Through the Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest and on to the Grand Canyon

After a brief hiatus, I am back to blogging . . . This is, admittedly, my favorite part of their story, mainly because I have been to these areas myself.  As I might have mentioned before, some of these places are pretty desolate now, I really can't imagine what they were like when these four girls took this trip.  That said . . . 


When we last left the Daughters Courageous, they had made it to the Painted Desert, and planned to get up early the following morning to see the sunrise there.  They describe waking very early, being a bit drowsy, but the majestic colors of the sunrise waking them up.  Following the sunrise, they drove on to the Petrified Forest where they spent a few hours exploring the trails and listening to lectures there.

Then it was on to the Grand Canyon. . . this is truly the part of the trip the earned them the name "the Daughters Courageous".  Route 66 carried the girls through Winslow, Arizona, where they stopped for some souvenir shopping, then took them on to the Canyon.  After arriving, settling in their cabin and getting their first view of the Grand Canyon, they decided to check out the evening entertainment.  Cowboys showed off their roping skills, and a movie about the mule rides down the canyon topped off the evening.  The movie gave the girls the idea that the mule ride would be fun, so the following morning, they saddled up for a guided tour down the canyon on Missouri Mules.

Years later when I visited the Grand Canyon, I saw the mule riders on their trip back up the canyon while I was perusing the trail down the canyon.  It looked terrifying to me, as the trail is narrow and any misstep by the mule could be disasterous.  I sent a post card home to my Grandma telling her that I couldn't believe she had done that, and how I am not nearly as brave as she was.  Turns out that she was not a fan of the mule ride, that she was terrified too, and hated the mule, but she did it for the experience and to say she rode a mule to the bottom of the Grand Canyon!

In contrast to my post card, the one that my Grandma sent home from the Grand Canyon didn't mention the mule ride: "Dear Folks, We came into the Grand Canyon yesterday afternoon about 4:30.  Before coming here we went to the Petrified Forest.  Nothing I have ever seen can compare in beauty to Grand Canyon.  We spent all day here today.  Expect to leave for Boulder Dam and Los Angeles tomorrow.  Alberta."


Back to the Mules . . . The Mule tour took the Daughters Courageous zig zagging down the side of the Canyon to the Colorado River Bed.  Once at the bottom of the Canyon, the girls were so moved that they began to sing a verse of "God Bless America" to which the others in the party joined in.  Thinking of what that moment must have been like gives me chills.  They returned to the Canyon Rim about 5:30 and prepared for their evening out . . . which will have to be saved for another installment!

The Gypsy Wagon Heads South . . . towards the Grand Canyon

Following the "world class" tour of Denver and its surroundings by their trusted guide, Davie, the four Jolly Dutchmen piled again into the Gypsy Wagon to head south through Colorado and New Mexico towards the Petrified Forest and the Southern Rim of the Grand Canyon.  


First stop on their way was Colorado Springs, where the ladies did some interesting sight seeing.  Their stops included the Garden of the Gods, and the Cave of the Winds, which is described as "most interesting".  The girls visited the Old Maid's Kitchen, where legend had it that if a girl left a hairpin there, she would be happily married within a year.  Those that returned after a year and were happily married left a safety pin as a token.  None of the girls fessed up to leaving a hairpin behind, but I do know that if my Grandma did, the legend didn't quite work for her, as it was several years later before she was married.  They described the weather that day as sort of rainy, so they could not see Pike's Peak, and, after a picnic at Manitou Springs, the Gypsy Wagon hit the road once more to head to New Mexico.

The back of this post card reads: "Dear Folks:  We just went through the Cave of the Winds.  It certainly is beautiful.  Coming up here we drove through these Narrows.  There is only room enough for the car.  It is awfully cold today.  About 58.  We have on coats and sweaters.  Love, Alberta."


Soup and ice cream was dinner that evening in Walsenburg, Colorado.  It was here that the girls changed their group name from the Jolly Dutchmen to the "Daughters Courageous".  They must have figured out by then that they were really on an adventure, and the Jolly Dutchmen didn't fit so well!  After crossing the New Mexico border, they stopped for the night in Raton, at the Green and White Tourist Camp.

After suffering a night so cold that their teeth chattered, the Daughters Courageous were up and ready to travel across New Mexico with the goal of reaching the Painted Desert by sunset.  They had to drive one hundred miles just to find breakfast to Las Vegas, New Mexico, and describe driving through "mud villages" where they paid Indian children a penny to take their pictures.  They took the Santa Fe Trail through New Mexico,  and described how, the further west they drove, the more meager the Indian homes were, and the more traditional dress they saw.   

Having been to this area myself, seventy years later, I can say that this area is still pretty barren, and many of the native american people still live a very simple, traditional life.  Along the way the ladies did stop to take a swim in the Rio Grande in Albuquerque, and enjoyed another picnic on it's shores.


The card sent home from Las Vegas, New Mexico, reads:  "Dear Folks: We just had breakfast here in Las Vegas.  We stayed all night about 100 miles from here in Raton.  We slept in a very nice cabin.  It had two bedroom and a private bath for .75 each.  We are having a grand time and the car is still going strong.  In 1500 miles we only have had to add one quart of oil.  Then we had it changed in denver.  Guess we's better get on our way.  Love, Alberta."

Unfortunately, the Daughters Courageous did not make it to the Painted Desert by sundown, so they decided to stop for the night about fifteen miles outside of the park and see the sun rise over the Painted Desert instead. . . more to come . . .

Denver with Davie

The Gypsy Wagon rolled into Denver at about 11:30 pm, and the traveller's took up residence at Mrs. Corman's Tourist Home.  

The following morning, they were up an ready to see the City, so they enlisted the services of "Davie", who they described as "the human talking machine".  The group was picked up at 8:00 am by their guide driving a "roofless Pierce", and were shown Denver in all its glory.  Below is a picture of the group, along with Davie, their guide.

When they returned to their Tourist Home, Mrs. Corman told them about a Rodeo in Estes Park.  The girls piled in the Gypsy Wagon and drove the 67 miles to Estes Park to see a real western Rodeo.  The highlight of that trip was one of the riders being taken away in an ambulance!  Following the Rodeo, they did some shopping in Estes Park, where Grandma bought the scrapbook, and had their fortunes told by a palm reader - all four determined that 1940 would be a very good year.

The following morning, the open air Pierce with Davie at the wheel arrived at Mrs. Corman's Tourist Home for another day of sightseeing.  Today's sights included Buffalo Bill's grave on Lookout Mountain, where the Jolly Dutchmen tossed coins as a donation at the monument of his favorite horse, and visited a museum established by his adopted son, Johnny Baker, and run by Mrs. Johnny Baker.


After paying their respects to Buffalo Bill, the Pierce drove on and took the Dutchmen to Mt. Evans, where they climbed to the summit at 14,260 feet (all in dresses, might I add!).  They described it being so cold while they were driving up Mt. Evans that the four of them huddled in the back seat of the car until Davie rolled up the roof and closed the windows to keep the snow out . . . the girls were amazed that they were driving in snow on August 6!

Once finished with Mt. Evans, they stopped for lunch at Echo Lake Lodge, where they ate, warmed up, and learned to dance the Beer Barrel Polka under the guidance again of Davie, who apparently doubled as a dance teacher as well!


Next stop was the first Gold Mine discovered in Colorado, then on to Denver Mountain Park, where they viewed the red rocks, and met a "thoroughbred Sioux Indian".  He let one of the girls wear his headdress, allowed his picture to be taken, and then charged the girls a dime for the privilege.


On the way back to Mrs. Corman, they stopped again to Polka in Evergreen, and viewed Dinosaur foot prints on the side of a rock.  


Following their first day of sightseeing, my Grandma wrote a long letter home:


"Dear Folks:


I've thought a lot about you today wondering how you made out on Saturday with all the extra order. (Note - her father owned a bakery, so they must have had something extra going on that day).


We have had a pretty busy day.  Stayed in Denver last night and are staying in the same place tonight.  We have a grand big room with two double beds with inner spring mattresses.  It really is the nicest room we have had so far, and it costs only .75 a piece.  We got up about 8:00 am and took a sightseeing tour of Denver.  Got back to the house about 12:30 and took the car and drove about 67 miles to Estes Park, through the mountains to see a real western rodeo.  Today we saw the mountains for the first time, some of them are snow capped.


We are now one mile above sea level (we're kind of getting up in the world don't you think?).


Tomorrow (Sunday) we are going to take an all day trip through the Rocky Mountain National Parks and to Mount Evans which is higher than Pikes Peak.  We think we will stay in Denver again tomorrow night because it will be almost dark by the time we get back from our mountain trip.


Last night (Fri) we got into Denver about 11:00 pm.  We drove about 640 miles yesterday.  We crossed the plains and was it hot!!  That is why we came all the way through - it cooled off beautifully in the evening and there isn't anything to see crossing the plains.  We drove one stretch of about 30 mi. in which there wasn't even the slightest turn in the road - and we think Transit Road is straight!


The scenery is really very beautiful around here now, but it was very monotonous when we crossed the plains - there weren't even any trees.  Nothing but fields and sun.


I hope you've been getting some mail each day.  I've sent something every night.


Well, I guess I'd better get to bed because I'm tired and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.


Love - Alberta"


I am finding that I am truly enjoying this project - I have almost finished the text of the journal which I will put together as a book, and will be available soon ( shameless self promotion - I know!), and I feel like I have learned so much - not only about what our country was once like, but about what my Grandma was like as a young lady, just getting started in her life.  I have often told my own daughter that she had a very strong, independent and adventurous Great Grandma, but I am getting the feeling that I only know a part of that story!  

The Dust Bowl

Being from Western New York,  I am certain that the Jolly Dutchmen thought they knew "flat" . . . that is, until they made it to Kansas.  It is clear from their journal that they were surprised by the landscape of Kansas, as they describe the foothills of the Ozarks "flattening out to plains".  At first, it seemed that the plains were "fertile", as they travelled through the corn belt.  There they saw (and smelled) pigs, which were "larger, blacker and woolier" than any they had seen before.  The group went from St. Louis to Kansas City in one day, arriving there about nine thirty.  Somewhere between those two larger cities, they drove through "Pipertown", a bustling metropolis with a population of eleven, all living in the same house!


Kansas City must not have been a very exciting place, since all the Dutchmen did was to visit the drug store, get some "black cows" (root beer sodas) and do their laundry.  Grandma also took a few minutes to write a letter home to her parents: " Dear Folks:  Well, here we are in Kansas City, Mo - Got in just after dark so we haven't even looked around the city yet.  We have nice rooms.  We stayed in St. Louis until 2:40 this afternoon when we drive about 250 miles to Kansas City.  It is about 89 here, so that's not so bad - but it's plenty warm enough.  Tomorrow (Fri.) we would like to get almost to Denver - it's about 500 miles between here and there.  Yesterday as we were driving from Indianapolis to St. Louis it rained and cooled things off a bit.  By the time we got into St. Louis it had stopped raining and the rest of the day was ideal.  The open air opera was very lovely - it is in a huge outdoor stadium or amphitheather which seats about 12,000 people and it was packed last night.  There really isn't much to see in this section of the country - it is very very level and there are only a few trees that aren't much bigger than good sized bushes.  Well, I guess I'd better sign off and get to bed.  Love - Alberta."

This is one of my favorite pictures from the scrapbook . . . the caption on the back reads "Telephone poles in Kansas" . . . though I am certain that you cannot see it here, in the actual picture, if you look closely, you can see the wires strung through the tall "pole" in the middle of the picture.  We've come a long way since 1939!


They left again the following morning at 5:00 am, after my Grandma's wake up call, and headed out across the plains.  When they left, they described it as comfortably cool, but soon, the temperature climbed to 102.  The describe the tress disappearing, the grass thinning, and the sun blazing.  They saw the dust swirling in the breeze, which was described as being the same as what would come from a "hot air furnace".  Mercifully, it would seem, the Gyspy Wagon carried them past a Municipal Swimming Pool, where they stopped for a picnic and a swim.  I should note now that I never knew my Grandma to swim, she always said she was afraid of the water . . . so I'm certain she wasn't swimming, despite the extreme heat.  I should also note that she bought her first pair of shorts for this trip, which I'm sure are the ones she's wearing in the pictures from the pool.

Once they had cooled off and had a picnic lunch, they climbed back in the car and started out again on the road that "lay as straight as an arrow across the Kansas desert".  One of the four was so excited at seeing cacti that they had to pull over for her to pick one.  They happened on a gas station where they stopped, picked a cactus, and filled up the car and their water jugs.  Further on into the dust bowl they drove, through towns which were "meager, shriveled up places that looked as hot and dry as the prairie itself."

Kit Carson, Colorado was the stop for dinner that evening, before arriving in Denver about 11:30, after a very long, dusty day of driving. . . It was from there that Grandma sent home her daily post card . . . 

"Dear Folks:  Today we drove across the state of Kansas from Kansas City, Mo.  We are now in Kit Carson, Colo.  Just had supper here.  We had very very level country - temp. this morning 68 - this afternoon 102 - now it's about 85 or90.  We are going to drive to Denver tonight because it is cooler.  It is about 150 miles.  Love, Alberta."


For reference - the postage on these postcards is one cent, and there were no zip codes necessary with the address . . . 

Meet me in St. Louis . . .

Day two of the journey saw the travelers head from Indianapolis to St. Louis, where they were to stay for a day or two with friends.  Again, they left early, in order to get out of town before the traffic started, and made it to St. Louis around 2:00 pm.  Once settled in to Mrs. Manze's apartment, the four took a tour of the city, which included the Chain of Rocks, a park which ran along the Mississippi River.

This photo is a view of the river and the filtration plant.  The four were quite impressed by crossing the Mississippi, as they then considered themselves in the West!

Following the city tour, they attended an outdoor opera at a theater located in Forest Park.  According to the journal, the theater seated 10,000 people.

The show ended around 11:00pm, and then it seems the real fun began.  The tour of the city apparently included a tour of the city's "elegant hotels and tap rooms, including the Jug, Merry-Go-Round, and the Hawiian Room at the Jefferson Hotel".  The group settled for the night at the last stop, where they listened to Hawiian music, ate cheese popcorn and sipped Tom Collins (this is particularly interesting, as Grandma NEVER drank!).  At 2:00 am they decided it was time to return home for chocolate cake and coffee.

After five hours of sleep, they were up again to see the rest of the city, which included a tour of the Art Museum, the Jefferson Memorial and the Airport.  Below is a picture of the four travelers outside of the art museum.

Grandma's postcard home from St. Louis was brief, understandably so, since the party was rather busy sightseeing and "hotel" hopping . . . "Dear Folks,  We got into St. Louis at 2:00 this afternoon.  Went to Sylvia's friends' - cleaned up and went sight-seeing again - Just had dinner and we are now going to the opera.  The car is behaving beautifully.  Love - Alberta.

Next stop . . . Kansas City . . .

And they're off!

Grandma graduated from the State Teachers College at Buffalo in 1938 with a degree in Home Economics. She was lucky enough to get a job as soon as she graduated at Fillmore Central Junior / Senior School. Her salary for her first year of teaching was $1000.00!

At the end of this first year of working in the "real world", she and three of her friends decided to take a month long road trip from Buffalo to San Francisco. Grandma owned a car at the time - a 1932 2 door Oldsmobile that she bought when she got her teaching position, but her father did not think it would make it all the way to the West Coast. So, her Dad loaned the girls his car - the girls describe it in their journal as a "scrumptious" black Oldsmobile. The only condition on that loan was that they put new tires on the car. So, for $25.00 apiece, each traveler bought a new tire and were then ready to roll.

They rose early on August 1, 1939, having spent the night at the home of my great grandparents. After eating a good breakfast, taking pictures and saying good bye, they were on the road by 6:55 am. The bunch nicknamed themselves the "Jolly Dutchmen" and sang songs in the car to pass the time on the road.

At lunchtime, they stopped outside of Cleveland, Ohio to have a picnic that was packed by Grandma. Even when I traveled with her fifty years later, she was still packing great picnics for lunch. The picture below shows her standing, pouring lemonade, and is a rare pictures of her smiling!

They didn't stop again until they made it to Indianapolis, where they found a "tourist home" for the night. According to my Grandma, they could stay at one of these roadside parks for about $2.75 per night for four of them, in a cabin with a kitchenette.

Grandma wrote home to her parents faithfully, almost every day, and evidently, her parents kept the post cards, as they are all included in the scrapbook. Her first card, pictured below, is of the Indiana World War Memorial, in Indianapolis, Ind.. The note on the back reads: "Tues Eve. Dear Folks: Arrived in Indianapolis at 9:15. Made 480 miles today. We have a nice room - 2 double beds in it. Everything is OK and we are having a good time. Saw corn, pigs and cattle today. -Alberta

The only sight seeing the four did in Indianapolis was a walk between their "tourist home" and the corner drug store, where they bought post cards and a Coca Cola. After that, it was to bed, as their trip was set to continue early the next day, when they were scheduled to go on to St Louis . . .

My Grandmother died on December 3, 2010 at the age of 94. Even though she was 94, her death was sudden and a shock of sorts to our family. She was in good health, except for the broken pelvis she had suffered after a fall the week before. She had been transferred from the hospital to a rehab facility and had begun a rigorous routine of physical therapy in hopes of returning home for Christmas. In the evening on Friday, December 3, she lost consciousness and passed away about an hour later. I suspect that she felt that her life was complete, and picked that time to go.

Since that time, I have struggled with a way to pay tribute to her life. She was truly an incredible lady. Her life spanned nearly a century, during which she witnessed incredible transformations in our way of life and monumental world events. Unlike many women of her generation, she was a very independent woman, somewhat out of necessity, having lost her husband in 1965, when her children were 18, 15 and 13. I always thought that it was this loss that made her so, but have learned in the past years that she apparently was always an independent sole.

Grandma wasn't a "Talker". She really didn't tell us much about her own life, and really never liked us to ask questions. I learned in the mid 1990's that she had travelled across America in 1939 with three of her friends to see the Golden Gate Expo in San Francisco. This bit of information was shared in one paragraph of an article which was written about her in the local Office for the Aging's monthly newsletter. She never talked about this trip, except to say that she didn't like riding down the Grand Canyon on a Mule. In the mid 1990's, the "coolness" of this was sort of lost on me. As I have aged a bit and travelled to the West myself, the "coolness" of this amazes me.

Finally, in 2009, I asked my Grandma if she had any pictures from her trip. She said, "why, of course", and went to her cedar chest, picked out a scrapbook and gave it to me. At that point, her vision was failing her, and she couldn't really tell me about the pictures, but she let me take it home with me. What I found when I sat down to look at it was amazing. Not only were there pictures, there were maps, stickers, brochures and cards from all their stops along the way. Best of all was a story written by one of the travelers (I don't know which one) chronicling the trip.

In the months since her death, I have decided (along with my family) that this scrapbook will be my tribute to my Grandma. I will be publishing the journal, but there is much in it that will not fit into the book, and which I will post on this blog. To me, this trip that she took really represents her spirit, and the journal from this trip shows a side of my Grandma that I never knew.

i count myself blessed to be able to say that I had my Grandma with me until the age of 38. Not many can say that. And, although I had thought many times that we would lose her someday, it still is very difficult. But, that said, I am happy to share a story of hers that she didn't share with many while she was here. . .