Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1920-01-22

So many of my good friends in An
napolis and St. Margaret's expressed
desire to hear from us" when we
left last Thursday for Florida in D
little Ford automobile, that / thought
j would write TO the Evening Capt.
tai, 80 my friends could know how
we were faring not TO mention M
! family, which is scattered promiscu
ouslT in Pittsburg. Baltimore and
! Annabolis.
! In. taking this trip. which we have
planned for years. We fully meant to
take the boat from Baltimore to jack
sonvllle and take the car on the boat.
as we needed car in Florida. as one
would be lost there without one. To
our disappointment we found there
we're no accommodations for cars on
The boat before February, so we
| thought we had better drive down,
as a near neighbor encouraged us in
! The attempt. AS we had come to-
Maryland from Minnesota in a Ford
without any trouble, and had gone to
/ Chicago and back last summer very
comfortably; using a fine little tent
on the side of the car and tiny
cupboard to hold the necessaries for
camping He very kindly loaned me
his outfit and we started gaily off on
I the 18th OF the month, with an army
/ bed-roll strapped to the running
board. and everything we needed
slowed away in the car, from cotton
SEED meal to stop a possible leak in
! they radiator, to honey in a can. and a
large box of delicious candy that was
given TO the children; they thought
| 1t some homemade caramels, but
how a great surprise, when it proved
to be real bon-bons.
Little four-year-old Henry Ford
runs like top and rolled up the
miles, quite like a shop girl would
roll up spool of ribbon. After
reaching Washington and getting
safely through the town and across
the Potomac, we started on the road
| TO Fredericksburg. passing beautiful
Mount Vernon and Alexandra, we
reached Fredericksburg by p. M.
the first day. and only stopped long
enough to fill up our tank with gas
and steered on for Richmond.
We did not find the roads so good
below Fredericksburg for some miles
so we began to feel anxious to find a
good stop, and being farmers it oc-
curFed to us, we would feel more at
hosse in a farmhouse and probably
be @more comfortable than in a way
side inn We had noticed that on an
average. every farmhouse in five,
was quite new and many were as
large and as attractive. as the sub
urban homes outside of towns and
cities.
Just before nightfall we saw a
large new farmhouse. very near the
roadside; most invitingly lighted up;
we drove in and raped on the door
asking ii they could give us accomo-
dations for the night The pretty
young girls answered I'm call
mother" in her Virginia drawl |
Mother came. and said she would
take care of us for the night for the
large sum OF $500. Just as she was
talking to us. her husband came up
in his little car, and ran into his
garage AS soon as he found out we
we're going to spend the night, with !
southern hospitality he backed his |
car out of the garage and insisted on |
our running our car in for the night, /
as u was packed with luggage. When |
we were shown our room and bath |
wa found we had an old-time feather /
he'd to sleep on which delighted the |
children immensely. A little later, |
the lady of the house came up to see
If we were comfortable and had al
four sons and. two daughters. which |
exactly correspondent with our family. |
After an extremely comfortable night |
and good breakfast. we started again |
on our journey. about eight in the
morning. for Richmond, which was
just foFty-one miles distant, with theI
snow flying.
We put on our curtains and rode
on very comfortably but did not
travel very fast as the snow fell 50 /
fast it made the roads very slippery
We only got of the road once. by not
watching the turns very closely The |
road is so well posted We soon got I
oyer any nervousness about getting /
lost, we had felt at first; being very /
inexperienced travellers for long dis
tanGes in autos, In all the miles we
traseled we did not strike any boule-
wards like we enjoy IN Maryland. ex-
cept for short while below Alex
andria. at Camp Humphreys. and be-
fore We reached Fredericksburg. we
saw a beautiful new white concrete
road. which was q joy to ride over
After the hunipy, old-time highway OF
scattered stones we spun along hap
PLY On the beautiful road which we
thought was going TO reach to Fred
ericksburg, 25ls miles distant when