Evening star., 1924-11-23

folded the tent in the lake that had
been camp. AS we climbed into the
auto. Mother said, Well, I've wonder
ed what campers did when It rain
ed. and now ] know.
We reached Richmond, Ind. at Z
and stopped for breakfast. We ar
rived at Indianapolis about noon. This
was the first large city on our route,
and I welcomed the thick traffic Joy
ouSy. Here we turned off of the Ma
tional Old Trails road and headed
for Urbana, where we arrived early
In the afternoon, after making the
longest run we had yet made--226
miles. Here we spent the week end.
"At 9 Monday morning, June 80,
Lady Ford set forth with her crew.
st. Louis was her goal. We had good
dirt roads. and were guided on our
way by the State road signs. In Illi-
nois we ran into our first detours, but
they were we'll kept up.
Perhaps it was due to the fact
that there were no hills that We
reached st. Louis earlier than we had
expected to. After We had gotten care
full directions for reaching st. Charles
we departed and soon arrived in st.
Charles, where we pitched our tent.
some trepidation, for we were en-
tering the great unknown, as far as
roads are concerned. We had heard
many different reports on the Mis-
souri, roads. The last information we
had received was volunteered by a
fellow camper, who said that the
roads were awful. At first they were
fair dirt, then we had a detour, and
when we returned to the pike tagain
It was worse. There were mudholes
In the valleys, and in one of these we
stuck. Father got out, took the spade
of the running board and began TO
dig. Presently a farmer came by with
a team and paused to watch.
pretty bad mudhole,' he said. We
agreed.
" Fellows get stuck here right Oft
en- We saw that this was quite pos
sible.
1--we got q fine team here. Pulled
loaded truck out of here yesterday
We were silent. So this was one of
those pirates who haunted mud holes,
and reaped a fortune from unfor-
tunAte tourists.
"At last Daddy said, Well, guess
you will have to pull US out, too So
the team was hooked on, and they
pulled while I showed on the clutch,
refused the money father offered him.
and we passed on.
Finally the mud came to an end.
and the chuck holes began. Then it
began to rain, and we slid along on
the road, endeavoring to make Arrow
Rock before dark. And We made 1t,
then wished we hadn't, for the camp
was only vacant lot on the main
street, between an old barn and an
unused store. There was only one
other car in camp, but when our tent
was pitched almost all available room
was occupied.
We got away quickly. for another
car had come in during the night, and
the camp was crowded. Every now
and then we would strike a stretch
OF macadam or concrete, promise of
Missouri roads of the future.
I'VE entered Kansas City, manue-
vered through the traffic started out,
missed the signs and found ourselv es
on dirt road somewhere in the
suburbs. We questioned an old man
as to the whereabouts of the pike
and were told to go a half mile east
and a quarter south. We couldn't
miss 1t. We followed directions i'm
plicitly and found ourselves in front
of a farmhouse at tho end of the
come too far west, and would have
to go back to the first turn right
but ] shall omit the narrowing
details, and shall only say that after
being misdirected several more times
we finally found the pike and fol-
lowed II to Olathe. We entered
Baldwin City about o'clock and
purchased some supplies.
"All the Kansas roads were fine,
graded dirt, almost as good as the
best concrete. They were ideal for
making time on. in any make Of
car.
II saw my first large wheat fields,
and threshers and binders hard at
work. Wild roses grew along all
the fences, no doubt furnishing homes
for the jack rabbits which raced
along the road in front of u.s. We
passed through Usage City, Council
Groves and Lyons. About here we
began to. notice that we were climb
ing pretty steadily, and remembered
that we were nearing the Rockies.
When we reached Great Bend / found
that we had gone from an elevation of
$50 feet to one of 1000 feet, in the