CHAPTER 9 Sagebrush and Soapsuds Soon after leaving the Curlew ranch we found ourselves forced to play an unusual game, which had nothing to do with those games Win and I played along the way as a means of enlivening our journey. Having walked about three miles from the Upton’s, we saw two hikers coming […]

CHAPTER 8 Wet and Dry in Utah Salt Lake City had been pictured to us since childhood as “the oasis of the Great American Desert, the world-famed city of the Mormons.” Situated near the southern end of the Great Salt Lake, with the Wasatch Mountains forming a huge protecting arc in the rear, the city […]

CHAPTER 7 Bozeman—”She’s Wild” Bozeman was a mass of color, waving flags, and eager, excited people. Every street was gaily decorated; half the people had colored silk handkerchiefs loosely knotted around their necks. If there was a man in town without a Stetson he didn’t show himself. Roundup was in the air. Everyone was friendly. […]

CHAPTER 6 Parental Guidance Win and I were glad to be with our folks. In a way we enjoyed the advantages of regular automobile touring. But something was lacking which only a more uncertain method of locomotion could supply. In our parent’s Nash we would often ride for hours without talking with a soul save […]

CHAPTER 5 Law and Order in South Dakota From the east came a low rumbling. Thunder. Flares of lightning bolted across the sky. The thunder grew louder. A sprinkle of rain began. We were thankful we’d spread our blankets under the shelter of a bandstand in the campground of a little South Dakota town. As […]

CHAPTER 4 Games People Play Western Minnesota had introduced us to something unique in road construction. Nearly everywhere else, a highway, in changing direction, would make a sharp right angle turn right, then later a sharp right angle turn left, almost always following along section boundaries. But here those turns were rounded, rather than sharp, […]

CHAPTER 3 Big Business As we left Cedar Rapids, Iowa for Minneapolis there had been reports of bad road conditions and we were fearful that car travel would be slight. But only two blocks from the middle of the Cedar Rapids business district a Ford runabout pulled to the curb. “If you’re headed out, boys,” […]

CHAPTER 2 Great Beginnings At 4:30 A.M. the alarm jangled. No need for it though. Win and I were up, and had been for nearly half an hour. This was July 9, 1922. Sunday. Take-off day for high adventure. Sign up time for thirteen months of “pre-college” courses on America. American geography. A glance at […]

CHAPTER 1 Handwriting on the Wall “There was a child went forth every day,And the first object he looked upon, that object he became,And that object became part of him for the day or a certain part of the day,Or for many years or stretching cycles of years. “ Walt Whitman, There Was a Child […]