crowd in the grandstands cheering them on. OH would I ever have loved to play backup for my brother in that game. I have way bigger feet than he did, but he had about three feet in height on me at the time, so I made a better Cheerer and seat warmer.

Pic#2. Bringing our cloths back home from the air dryer.

[trfour]

Do not invite us!... A very simple $2.99 cent lunch could take off and run into the tens or more thousands of dollars in a heartbeat!
So maybe some would ask, how we did what we did????
First of all, our Mom and Dad were the Best!... Did I ever tell how they cooked? No contest, they were the best! Now, shut my face!
Grand Parents, Grand Great Parents and so on and on have embodied our very existence since history got invented here!
By the way, they did a wonderful job!
With todays economy, I couldn't imagine any self respecting family restaurant wanting to ban children under a certain age... However, some are...

I would hazard a guess that todays Moms and Dads have lost some of the ( use of the brail system, if you will ), to communicate good behavior to their siblings...


Now!.. / Waaayyyyy back when I was young, and born even younger, my parents taught me and the rest of us children just how to behave, wise? Course, it could have been the size of the herd?.. They never wanted us to get out of hand, ( so to speak ). ( And Especially Around The Dinner Table )...
Here's a pic of all of us enjoying lunch at the very exclusive Columbia Yacht Club back in 19 and 52! They loved us, and could have retired from our bill and tips alone!

Most of us lived in the Magic Carpet for close to two years out in California before we bought a house without wheels...
The world is getting and multiplying faster than Nascar


, these days, kind of needs our collective help, so to speak...

The glass half full, has been replaced with ' our world on top ', if you will.
Let us keep it all going forward...
Love,
Terry

Pic#2. Stopped for a drink, ours was Hires Root Beer since 1876

[trfour]

Dad always said Grace, Before we ate a meal where ever we were together, and that included when Dad sometimes had to work late, Mom would wait dinner until he got home to join us at the table and say Grace...

The Columbia Yacht Club.

[trfour]

Designated Back Seat Drivah. Here's one O my pic's NOT.
How come you see me in them striped Time Out shirts all O the time.

[ApS]

Originally Posted by trfour

Do not invite us!... A very simple $2.99 cent lunch could take off and run into the tens or more thousands of dollars in a heartbeat! So maybe some would ask, how we did what we did????
First of all, our Mom and Dad were the Best!... Did I ever tell how they cooked? No contest, they were the best! Now, shut my face! Grand Parents, Grand Great Parents and so on and on have embodied our very existence since history got invented here! By the way, they did a wonderful job!
With todays economy, I couldn't imagine any self respecting family restaurant wanting to ban children under a certain age... However, some are...I would hazard a guess that todays Moms and Dads have lost some of the ( use of the Braille system, if you will ), to communicate good behavior to their siblings...Now!.. / Waaayyyyy back when I was young, and born even younger, my parents taught me and the rest of us children just how to behave, wise? Course, it could have been the size of the herd?.. They never wanted us to get out of hand, ( so to speak ). ( And Especially Around The Dinner Table )...Here's a pic of all of us enjoying lunch at the very exclusive Columbia Yacht Club back in 19 and 52! They loved us, and could have retired from our bill and tips alone! Most of us lived in the Magic Carpet for close to two years out in California before we bought a house without wheels...The world is getting and multiplying faster than Nascar, these days, kind of needs our collective help, so to speak...The glass half full, has been replaced with ' our world on top ', if you will. Let us keep it all going forward...Love, Terry Pic#2. Stopped for a drink

'Times sure have changed. You had no seat belts, and just-recently two states have raised their speed limits—to 80—and (in Utah) 85.

.

[trfour]

Originally Posted by ApS

'Times sure have changed. You had no seat belts, and just-recently two states have raised their speed limits—to 80—and (in Utah) 85.

Cool ApS,

Yes, tons O change long and since 1952, however my faith tells me to keep on doing the best I can, don't over think things like writing 18 one hundred page volumes of hypothetical arguments that Chestah won in the shower.
As long as I can help my loved one's and other's, I'm good. I've almost been around the block once.

Thanks ApS.

PS, my pickup loves the pot holes down heah, and it gives me a reason to Take It Easy.

[trfour]

Dad teaching me how to adjust a loose wheel bearing along the way on one of our chore and maintainance stayovers.

[trfour]

We never needed Uncle George to draw us a crowd,

As we were already pretty much there.

[trfour]

When the rigger's loaded the Magic Carpet onto the flatbed trailer to take up to Santa Maria, they had to remove the tires so as to provide safe overall height clearance for the bridges and overpasses on the trip.

Pic. Dad between the axles

[trfour]

Fred worked and was an extreamly talented heavy Truck mecanic and he worked at the same Trucking Co. as my Dad, and was also amung the very few that could back double ttrailer combinations without unhooking them into the loading docks.

Many prayers were said when Fred thought that it was time for him to serve our Country and enlisted into the Marine Corps and after boot camp served on Okinawa as a Sergeant in the Motor Pool of his unit and taught Automotive Carburetion and Ignition. He mailed me the study text & tests, I'd mail him back the tests for him to grade, then he wrote me back saying that I was in the top 99% of the classes.
May I add, that my oldest brother Fred and I were always pretty close. He taught me how to drive a car in a local State Park back when I was six years old in his 1934 Chevy, with wooden blocks on the brake, clutch and gas peddles, so that my feet could reach them while I was also sitting on cushions so's I could see out the windshield just above the defroster vents. By the time I got to be 6.5, I could drive that car anywhere.

And, back in them days I never considered sewing the town for building the sidewalks too close to my butt either.

Sister Doña helping the sergeant load, and I didn't want my Brother to go.

[trfour]

After lunch in Utah before finishing the days trip.

[ApS]

Originally Posted by trfour

After lunch in Utah before finishing the days trip.

Utah—Waterfront cottages, in an ancient time when ice covered the Winnipesaukee Basin.



Utah, where, y'know, you can photograph the kids...



Mountains, natural stone arches, desert terrain, fossils, petroglyphs, snow, dinosaurs, and fast rivers for rafting. Having toured most of the US, if I had only one state to visit again, it'd be Utah. Within one State Park, I managed to drive 85 miles on a dirt road, and never saw another human being.

On one deserted paved road, I pulled over at a random site to walk the dog. 'Getting about 100 feet from the road, the dog and I turned a corner, and came upon ancient petroglyphs carved and painted into a vertical rock face. The site had probably been rarely encountered since carved into that rock—except perhaps Anasazi, surveyors, anthropology students, a few roadway workers, and one (or two) dog-walkers.

Capital Reef National Park has only 20 spaces for campers—Reserve early!

[trfour]

Every place we got to see together!!

[trfour]

Rascal flats, and a wheel bearing replacement that required a file and some emery cloth to fit the new bearing on the axle spindle.