Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1913-03-06
TROUBIlEs on A TOUIEIs4
ON WAY 10 CALIFORNIA,

II
ter promised to tell you some o
1.-THE joys ~ OF a tourist. II 70,
lean but picture in your mind wha
Iit would be like to travel over liant
lin the year 1855 from Abilene to .
Iplace 81 miles northwest OF Abilene
with inches Of snow on the level
Iyou can then begin to imagine what
1--we had to contend with in travelling
from Quemado to springeryille. The
country was up and down hill
Through canyons and over the mesa,
Well, as / was saying in my last
letter, the snow was blowing like q
regular Kansas blizzard but 1t only
lasted q few minutes and then II
was all over with. AS we were the
first ones over the road since 1t had
showed we travelled very slowly,
stopping every once in a while to
listen for our friends. but we could
hear nothing of them. We contin-
ued thus for III miles then It began
to snow again. We had seen q
clump of cedars about four miles
ahead SO we hurried on SO we could
reach them. But just in the edge
of the cedars where 1t was sheltered
the wind had whirled the snow into
Ia drift three feet deep and slanting
off for Is feet until 1t was only 8
inches deep. AS 1t was on down
grade we lost no time in shoveling
away the snow. BY this time 1t had
quit showing.
But we had not seen or heard
anything of our friends. We came
to the conclusion that they were not
so near ready as we had thought
they were, or that the first furry
of snow had caused him to go
back. We could not go back now
II we wanted to as we could pull
down hill in the snow drift but not
mp. We travelled on until about 8
O'Clock when We came to another
clump Of cedars. These were the
only ones we could see and we de-
cided to camp for the night as It
was "a miles on into town. Then
II our friends didn't start out until
after dinner they could catch up
with us by night. There was only
two OF them and their car wasn't
very heavily loaded. We were the
first ones over the snow and they
would not have to break the track.
(IH not say road because / don't
know as we travelled in the road.)
We hadn't much to travel by but
general direction. The ground all
looked alike on top of the snow but
it wasn't underneath as some times
we would strike q little knoll and
a badger hole.
We scrooped away the snow, gath
cred supply of wood, built big
fire, turned the kids loose and sat
down to enjoy ourselves. 1t was
really more pleasant sitting by the
fire than it would have been If we
were tramping around in the snow
doing chores. This was the first
night we had camped away from
water. So far as we knew it was
"a miles to water but there was
inches of snow on the level which
amounted to the same as water.
Night came and morning dawned
ind still no friends We waited IN
Ill 10 o'clock. We then melted some
NOW, filled our radiator and start
ID on to town to await them there.
About 10 miles out Of town q
.ancher had turned into the road.
We then felt as though we werel
coming back into the land Of the
living. We soon came to q place
where an auto had started out Of /
own, then turned back. When we
cached springeryille there were
i've other cars waiting to get out Of 4
own, three over the White noun \
ain and two to go over the road
We came. One of these was a Ford, |
he other a Packard. In the Packard
ar was young man and his moth
IF. They had left New York and
across the Atlantic bn
around the world to Japan, then
cross the Pacific and were on their
way to New York. The last time
le had put any air in his tires was
n Japan. / saw in the Los Angeles
'aper that they had reached New
FORK Feb. IL, 1918. The Ford car
lad come from Magdalena after q
raveling man. The travelling man
ras to give the Ford man $50 to
AXE him to Magdalena, distance
. iQR Yni1oa