Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-02-16
THRILLING TRIP
|CROSS COUNTRY
! BY THREE GIRLS

OIL MaTySVlIIe, SdiIl.' |NAS
tine L. Taylor. Wilmington: Del. ana
Me-, left Sacramento. Calf, for New.
York in a WHY'S knight roadster.
1--WE tourned the Pacific coast from
Frisco to Tiaguana. Mexico, visiting
all the famous old Spanish missions
along the way. hearing the Santa
Barbara Mission bells. which were
wonderful, also the out OF doors
organ in Balboa Park, San Diego.
Calf. From San Diego to Long
Beach and to the Islands. taking
the short trip in the glass bottom
boat there. Riverside was our last
place to visit in California, but sure
ly not the least. located not far east
of Pasadena. A very famous ms
sion inn is the principal thing OF
beauty there. and of all we saw, that
was the best. We spent eight days
touring California.
Dec. 31st we really and truly LETT
for New York. We began our good
roads out near Palm Springs. We
camped out under the stars II
nights out of the 2S. ate nearly every
meal outdoors, cooked by Mrs. Co
nant over our camp fire. On roads
from Yuma to Ajo. AriZ., we passed
through sand which scraped the bot
tom of our car. This for two days.
then we came to chuck holes and
lava rocks. The next 10 miles OF
plank road over the sand dunes in
deed gave us some thrills. Then we
came to the section where different
types were everywhere.
"From Yuma to Welton we had
four officers follow us, thinking we
were Clara Phillips escaped from
California State Prison. Miss jack
son wore a 30 Colt on her hip dur
ing the trip. thus the reason. When
we reached FL Paso, Tex. we crossed
where we surely got a view into
Mexican life.
1--WE followed the Mexican bor-
der as far as Ozona. All through
there we had to bump cattle gate
guards, slow down. put into low
gear. bump easy the gate. then
speed up, and the gate closed be-
hind. We bumped these gates for
alf one day. We passed plateau
after plateau also that day and that
night we slept in the middle Of a
Texas prairie. From OZona we went
north to Dallas. then over into Okla
homa, Kansas. Missouri and Illinois.
From st. Louis we had wonderful
paved roads. In Missouri the roads
are terrible. The only trouble we
had with our car was there. Driv-
ing at night we came to a. straight
stretch of sand. SO speeded up and
shortly found ourselves about two
inches from going into a river, the
, ferry being on the other side. We
backed up and tried to turn but
found ourselves stuck fast in 4 form
of quick sand. We had to camp
there for the night.
lat Columbus, Ohio, VIC found
snow for the first time. 1t seemed
so queer. for only Il few days be-
fore we passed Pasadena and SMELL
ed the beautiful oragne blossoms.
We began our climb over the AL
leghany mountains. Shortly after
coming to the snow we had several
thrills sliding around on the ice and
snow, but we finally came to the
summit and were tired enough to
sleep.
I'VE wanted the experience of
sleeping out in the snow and on the
, battlefields of Gettysburg. We made
a wall of snow all around us. put
our canvas. mattress and blankets
down and slept soundly. But in the
a. m. 1t wasn't so good when we had
to pile out. found our car door open
and our shoes full of snow. In Get
tysburg we had a guide take us over
the battlefelds, which were very in
teresting.
1T was a two and one half hour
trip from there to Philadelphia
where we had our last narrow es.
cape. We had lost two of our ten
horse shoes and a black cat had
crossed our path. A Ford truck
made a bee line for us, broadside
to. We hit but both turned our cars
away at the same time so were not
hurt to any extent. 1t brought a
crowd and policemen. and of course
they noticed our California license
and tried to make us stay over. We
told them we We're planning to get
license as soon as we reached New
York. so they let us go.
I'VE attracted considerable atten-
ton on the trip because of two gray
foxes we got in New Mexico. aad our
banner which said. california to
New York or Bust" We made the
trip in Just 2S days, no trouble to
speak OF and surely mighty good
! time"