Copyright © 2021 by John W. Cross Page 1. 

Driving Out West in 1940 

by John W. Cross

Introduction 

In 1940 my mother’s cousin, Lois Dean, invited her to join Lois’s 

family on a cross-country car trip to visit National Parks. Their 

planned itinerary began in their home town, Montclair, New 

Jersey and included visits to Rocky Mountain National Park, 

Mesa Verde, the Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, the Grand Tetons, 

and Yellowstone. Recently, I discovered my mother had kept a 

detailed diary1 of this adventure. I found it in a dusty old box of 

her papers, along with snaphots taken by one of the Deans.*

Growing up, I can remember my mother mentioning the trip, 

explaining it was a sort of Thank-you from the Deans for a 

personal sacrifice she made on behalf of the family. Her father, 

and grandfather had both recently died from cancer, one right 

after the other. When her father was first given his diagnosis, my mother had just finished her studies 

as an art student in New York City and was working in the advertising department of B. Altman and 

Company, a luxury New York department store.2 To deal with the family crisis, my mother put her art 

career on hold and stayed home to care for her father and then her grandfather over the course of 

several years as they suffered terminal cancer.

My mother told me she had been physically and mentally exhausted by the end of this ordeal. By then 

she was 26 years old, still living at home.3 Just at that moment, her cousins came to the rescue with 

their generous offer. Lois and her husband Edgar Dean invited her to accompany them, their children 

(Adelle, 13, and Robert, 10) and Edgar’s older brother Prentice (Prent) on their western vacation, at 

their expense. The plan was for my mother, Lois and the children to go by train to Washington, DC, 

where Prent lived and then drive west in Prent’s car. Edgar wouldn’t initially go along on the drive, but 

would travel with the family only as far as Philadelphia, joining the party in Denver. 

Prentice Dean, had done post-graduate study in economics at Princeton in 19234 and since 1934 had 

held a position in Washington with the U. S. Tariff Commission.5 It must have been a senior position, 

since he drove a 1939 Buick Series 40 Special Sedan, a deluxe model.6

Lois’s husband Edgar, an MIT graduate, was employed as an engineer with Public Service the local 

New Jersey power company.7

 On June 27 Edgar accompanied his family only as far as North 

*The diary was written in pencil on now-yellowed paper, much of it very faint and hard to read. Some of it I 

could make out only by scanning the pages and increasing the contrast. My transcriptions were dictated using 

Speechnotes, a voice-to-text cell phone app, and there may be odd errors missed by my proofreading. However, 

the accompanying photographs are in excellent condition with subject information written on the back.

My mother’s diary and snapshots.
Copyright © 2021 by John W. Cross Page 2. 

Philadelphia. From there, the diary indicates he transferred to a train 

for Atlantic City.8 I suspect he was unable to get away from work at 

the start of the trip because of company business in Atlantic City.

My mother, Lois and the children continued on the train to 

Washington, where they were met by Prent.9 According to the diary, 

Prent charged his gas purchases.10 Previously, I wasn’t aware 

gasoline credit cards were in use by 1940, but it was unusual enough 

that my mother mentioned it frequently. In 1940, gasoline sold for an 

average price of $0.18 /gallon ($3.35 in 2021 prices).11

In Washington, the family stayed one night in the Belleview Hotel,

12

now called the Kimpton Hotel George, just one block from Union 

Station.13 My mother complained how hot it was in Washington 

compared with Montclair, but Prent assured her it was just normal 

heat for June in Washington.

The next morning, the family left the capital bright and early with Prent driving. After Edgar joined the 

party in Denver, he occasionally drove. My mother’s diary never mentions Lois taking the wheel, so 

she may not have had a driver’s license. In the years before the Second World War male heads of 

households generally had authority over choosing and driving automobiles.14 Although some women 

always drove, their numbers were relatively small.Error! Bookmark not defined.

From Washington, Prent drove north through Frederick, Maryland to meet US 40 in Pennsylvania, then 

took US 40 due west as far as Denver, arriving July 3. From Denver the party made day trips into the 

Rocky Mountains until Edgar finally arrived by train the morning of 

July 5.15

8:10 a.m. On to Union Depot to greet Edgar....The Denver 

Zephyr 5 min late, but a red plush carpet laid out to greet the 

King. A beautiful silver streamlined train. Much happy 

chatter...birthday gifts for Adelle. A stop at the Court House to 

legalize some deeds,† then to the P.O. [post office] We did 

manage to get Edgar's bag in [the car trunk] despite 

kidding‡

....16

The early part of the diary is highly detailed, describing each meal, 

each accommodation, the weather, and road conditions. Further 

along, my mother began to leave out more routine events. The diary 

indicates the family ate most of their meals in coffee shops. My 

† I have no explanation for the passage about legalizing deeds at the courthouse.

‡ It was a running joke that my mother had brought a monster suitcase, much larger than anyone else's.

Left to right: Robert, Lois, & Adelle Dean 

and my mother in City Park, Newman, 

Illinois.

Prent Dean in the Rockies checking 

the radiator of his 1939 Buick, 

covered in dust. The engine had 

overheated climbing mountain roads.
Copyright © 2021 by John W. Cross Page 3. 

mother seldom mentions picnics, except for the first day, when their planned al fresco luncheon was 

rained out. The party ate well. Often my mother mentions ordering a stack of pancakes at breakfast 

and a steak for dinner. On the road, the family did not write or call ahead for room reservations. They 

usually looked for AAA-rated tourist cabins to spend the night, but sometimes checked into small-town 

hotels. If they didn’t find something to their liking, the party would just drive on to the next town. In 

National Parks, they stayed in the main lodges. My mother often commented on the quality of 

accommodations. The party usually rented two adjoining rooms. 

Several times my mother mentions purchasing post cards to send to friends back home, and on a few 

occasions, sending telegrams to announce their progress west. As she noted, the family stopped by the 

post office in Denver to pick up mail being held for them. In Denver the family also visited the local 

AAA office to get help planning their day trips into the Rockies.17

The diary often describes games the children would play in the 

car to pass time. Often, they counted things they passed: outof-state license plates, farm animals, road kills, farm houses, 

etc.18 I was surprised how often my mother reported seeing 

goats and flocks of sheep.

True to her artistic training, my mother often detailed exact 

shades of colors she observed in foliage, soils, rocks and other 

scenery, and the shapes of clouds.19 Her diary also notes the 

appearance of local people and their living conditions. For 

example, through Pennsylvania, she describes the blackened 

faces of coal miners,20 and, in Dust Bowl towns of western 

Kansas, she was impressed with the sadness, dirty clothes and 

worn-out looks of impoverished natives.21

Such a long trip in hot weather was hard on both driver and 

passengers. Automobiles lacked air conditioning in those days. For example, Buick did not offer air 

conditioning until 1953.22 A photo of the Dean’s Buick taken on Mount Herman July 3rd (see above) 

shows that by then the car (nicknamed Penelope) had gotten very dusty. Back in Denver on the 4th of 

July, Adelle and my mother suggested they wash Penelope, but “Prent vetoes the idea.”23

It is worth considering that in 1940 there were no Interstate Highways,24,25 nor even significant 

stretches of 4-lane highway.26 Most highways were 2-lane blacktops, but my mother records that many 

of the rural roads in the West were paved with gravel or unpaved. She indicated that many mountain 

highways were narrow and lacked guard rails. Even not far from Washington, my mother described the 

route from Frederick, Maryland to US-40 in Pennsylvania as muddy and rutted.27 The Dean Family’s 

itinerary in the summer of 1940 was a significant undertaking. 

After returning to Montclair, Peggy Goodman resumed her work as an advertising artist at B. Altman 

and Co. She continued working there until she married my father, a young naval officer, in 1943. 

After World War II Peggy moved to her husband's hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, where she 

Lois, Robert and Edgar Dean in Grand 

Teton National Park.
Copyright © 2021 by John W. Cross Page 4. 

continued to paint and sketch. In Memphis, Peggy later organized a close-knit group of women artists 

called the Artie-Annies and became a civic leader in promoting the visual arts.
Copyright © 2021 by John W. Cross Page 5. 

Selected photo scrapbook of the Trip 

From top left:

1. Lincoln Home, Springfield, Illinois, 2. Lincoln’s New Salem, Illinois, 3. Lincoln’s New Salem, Illinois,

4. Tourist cabins, Newton, Illinois, 5. Hannibal, Mo. from Samuel Clemens’ Home, 6. Family photo, Mt. Hermon,

7. Family photo, Mt. Hermon, 8. Robert and Adelle, Mount Hermon, 9. Peggy Goodman, Mount Hermon.
Copyright © 2021 by John W. Cross Page 6. 

From top left:

10. Continental Divide, Wolf Creek Pass, Colorado, 11. Between Colorado Springs and Mesa Verde National Park

12. Visitors’ Center, Mesa Verde National Park, 13. Mesa Verde National Park, 14. Peggy Goodman, Grand Canyon 

National Park, North Rim, 15. Bryce Canyon National Park, 16. Yellowstone Falls, 17. Yellowstone National Park,
Copyright © 2021 by John W. Cross Page 7. 

From left:

18. Family with a park ranger, Grand Teton National Park, 19. Ranger talk, Grand Teton National Park

1 Goodman, Margaret H. Personal Diary, June 27- July 24, 1940 (Diary). Unpublished three-volume 

autographic manuscript in the possession of the author. Technical limitations required scanning 

each volume into multiple pdf files. References refer to the volume, the pdf number within that 

volume and the page number within the pdf. Each pdf page spans two manuscript pages. 

2 Gray, Christopher. B. Altman's; The Life and Death(?) Of a Palace for the Chic. New York Times, 

Jan. 28, 1990, page A.7. 

3 U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007. Ancestry.com, publisher., 

Marriage record, Rev. Morgan Phelps Noyes, Central Presbyterian Church, Montclair, NJ 19 

Sept.1942. Obituary, Memphis Commercial Appeal, Memphis Area Deaths, pub. March 12, 2003. 

4 Prentice Northrop Dean, A.B., Princeton, 1920; A.M., American University of Beirut, 1923. Tax 

exempt bonds and the income tax. 1923. Princeton. p. 610, In: Twenty-Second List of Doctoral 

Dissertations in Political Economy in Progress in American Universities and Colleges. The 

American Economic Review Vol. 15, No. 3 (Sep., 1925), pp. 593-615. 

5 Dean, Arthur Denorvan, and Dean, Carroll Sissin (Dean and Dean). Genealogy of the Dean family, 

descended from Ezra Dean, of Plainfield, Conn. F. H. Gerlock Publisher, Scranton, Pa., 1957. 

Library of Congress Call number 6793323, page 7. 

6 I was able to identify the make and model from the distinctive front grill in one of the photos. See: 

Wikimedia Commons File:1939 Buick Series 40 Special Sedan.jpg. Accessed 20 May 2021. 

7 Dean and Dean (Reference Error! Bookmark not defined.), page 8. 

8 Diary, Vol 1, pdf 1, page 1. 

9 Diary, Vol 1, pdf 1, page 2. 

10 For example, Diary, Vol 1, pdf 1, page 4. 

11 1940 Gas Price in Today's Dollars, LendingTree Refinance Calculator. Accessed 1 June 2021. A 

1940 Chevrolet special Deluxe 4-door model got about 15 miles per gallon, and the Buick model 

probably got similar mileage. See: 1940 fuel consumption of a Chevrolet 1940 special Deluxe 4 

door, Accessed 1 June 2021. 

12 Diary, Vol 1, pdf 1, page 2 

13 Matchbook cover (photo): The Belleview Hotel, Union Station Plaza, 15 E. St. NW, Washington, 

D.C. Accessed 30 May 2021 and Kimpton George Hotel, TripAdvisor, Accessed 30 May 2021. 
Copyright © 2021 by John W. Cross Page 8. 

14 Walsh, Margaret. Gendering Mobility: Women, Work and Automobility in the United States. 

History Vol. 93, No. 3 (311) (July 2008), pp. 376-395. 

15 Diary, Vol 1, pdf 2, page 10 – pdf 4 page 2. 

16 Diary, Vol 1, pdf 4, page 3.

17 Diary, Vol 1, pdf 2, page 9. 

18 Ibid 

19 For example, Diary, Vol 1, pdf 2, page 8. 

20 Diary, Vol 1, pdf 1, page 4. 

21 For example, Diary, Vol 1, pdf 2, page 5. 

22 Bhatty, Mohinder S. The evolution of automotive air conditioning. HVAC&R Nation, June 2008. 

Accessed 30 May 2021.

23 Diary, Vol 1, pdf 3, page 2. 

24 Watson, Bruce (July–August 2020). Ike's Excellent Adventure. American Heritage Magazine. Vol. 

65 no. 4. 

25 McNichol, Dan (2006a). The Roads That Built America: The Incredible Story of the U.S. 

Interstate System. New York: Sterling. p. 78. 

26 Parts of the Arroyo Seco Parkway (now known as the Pasadena Freeway) between Pasadena and 

Los Angeles, California opened in December 1938, but no part of the Pennsylvania Turnpike

opened until October 1940. See: “New Highway Opens Saturday" Los Angeles Times. July 17, 

1940. p. A12, and Dakelman, Mitchell E. & Schorr, Neal A. (2004). The Pennsylvania Turnpike. 

Images of America. Mount Pleasant, SC: Arcadia Publishing. p. 16. 

27 Diary Vol 1, pdf 1, page 3.