Evening star., 1924-11-23
BY CATHERINE f.. HAYES.

~ daughter announced tneIT
wv intention to travel from
Washington. ID. G.. to San
Diego. Calf. in their car,
respectfully referred TO as Lady
Ford" they pored over catalogues Of
sporting equipment and spent hours
In studying maps and guide books.
At last the great day arrived, and
all four Gncluding dog and mascot.
Hero) set off on the morning OF June
% at o'clock. They passed through
Washington, entering Maryland be-
fore ) am: went through Rockville
before that town showed any signs
Of life; crawled up South Mountain
and coasted down the other side into
Hagerstown, so miles from home, at
$50 am.
we ate lunch on the edge of Como
cocheague Creek" says the daughter
describing the journey, then headed
into the Alleghenies. Never before
or since have I seen such mountains,
and I'll never see worse ones. When
we bought gas at a station on Mar
tins Mountain / announced our in
tention of camping that night some
hundred miles west. | was told that
this was quite possible, and we went
on our way. About five miles further
on, while we were coming down
Polish Mountain, the foot brake and
stranded. we knew not how far from
a garage.
After scanning the landscape
closely I discovered a little house,
toward which we headed and finally
reached in safety. father walking be-
side the car with a rock ready to put
under the wheel. Here we learned
that we were only quarter OF mile
from a garage where our brakes
he % a
was decided by unanimous vote that
we should stop where we were. We
thereupon pitched camp. after inter
viewing the garage man, who agreed
to fix US up in the morning. We ate
supper while sitting on the woodpile
back Of the house, then hastened to
our cots.
THE brakes were refined and we
started at 10 am. All day long we
toiied over mountains. We IS meant
literally. for I would stop about five
times going up every mountain to
let the engine cool, then stop as often
going down the other side TO give
the brakes rest. We passed through
Cumberland at noon and stopped for
lunch. The afternoon was passed
much the same as the morning, and
when we reached Negro Mountain, 43
miles from our starting point, we
were all exhausted. Even our mascot
was worn out.
1T was decided by all that we
should stop at Uniontown on the
morrow to tighten our load by ship
ping some of our mountain Of freight
on to San Diego. This settled, we ate
our supper and went to bed, where
we were lulled to sleep by the song
of the whippoorwills.
I'VE reached Uniontown at $50 am
and had 230 pounds of excess bag
gage shipped on to San Diego. When
we left at IL our impatient steed,
freed from her great burden, sped
over hill and dale in a manner that
would have warmed the cookies of
Henry Ford's heart. Our own hearts
rose with the swiftly increasing
mileage on the speedometer and we
began to enjoy ourselves.
AS II was growing late when we
reached Wheeling. w. Va, we decided
TO camp there. Unwise and foolish
decision. We pursued an elusive
camp from one end of town to the
other until, after an hour Of search
ing, we found it was only q vacant
lot used by children for a playground.
At least, it was ground on which to
pitch our tent, so dad and I got to
work. while mother got supper. Then
We slept the sleep Of the just.
of the Ohio enveloped in a chilling
fog, so we hastened away as soon As
possible. We crossed the Ohio River
and began to climb out of the valley.
Dayton'S somekestacks appeared
about 4 O'Clock, and we reached camp
at and settled down.
After supper. 1t began to rain, and
there was a mad scramble to get
everything under cover. As 1t was
rather boring to sit in the tent and
listen to the rain on the roof, we
went to bed. slept well, as usual,
until about 2 o'clock, when I was
awakened by nightmare I'm which
was drowning. found that tent
peg had pulled up and let the tent
down on my face, with the result
that 1t sprans a leak where 1t came
in contact with my nose. My pillow
and head were soaking wet, so
merely put my head at the foot of
the cot and slumbered on. Dad woke
me up at 3. and we waded out and