Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1936-12-10
EDGAR DAVY, NINE, WRITES
OF TRIP TO CALIFORNIA

Davy, nine year old son or Mr. an
Mrs w. F. Davy, wrote the edito
of this paper concerning their tril
to California. The letter represent
his reaction in his own words to th'
trip "Chipps," that he speaks of
is his cocker spaniel. The lette
follows:
Dear Uncle Ray:-We left Nc
Connelsville early Wednesday morn
ing, Nov. IL. 1t made me feel queer
to see the children going to schoo
when I wasn't On all the long way
to California there was nothins
more beautiful than the frost or
the trees and bushes along the river
road that morning. When the sur
came out I imagine that is the way
fairyland, if there is fairyland
would look. When we got to Co
1umbus there was big Armistice
day parade which made us go abou,
seven extra blocks to get around it.
/ was glad because / always like
heavy traffic very much.
It was nice ride on to Uncle
Howard's at Terre Haute, Ind. At
ter supper Chips soused himself in
their fish pond to get cooled off. The
next morning we went on through
fairly fiat country with plenty Of
cornfields, pigs and cattle about. BY
noon we had crossed the Mississippi
river into ST. Louis, Mo. 1t only
cost 10c to go over that bridge.
There was no more toll all the way.
The trucks in st. Louis carried most
ly beer and coal, even a street car
was loaded with COAL which looked
very funny rattling along. We staid
in jefferson City, Missouri's capital.
that night, in a tourist home which
had red stars all over the bath room.
From there we went along a wind
ing road by the Lake of the Ozarks.
1t was pretty all right, but not 50
pretty as the lakes in Maine, be-
cause they have SO many big pine
trees which Missouri hasn't. Then
we went on over very monotonous
fiat country, to Uncle Sans in Wich-
ita, Kan, arriving there about
O'Clock that evening. We staid with
them two days and l enjoyed play
ing with my cousin, whom l had
never met before, but their cat
didn't seem to enjoy Chips COM
pany at all. Wichita has big wide
streets, very good ice cream and a
splendid zoo. There was one par
rot in it which kept saying Hello
and Goodbye" all the time. Their
airport has over 500 acres. 1t was
a pretty sight to see that big T. w.
A. plane pull out for Los Angeles.
Monday we drove $50 miles over
straight roads, with wheat fields as
far as we could see in every direc-
ton There was sharp cold wind
blowing all day. The Russian this
ties kept rolling across the road.
They looked like bicycle wheels all
dolled up. They got stuck in the
fence when there was fence to get
stuck in. 1t seems Kansas needs
more cities, because there is far too
much country there. That night we
staid in the incest place of all-the
Colorado hotel in La Junta, Col. La
Junta is Spanish name meaning
"a gathering" In Spanish all the
Us sound like HIS, so one says La
Hunta Cowboys were rounding up
their cattle on the plains. In one
herd there were several hundred
White faced beef cattle.
years old today His birthday |
brought us bad luck, as we had a
very rough detour and picked up !
three nails in one tire-was it fiat. |
We saw our first snow-capped noun !
tains this morning away off to the {
right. One of them was Pixies /
Peak. While they fixed our fiat tire |
in Trinidad we had lunch in an old I
Indian trading post. Wild animal |
skins and Indian rugs were hanging |
from the walls and ceiling. On each |
pane of glass in the windows was
painted Indian sign. We continued !
in very mountainous country all day /
driving over Ration pass which is
1898 feet above sea level. That /
night we staid in Las Vegas, N. M. !
[ played cass with another boy in i
the hotel that evening and had
good time The Oldest we'll in this |
country was few miles farther
along. 1t was visited by Coronado,
Spanish nOblemen who went through |
there in 1910. Santa Fe is not only
a railroad, but it is also very
quaint old fashioned city with mar
row streets. Albuquerque is nice
large CITY, A great many sick peo-
pie go there to get well because the
air is so good. A Spaniard named
San Fernandez de Albuquerque set
tied it. That afternoon we crossed
the continental divide, but never
knew when we did it. If there was
a sign it must not have been very
plain. That night we staid in nice
little hotel in Gallup, NJ M, which
had a lot of bright colOred Indian
rugs around. The first remarkable
place we saw the next morning was
the painted desert, but there wasn't
much to it Next came the petrified
forest where we saw tree lying
over a ravine. The tree had been
there long before the rocks had
formed around it. There were pieces
of wood sticking out of the rocks,
which showed that the trees were
older than the rocks were. We Wis
tied the museum and saw lots OF
wood broken apart and polished
slick. 1t looked like rainbow for
color, but 1t was hard and heavy
like marble. Flagstaff was nestled
in among big pine trees at the foot
of mountain all covered with snow.
The Grand Canyon surely was
grand. When / first looked over
that brink I felt dizzy, and all
'sshivery." Believe me I was glad
enough then that the guard had told
us to keep Chipps in the car. II you
stepped out over that brink yonr
step would be one mile long before
you reached bottom. It was the
most wonderful sight ! have ever
seen in all my life. We drove back
TO Williams, Ariz., for the night.