Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1921-06-03
From California
To Michigan
Mrs. J. X. Vance Writes of In
teresting Auto Trip.

CnarleVOlx, MICH, may 20, lSZl.
Dear Editor and Readers
of Charlevoix County Herald.
Greeting.
At the solicitation of friends, am
jotting down few notes of our trip
from California to Michigan by auto.
We boarded our Chevrolet on the
morning of April IL at Oilfislds, Cal.
Reached an important oil center-Bak-
ersfield-at noon and had the first,
but not the last, experience in a Free
Camping Ground. Might say in passing
said grounds were quite numerous in
the West but became less frequent as
we travelled eastward. From there
we came through Tehachipe Pass,
which was like most mountain roads,
hard and wide. Thence to Mojare de-
sert. The sand being baked so hard
with sun and wind, was as hard as
| cement. We saw there our first cac-
tus and the the largest on our journey,
Notwithstanding, that Arizona are syn
onomous terms. Some were regular
trees over foot through. The yucca
tree had large white blossoms on top.
1t was very windy there. Passed thro'
several small towns, reached Barston
next morning and struck the old Santa
Fe trail from Los Angeles to New York.
That same evening found Needles the
gateway to the Arizona desert. Saw
many lava beds, where eruptions had
been made ages ago. Towed a Ford
II miles that day. Roads rough. Thurs
day a. m. crossed the Colorado River
the line between California and Ariz-
ona. Arrived at Topeck and deviated
slightly from Trail, which we found
quite sandy. Having our first expert
snce of being stuck in the sand and
being pulled out by truck. We found
the roads quite stony, but was reward
ed by our unfortunate detour by find
ing gold mining village, the largest
in the U. S., Oatman by name. We
hadn't time for exploration but climbed
q mountain several thousand feet high,
and descended to the valley below.
Said Trail was cut out of solid rock and
three autos could have ridden abreast
and the view was enjoyable. We then
came to Kingman, a town of 1900
people. We passed no large cities in
Arizona. From there came to Peach
Springs and Nelson which were on the
Indian Reservation and were little
struggling towns. Nearly all Indians
with fine schools. From there we came
to Flag Staff the first town of import
ance. It was a typical desert town,
adobe huts and brick blocks, scattering
population of Mexican and Indian with
fair sprinkling Of American. The
San Francisco Twin Peaks over looked
the town. Their summit is covered
with perpetual snow which was very
beautiful in the sunlight.
Sunday morning found us at st. John
a small town. The only American no.
tel was shut up and we found
that only two churches held service,
Catholic and Mormon. We were lucky
to find an American restaurant, which
was conducted by S. Dakota ex.sol-
dier, his wife being Santa Clara Co.
(Cal.) girl We drove on and soon
crossed the line between Arizona and
New Mexico. Soon after we found
Columbus, Ohio contractor accompanied
by wife and son, having trouble with
auto. The cause was a wheel which
had rolled off. But fortunately it oc-
cured on level ground so that no seri-
Gus results followed, only financial
loss and delay of day or so. They
took it quite philosophically and said,
"All the way thro' life from the cradle
to the hearse, nothing ever happened
but it might be worse"
From there we came to Quemado and
Magdalen from rs to 100 miles to the
Santa Fe r. r. From there to Sorracco
thro' a dangerous pass called Blue
Canyon. AT this place we first saw the
Rio Crande, which seemed a beautiful
sight after desert and mountain travel.
Albuquerque was found to be q nice
town OF 14,000 the largest we saw in
New Mexico. Thro' this country, we
saw small adobe huts, also whole VILLA
ges Of this material, but were agree
ably surprised to see modern bunga-
lows, tasty and neat made of adobe al
so. We then came to the most danger
Gus and steep incline in all our jour-
ney. II was called La Bajada Hill and
went up a crooked incline OF 1000 feet
in about ~ miles. Many were the
"Hairpin curves" as a fellow tourist
called them. When nearly up we saw
above US an auto with the front wheels
QUAR- Abe, raranir.ioo ..rhilo iho .osA "a