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 . . .