Charlevoix county herald., 1914-03-21

restly west on our way--to the Pacific
oceanl
AS we bowled out of Jackson boule-
ward one of the party expressed the
need of a shave and before the COM
ment had closed we had all agreed,
half in Jest and half in earnest, that
we would not shave until we reached
the end of our journey-San Diego,
some 5000 miles away. 1t was argued
that a beard would protect the face
from sunburn and the alkali dust that
we had heard so much about. One
member ofthe party only kept the
| faith--as far as San Francisco. Other
boards came off respectively at Den
YER and Salt Lake City.
The roads were uniformly good and
we made better than average speed.
We stopped at village and secured
bread, butter, ham, pie and doughnuts
for our lunch, which we ate alongside
the roadway, congratulating ourselves
on our so far suspicious start.
AS the afternoon wore off we passed
some of the finest farm lands any of
us had ever seen. Notably that agri-
cultural district lying between Gene
va and DeKalb, Illinois, was particu-
larly attractive, with its well-bullt
farm houses and barns, magnificent
corn and grain fields, fine shade trees,
horses and cattle. Altogether this
section is certainly the farmers par
adise so far as profitable contrasting
| is concerned.
We rolled along at a comfortably
lively speed and having two expe-
rienced drivers to change off with we
thoroughly enjoyed the situation
things were going fine. To relieve
any cramped up feeling all but the
driver dangled their legs over the
sides of the car or comfortably
stretched them out on the body of the
car. We all expected to be more or
less stiffened- and lame the first few
days out, but at no time during the
whole trip of thirty-three days spent
''in the saddle" did we suffer anything
of the kind.
Late in the afternoon of our second
days run we pulled up at little brick
country hotel at Franklin Grove, Hi
nois-100 miles from Chicago or 300
miles from our starting point. We
were prepared to sleep in our A tent,
but instead we registered at the no.
tel, had hearty supper (for which
we were entirely prepared) and put in
a splendid nights rest.
The hotel was run by a CHEEKY r.
ishman by the name of j. for Jerry,
probably Oliphant He had a buXom
wife, three boys and three girls, and
they all prepared TO give us a good
time A play-by-ear violinist was
brought in TO entertain US. He did
with "Old Zip Coon" Pop Goes the
Weasel" etc, and a mighty effort
on some of the latest rag-time selec-
tons The rag was slightly frazzled,
but we appreciated the effort and got
to bed tired and happy at 10 o'clock.
Wednesday morning, August p, we
were up at $50 and found it one of
those perfect days in August With
the best wishes of our hosts and some
of the townspeOple, we were on our
way early and were soon burning up
mics when suddenly what seemed to
be a cannon exploded directly under
US. We had been punctured good and
! plentyt After travelling over 800
miles we had encountered our first tire
trouble. II was caused by a staple be-
ing driven into the shoe and through
the inner tube. This staple was four
inches long and one-quarter of an inch
in diameter. The impact had clinched
it SO tightly that it took all the
strength one sturdy man could muster
to pull ii out after the shoe had been
taken from the wheel. 1t was a sox-
dologer, delaying us thirty minutes
just at time when we had started
in for record run. We put on our
one new shoe and tube and away we
went again.
At Fulton, Illinois, we crossed the
long bridge over the famous Mi
double i double i double p river.
Here we had TO pay our first toll-15
cents for the car and 20 cents for the
four passengers. The bridge is very
high and affords an excellent view of
the grand old river and the surround
ing country. Clinton, Iowa, is the
town just across the river and it is a
pretty one.
The more important places we
passed through in going across Illinois
were Geneva, Denalb, Franklin
Grove, Dixon, Sterling, Morrison and
Fulton
The roads were good to splendid and
over Level to rolling country. We had
our roadside lunch near Lowden
Iowa, and on the way to Cedar Rap
ids the next town of any considerable
size. passed through Dewitt, Wheat.
land, Mechanicsville, Lisbon and Mt
Vernon.
} The right rear tire was our Jonaf
/. and while going down a peaceful
grade and on slight curve we threw
r the shoe. 1t had taken about 43(
miles of travel to bring out the gen
! eral cussedness of this part of the an
atomy of the car, and we found thai
our trip was not to be one granC
sweet squirt of pleasure without il
: alloy of bitterness. But then nothing
is really worth while if il comes with
? out effort and we tried to be philoso
b piers enough to take our trouble.
whistling. Twenty minutes fixed "a
up and we went on again rolling M
7 and over, down and up those fine bill
2 lowy roads Of prosperous Iowa.
! We passed through the progressiv,
4 town of Cedar Rapids about 3 80 il
4 Tho Of 81