Arizona republican., 1922-01-22

Another snap shot was obtained OF |
the next car stranded in the deep |
water. If these photos turn out any |
good will send them to you.
1T was not a difficult task TO get |
the other cars through. Each went |
as far as he could and then with a |
towing chain was pulled out by the |
preceding car. forgot to mention |
that had not yet put on my chains. |
You will remember that / had 33x4h |
plain rib cord tires on the rear as |
well as the front. In the mean time |
other cars had come up from the rear, |
! making 1S cars that were pulled |
| across and as the wash was COM
mencing to go down it was not much
Of an undertaking for the later cars.
| But the last one had no sooner got
across when the storm broke forth
again at it's worst for the entire trip
have never seen such large hail
stones. / thought that surely they
would leave dents in the body and
hood. We drove through this to Sa-
lone where there Is a lodging house.
! Could find no one game enough to
| press on with me except a little Ford
| from Texas, The others were nearly
| all Eastern tourists and tenderfeet.
| Never saw any of the others again,
and they may be worshiping at the
shrine of Salome yet for all know
just had to be in Los Angeles the
next day.
1T was an easy run over to Vicks-
burg and there I overlook two other
cars who were debating whether to
cross the flats to Quartzsite or not
(these being the flats / was earlier
advised not to cross). However. II
was a saving of II miles and I per-
1 re fn frrr "a
me. They had their chains on but l
had not yet put mine on. When we
came to the Shiny mud OF the flats
| was up against 1t, so l had to get
out and put them on. 1t was easy
work then and although / had lost
| much time overlook my friends in
| the other two cars and drove into
| Quartzsite ahead Of them. AS ar
rived there about o'clock I learned
that the ferry at Ehrenburg does not
| operate after that time, so / put up
for the night. l had covered only
| 156 miles that day. The other drivers
who pulled into town that night spent
| the night putting their cars in shape
| for the next days run. All / did was
\ to put my old Desert Rat" UP in the
| garage and take off her chains"
| Miller then states that he left at
| 6 the next morning for the ferry,
found another car which had been
there all night waiting for the ferry
/ to start, how he outmaneuvered the
| other car and got on first and con-
seQuently got off to "a beautiful start
| the next morning on the California
side" He states that there was moth
\ ing but a sea of mud for the five
miles to Blythe and as he had no
| chains on he had to keep the car GO
Ing in low gear or else get stranded.
! At Blythe he was advised not to go
| to Mecca. Word had been received
| from Mecca that the town was filled
| up with tourists who could get no
farther. However he took the road
along with many others. Miller took
| on q stranger at Blythe and later
| stopped to let him off at his destina-
tion and this stop stalled him in the
| heavy red clay. He got out and put
on his channs, taking them off again
about mile beyond, where the road
| was better.
'In the meantime many other cars
had passed me-" he goes on, but one
| by one overlook and disposed of !
them, the last one being about 10 |
o'clock. / reached Mecca at 1890 p. |
m. From these I had to take a very |
bad detour of 10 miles to Thermal to |
| avoid a washedout bridge on the !
main highway. The axle was drag |
ging the mud for about half of this
detour."
Reaching Thermal Miller had |
smooth sailing all the way into Los /
Angeles. He reached Riverside at 5 /
p. m, stopped at the Franklin deal |
er's place and changed the oil, filled |
up with gas and had one headlight |
fixed which had Jared loose. on ac- |
count OF washed out bridges he lost |
considerable time between Riverside |
and Los Angeles, as he had to double /
back several times, but reached Los |
Angeles at 9:30 that evening At the |
Automobile club ne was informed /
that 1t was five days Journey to or
from Phoenix under the road condi-
tions that existed. His car was COW
cred with mud, including the wind
shield and top. but was alright other
wise.
The entire distance from Phoenix
to Los Angeles, 44S miles, had been
covered in two days, 292 miles being
driven on the second day.
Il believe tho trip did the old Des- 1
ert Rat good" Miller states in clos
Ing. Il am mighty glad to inform |
you OF the splendid account It gave \
OF itself and i know Mr.. Ward win be \
90 a