Evening star., 1924-03-09
"TRIP ACROSSU.S
IN "H|GH' THRILLS
Shooting Mountains, Up and
Down, Is Experience Not
to Be Forgotten.

In this jazz and speed era through
which the world is said to be passing
the average person looks for "thrills'
and more thrills" Quantities of
bootleg liquor are consumed daily by
millions, others get kick out OF
Jazz music and the dance. still others
find their thrills" in driving an au-
tomobile.
And while the.e are hundreds of
ways one may get a kick out of
life" an entirely new thrill has
been found for the automobile lover
shooting the mountains at night in
high gear.
Add to that little pastime the fact
that = race driver is al the whe ell
"Cannon-ball" Bakar-and yon have
An added 'thril1' not to be laughed
away.
That is what orc newspaper man
found on hts 'rIr across the country
with the new oidsnoble six, carry
ing only high gear in the transmits
sion, all Others including reverse,
having been removed to prove that it
was possible 10 drive a ear across
rhe continent from New York 10 Los
Angeles in high.
The stary of that history making
run has heen tnI@. but out OF the mil
lion or more motorists who have
driven across the country there is
probably not one who ever negotiated
the Cumberiands and Rockies up and
down in high
GraSe% In East Worse.
The first night out of New York
the Cumberland mountains were en-
countered. and white the roads in the
east are rluch better than through
the Rookie. the GRADES are worse
and the drops greater This is due
F.,at .
building the National Old Trail con-
StruCted the road so that person is
taken UP several thousand feet in
few miles. In the. Rockies the enEi-
neers wound the road around SO that
II takes twenty miles or more to rise
several thousand feet. As d concrete
illustration, ii might be pointed out
that the rise from Trinidad. Colo.
over Ration Pass, one of the steepest
grades west of the Mississippi river,
is but about 2,5G0 feet. and il takes
eighteen miles of driving to reach
'tthe top going west
Words could not possibly describe
the sensation one has when approach
ing a mountain at / or > O'Clock in
tho morning. Realize. first of all.
that the mountain mu he made in
high. or not at all. That was the
funda mental problem Baker and his
newspaper man observer had to en-
counter
After considering this. imagine
taking running start at noun
tain at forty TO nifty miles an hour in
headlights nicking out the road
ahead. lima gine hitting a so-called
hairpin turn at high speed and feel
ing the wheels of the car start to
wheel. a curve is never skiddea. BY
skating" is meant getting around in
a manner that could be described as
series of bounces-frst. you hit the
inside of the curve, then the middle
of the road. and finally you bount q
on around.
But that is only one Of the thrills =
Ono Set Brnke Ranhs U<r+i.
Consider the problem Of descending
these grades. miles long. without be-
ing able L" put your engine into
second or low. Baker d:cvp the
with tho sam" set of brake pands--a
wonde rfui demonstration. considering
the conditions.
Al the top of each mountain there
is always Il sign reading. stop. TOP
OF Mountain" Descend in Low Gear"
Use Brakes Only to Snub to safe
Speed" These signs meant nothing
to Baker. He had to let the car
the real thrill" started. there
seemed to be an unholy fascination
in watching the dial of the speedom-
eter climb to 40, then to so and to
s5 and 60 At times it reached as
Then the headlights would show a
reverse curve 100 or 200 yards ahead
Down would go the foot brake to the
floor, applied easily to prevent skid
ding. Bark would come the emer-
:rency brake Tor just a second and
the speedometer would d"op tn thir-
ty-five or forty miles ar hour. Around
. the corner the car would go. and the
occupants would draw their frsl
N i'm, tac
second Night Worse.
And so it went during the whole
of the first night. The second night
of the run was worse than the first
The party left Uniontown, Pa, at 10
O'Clock at night and drove toward
lands. After leaving Uniontown a
heavy fog was encountered. In this
fog Baker would approach the hills,
and then a new series of thrills
began. OF course, he couldn't climb
the noun tains at a snairs pace in
high. A running start was necessary.
and while no effort was made to drive
AS fast as during the previous night,
4 speed of at least thirty to thirty
five miles an hour had to be made.
And thus Baker drove across the
continent until the Rockies were
reached. Here the roads were mar
row, the curves sharp, and it was i'm
possible to pass any one either GO
Tor one Col.
Owe. tn- worst grades it was
necessary for the newspaper man to
get in d tourists car and go ahead
over the grade while Baker waited
at the foot The newspaper man then
held back traffic until Baker drove
the mountain in safety.
;" An idea of the thrills" gained
here might be illustrated by pointing
out that a car of more than a 1885,
inch wheel base often had to stop
and back up to make some of the
sharp mountain turns
a typical example Of the grades
encountered may be found in Laba-
iada Hill, near Albuquerque, n. Mex,
where there are thirty-two hairpin
turns in a distance OF about two
miles. Tourists who go down this
grade often stop and inquire whether
there isn't some other route they can
take back, and when told there isn't
they say that they will sell their
cars in California, and come back by
train.
CITES PRESS INFLUENCE