Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1914-04-18

AUTOMOBILING
-=------------- FROM =--=
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
= BY WARD MORTON 4
BY WARD MORTON

tesque and noble lines appear in this
rock, Human faces, forms and fig.
ures can be seen by slight stretch
of the imagination.
After several miles of this we be.
gan to descend, passing Edgewood
California, at the state line about So
miles from Reno. We passed Meyers
Station, Phillips, Strawberry, Hepburn
RivertOn, Pacific and Canine on oul
run to Placerville. From the summit
to the level is distance of about sc
miles and most of the way it is down
grade, strong enough so that the
brake needs to be applied. Imagine
that-a hill fifty miles long. Guess
that sliding down hill in the summer
time, some.
! Placerville is a dingy little burg
with an evident effort made to put on
some airs. The result is a joke. The
town is huddled together ina little
dumpy section and there is nothing
prepossessing about it. We did see
here the first palm trees. One of our
party also ran bump into a friend
from his old home town in Michigan
Mr.. Roy Richardson, a young man
who had gone west to grow rich in
the gold mining game.
The run into Placerville was
through a superlatively grand section
from a scenic point of view. Through
canyons, along dangerous lodges,
through forests, alongside of noun
tain river, through shady dells and
passes, around great curves, over
rocks and rills, narrow roads and wide
ones, muddy paths and dusty ones, up
hill and down, mile after mile Of
scenic beauty such as one reads Of
frequently, but seldom sees Our NO-
cabulary ran dry. Our obs and abs ran
out long before we reached the end
of the run and we began TO be sur
feited with a good thing
Riverton gave US a short respite, for
here we stopped for lunch And it
was a dinner for a hungry set of
stOmachs. How we did eat and the
stuff was the kind that mother used
TO make Everything on the table was
delicious and so were the ladies who
served it. They were the right kind
they had come from the good old
east Their "hotel" was an old river
side shack Of building, but they had
all the good things anyone needs and
they were getting along well. The
spot is idyllic. From here on we be-
gan to feel as though we had again
got back to civilizatiOn-the first real
touch Of it we had seen for over a
thousand miles.
From Placerville to Folsom City the
roads are murderOus and we had our
troubles with us again. We mastered
them as best we could and at dark
struck a gold mine in the shape of a
fine macadam road from Folsom into
Sacramento. Sacramento, how we
did fly! 1t was dark and if the auto
police were out they didn't catch us
We left behind as only a streak and
a smell of gasoline. 1t was full nine
O'Clock when we reached the city. And
right here let it be said that Sacra-
mento is away ahead of it's horrid,
swearing name. 1t is a pretty, busy,
well-built American town and one Of
the few that some of us would like to
live in. 1t is prosperous and progress
ing. 1t has fine trees, lawns, homes,
buildings and people. It's park is one
of the most beautiful in the world,
because ii contains trees from every
known country. They all flourish
here. We secured rooms for 81 each
in central location and found meals
at reasonable prices. We didn't see
half enough of Sacramento.
Saturday morning, September ID,
found US up and ready TO start at
7:15. We noted the lower altitude.
1t was warm enough so that we could
go without our overcoats. The coun-
try is as level as prairie and
through Lodi to Stockton we ran over
the kind Of a fine oiled boulevard that
makes you love an automobile. The
country is famous for its fruits and
the farms" are so near together that
it seems like one long row of farms.
The horn of plenty is surely found
here in abundance. 1t is rich sec
ton.
Stockton is unprepossessing. 1t
seems like an oriental city, dirty,
makes one feel squeamish, and there
is altogether too much evidence of
whisky and its results. We like a
drink now and then, but Stockton
takes it now and again, too frequent
ly. We didn't stay long, but ran on
through Banta, Altamont, and Green
vile to Livermore, where we had
fairly acceptable lunch at central
restaurant
The run from here on TO Oakland
through Niles took US over some ex-
cellent roads and over some that were
not quite so good. Altogether we had
received up to this time a splendid
impression of the good roads of Cal
ifornia." We arrived at Oakland at 7
o'clock in the afternoon and put up at
the Luxor hotel, rs cents apiece for
rooms. Restaurant meals same price
as in any city.
The next day was Sunday and as
we needed some fixings for the car
and couldn't do any business on Sun
day-either in Oakland or across the
bay in the bigger city of San Fran
cisco-we just rested up. OF course
we went over to Frisco proper and
took in the town, but our "home"
was in Oakland, which by the way,
and note this-is not q city to be
sneezed at.
Here we parted company, regret
fully, with our Detroit friends of the
Oakland car. They were going to Sc
attic and we were headed in the OPP
nocita dfraof.ay, Tor CO., n,ooa W.