The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1922-06-21
GREAT TRIP HOME
FROM Los ANGELES
j. Harrison Dawes Tells of Joys and
Sorrows Travelling by
Auto

mo, our views absolutely differ
as FAIR as cross-country trips are con-
cerned, from now henceforth."
"Do you camp, or stop at the no.
tells?
eve have a very complete camp
equipment-tent, cots, mattresses,
gas stove-in fact, we compare favor
ably with a modern hotel, minus bath
and elevator"
"Oh, my, how l envy you the priv
ilege of taking a trip of this kind. 1t
must be simply delightful"
Well, I just figured there is no
need of disturbing this wonderful i'm
aginary dream, focused from a mind
that has rarely entered the realm Of
Universities encountered on a trip of
this kind. Imagination borders on
the sunny slope. Reality crosses
many a bump and generally energies
with shattered hopes.
This is just an everyday conversa-
ton you indulge in prior to your de-
parture.
Well, 7 cannot say that l am quite
through with these c~rOss-country ex-
cursions, but my imagination of a
trip of this kind being strewn with
sunshine and flowers is fast losing
its grip on me.
Mr.. Mckee, whose son is q mem
Der of the college faculty at Bozeman,
and myself left Los Angeles May 81,
with nostrils extended and our hopes
set on a very pleasant trip to Mon
tana. Leaving Los Angeles in a eli
matte condition bordering on perfect,
we tour for so miles through flow
ers, over a fine paved highway.
Passing over the Cajon Pass, our
dreams are Immediately transformed
from pleasant memories to q horrible
nightmare, as we drop from the
hard-surfaced boulevard into the
desert sands, on the east side of the
mountains with Old Sol stocking up
for our reception, the temperature
ranging about 10 degrees in the
shade. I do not know what it means
on the open desert with nothing more
than q cactus to break the suns
rays.
Now for the next hundred miles
you simply consume dust and hot air,
and your temperature runs up to a
degree Of heat that ought to make
your system imperviOus to next win
ter's rigorous conditions. We camp
FOR the night, and my travelling COM
panion reminded me in the morning
that he was awakened during the
night by q sand lizard or skipper do
ing time all over him.
Ply inQuiring as TO conditions ahead
we prepare for an early start. Oui
motor is p%urring at 8 9. H., or about
two hours before sun up. We arc
row negotiating a 30-mile run thai
holds our speedometer down to be
tr--a five and seven miles per hour
and we aim to cut some Of this dis
lance off before Old Sol steams up
At II q. m. we drive into Amore, AM
under a temporary shade built o
lumber to escape the heat, fight file
and try to inhale enough air to keel
machinery going.
Now we have a hundred miles o
fairly good desert roads, but as W
drop down toward Needles, which j
about sea level, the heat is dom
time at 120 degrees. One pleasin
feature of this section is the sign
that confront you, announcin
"GOff's the coolest place on the DIES
ert." Every means Of ventilation 0
the a is open and our paraphernali
consists Of a calico shirt and a pa
Of trousers. We land at Searchligl
and camp for the night, with lap N
2 a reminder for some time to com
From here to Las Vegas we hay
a good road, and cut off this 81 mil,
in about three hours, but are still d
ing desert conditions at it's prim
While making this run we met a ge.
tleman who evidently thought mo
anything with four wheels would n
gotiate these desert roads. He W
out of commission 40 miles from L
Vegas. We towed him until our c
BILE parted several times, and tn
left him and his better half to t
mercy of a desert sun until we 9
rived at Las Vegas and arranged +
a tow car. This is a fair example
the bouquet you can expect on a do
ert trip.
The good Lord has been merci1
to Las Vegas and sent forth wat
which is conveyed into swimmi
tanks located at the auto parks. T
two hours we INDUCED in a swim a
relieved ourselves of the CRIME a
dust of the desert. This is lap I
8, with a ray of sunshine.
We took time TO drive out so
v miles to see Mr.. and Mrs. d.
by Taylor, formerly of Bozeman.
such men as Taylor is due a VI
amount of ccredit for his persist
effort to create production in the q
ert waste where nothing grew befc
He has punctured the earth to a del
rf some 2RE foof and brought 70