7/18: Had more fried rabbit and was on our way early but didn't put my hat on, as it was so pleasant.     Drove twelve miles and there was Cisco right under the hill.     Got some distilled water for all three batteries were dry and were told of the pleasure in store for us ahead.     There had been 20 men in their several cars hung up at one washout the day before (we are alone with Pukey and the shovel now).     On we went to find the critter, Ward said, "It's got to be a dog gone big place.     I can't shovel in so we can cross in a couple of hours or so."    We found them for sure before very long.     The water had been all over the whole country, railroad and all.     It kept getting rougher and roughest until we drove right up to a gulch just barely stopping in time, which would have taken Cyrus and his shovel until this time year after next to have fixed, so Pukey would ever have ventured on.     We looked up the gulch a ways and sure enough there was one of those Henrys down in the middle of it with bags and baggage staying on the bank.     A load fully the size of Pukey besides the three children trying to find shade around it.     The man and wife were sweating mostly.     So he and Ward carried old timbers and things from the departed bridge while she and I filled in with rocks and shoveled.     All hands pushed (can you see Ward raising that old Henry out of there bodily?     I did.     Then he went for Pukey and down into it she came just as easy and then up out of there like anything before anyone had time to think of pushing.     Sure did put a stop to all that kind of foolishness when she got a new nervous system there in Vale.

We left him there to carry that ton of springs, mattress and all other household contraptions across the wash and load her up.    We had just gone a little way when there on a big rock painted in big red letters was "Jesus is coming very soon".     I said "Well, you beat him to it this time for he surely would have overtaken them before them before they got out of that place."     Then we just laughed and wished and wished for you.    That's once Ward's main strength and awkwardness won out.     On and on thru' those thousands of ruts we went.     I never was so tired.     We got into Price at 7:30 that eve and some old fellow came out towards us and asked if we wanted to camp, where we were from, etc.    He found we were born in Mo., I in Sedalia and he said what is your name?     I told him it was Payne.     He ran and held out his hand and said, "Are you Frank Payne's daughter?"     Well, I'm glad to see you.     I lived in Geotown. Did you know old Uncle Kirtpatrick somebody?"    I forgot whom. He showed us the campground and started with Ward up to get some water and asked if his name was Payne.     Ward said, "No, it was Dolan."     "Why my goodness, are you John Dolan's boy?"     "Yes."     "Well my goodness.     Shake hands.     Your name must be Roy."     He insisted upon Ward bringing me uptown as soon as we ate and let him take us to the show for "old time sake".     Told him that I was too tired!    And we laughed and wished for you again.     Maybe he might have turned out to be some kin to you.     He certainly was good at guessing names.

7/19: left at 20 to 9, passed thru' Helper and over Soldier Summit, a beautiful drive after the desert.     Lots of good cold water and sharp curves, thru' Spanish Fork, a mighty pretty Mormon town and into Salt Lake at 6:30.     Found a sign on State St. for campground and it was such a nice place, just a dense shade and farther down the street than we camped before.     They must have heard that we were coming, for they gave a big dance right there by us on an open pavilion.     We could watch them thru' the trees and went to sleep by the music.     "Till we meet again".     Sun. we stayed there all day, as we wanted to get several extras before starting across the Great American Desert.    Folks told us all manner of things about it.     There was a woman and son there from Denver camping there on their way to Chico, Cal. so she said if we didn't mind they would just wait over and cross with us.     We were glad they would as we dreaded it too.     Had a bolscheviski?     Meeting where they danced the night before.    They were the really truly old boys "with horns" too.    My! I don't see why they let those people run at large.     They ought to be kicked out in the ocean or desert or some place where Americans wouldn't have to mix with them.     When they finished their speeches the dancing began again.     Mormons surely treated us royally in Salt Lake.

7/21: We went shopping until noon and I was mad at myself all the time because I had lost Mrs. Brown's address and couldn't think how to spell Dr. Morsy (?) or would have sent you a card there so he could call you up.    We drove back to the campground where our Denver folks were waiting and on we went to Orrs' ranch.    The only place we could camp before entering the Great Desert.     We passed by smelters one after another and around the edge of Salt Lake.    Got out there and camped nicely before dark.     Five other cars were there. All going our way but one - every one wanted to get up before day to get as far as possible before it got so hot.

7/22: I couldn't see to lace my shoes it was so early so let them flap while I got breakfast.     Some old fellow had talked to his wife all night because he was laying on a bump and couldn't go to sleep (he was as bad as you and Ward to talk while others tried to sleep).    Well anyway we got out of there early and when we struck that desert we wished for you more that ever.     I think it is perfectly wonderful.     Just as level as a floor and as far as you can see until it grows hazy in the distance.     It is just as white as snow and not a living thing there, just caked with white alkali.    The highway is graded up across it 30 odd miles just as straight as a string and where it had been thrown up there was some water standing in the cut at the side.     It was the most beautiful blue and so strong of alkali that it was like ice and crystals on top of it.    One weak minded creature filled the radiator with it and ruined his car (it's a pity he didn't fill his own radiator instead of his car).     To look back it all seemed to be the most beautiful lake with islands in it and towns seemed to be at one side of us.     Oh! They were the most wonderful mirages imaginable.    If you could only have seen it.     Our eyes were nearly blinded tho.    I put the colored glasses on Ward for he had to look at the road all the time and I closed mine a good deal.    By noon we got to where sagebrush would grow but nothing else seemed to thrive.    Got into Gold Hill, Nev. about two o'clock. Ate 2 chocolate ice-cream sodas and wasn't cooled off yet.    The water wasn't fit to drink. Started out of that dinky old place and about five miles out met a band of sheep.    The man had shipped in a carload of water and was trying to get them to it but let me tell you there were a lot he never got there.    They were lying there dying before my eyes and the car behind us had to get out and lift them out of the road for they couldn't get up.     I wanted to get out and give them what we had in the canteen but Ward said I couldn't water 500 head of dying lambs out of a wash pan.     I couldn't sleep for thinking of the poor things.    No sheep for me in the NW.    Finally got to Tippet Ranch where there were nine cars that night.     The old fellow who talked all the night before took water instead of ice cream soda at Gold Hill and was in a bad way when they pulled in so he had to have a bed in the house and a hot brandy before morning.    After we had our supper here came a Kansas City car in with a man who had partaken of Gold Hill's best.    He fainted with cramps and by the next A.M. was ready to go on with us and the Denver car.

7/23: We drove over summits all day, six or seven of the brave boys.    They made the old Denver Henry boil and snort but Pukey ate em alive.     We drove like fury from one water hole to another.     We passed thru' Ely and had a shower up the canyon but liked it.     Camped at "Six Mile House" and thought we had lost the Denver Henry, but just at dusk he came snorting out of the wilderness.     You know what the fellow in the Velie said about leaving them don't you?

7/24: Thru' Eureka and Austin everything was still hot, dry and dusty.    Haven't seen a real farm since leaving Salt Lake Country.    Ran across a man who hailed us for oil.     He had the very first Buick that was ever invented and he had forgotten that they sometimes needed some oil in their hindmost parts for he "come clean from" Neb. Without any.    We couldn't help him any as always had it put in with a grease gun at the garage.    At some old stone ruins we found water to camp.    A real stove was there in the open and we built a fire in it and I fried beefsteak I had gotten in Austin.     It was dandy to not have to squat over a smoke to cook it.    All three cars of us are still together at evening time.

7/25: More and more sand desert with no vegetation.     More mirages but it all looks like water in these.     We came to Fallon in the afternoon.     We got roasting ears to boil for supper and drove out thru' an irrigated valley to La Hone Dam which cost 2 million dollars.     It is the finest piece of concrete work I ever saw.     Had a dandy camp ground among big trees right below the dam along the river.

7/26: This is our last day in Nev., thanks to whom it may concern.     We took a "cut off" to Carson City saving thirty miles by way of Reno.     Ward was anxious to duck out across there any way as he didn't want me to get near Reno for fear the roads would be too rough.     From Carson City we started right up the Mt. to Lake Taho.     It was a steep one.     It made Pukey boil in intermediate and, say that Den. Hen. How he did rear and charge, to say nothing of the steam flying from the old K. C. Chevrolet.    The red headed woman from K. C. by the way, lost $1,800.00 worth of diamonds done up in a little piece of muslin and had to go back 40 miles to where they camped the previous night to find them.     They were lying there.     "Some luck", thinks I.     Right here going up this steep grade is where I know absolutely that cedar is cedar and juniper is juniper and if you had been there you would have been shown that there isn't any resemblance in the least between cedar and juniper by gosh!     Now that's a solemn fact if ever I wrote one.     Going up that Mt. to Lake Taho!     When we climbed the thirteen miles, say, it was worth the climb.     The lake is magnificent.     Think it is larger than Klamath Lake.    And cars; I never thought were so many in the golden west.     Ward got kind of peeved because they didn't know enough to stay at home the day we were going along there.     We didn't want to be dodging in around those curves and them all the time.     Those native sons and daughters didn't give a whoop what he thought though.     They came in a steady stream all the next day too, which was Sunday.    We drove around to the opposite side to camp right by a beautiful clear stream.    The Mo. chap shot a fish and red fried him (the fish) in a pan and ate him (the fish) all up.

7/27: Say it was thirteen miles up, as I said before but it was fifty down the other side in sunny Cal. where the roads were some dusty.     Around those curves the most I ever saw in my life, would dart these native sons in all manner of cars.     About noon we struck that Calif. pavement we have heard tell of and say, "step on her".     Pukey sure ate up her 200 and some odd miles that day.     I would get a glimpse of things in the distance.     I thought there was going to turn out to be palm trees but before I could tell for sure they were too far behind.     I couldn't see them.     I doubt if a single person realized I was with my very handsome husband.     In Sacramento we bid the Denver folk's adieu and started for Stockton.    We lost the K. C. folks in the heart of Sac.     I guess they are still there trying to get by the street that we should have taken if it hadn't have been blocked for repairs.    We went on down a block around it, but he stopped right there.     Ward firmly believes in safety zones so we came on, still a charging too.     It got so cold and nowhere to camp so, at last just about dark we shot out to one side of the road and made the bed.     We got up in it shivering and ate a few bites.

7/28: There is no wood or water here in sunny Cal.     You have to roll your bed and beat it to the next town and eat at a restaurant, which tastes mighty good.     I'm here to tell you that in Oakland the only kinds of zones there were, were jam zones. We got Pukey right in behind a streetcar and finally got up to our turning point.     Some crowd.    We charged on down to Richmond Ferry and waited an hour to get on.     We landed in San Quentin but charged right on through and about 4 P. M. landed in Petaluma, where roosters lay eggs on Sundays and weekdays too.    Had a fine visit there and took one day in Frisco sight and Dr. seeing.    Ward got the satisfaction of finding out he had chronic appendicitis and me of being able to see without the least effort.     We saw the Golden Gate and I sincerely thought I'd have to pass through before we got across the ferry for the wind was high and I was, Oh! My! Sea sick.    Ward thought it a joke but I failed to see any joke.

8/2: Well, we are homeward bound now.    Got an early start and drove past beautiful yards, lots of them with cedars growing in them and worlds of flowers until about noon.     Then it began to get rough, rougher and by night, roughest.     Camped in those perfectly wonderful redwoods.    Right by the car was one so big I could neither see around it or to the top of it.

8/3: The ocean came into view along the way today.    We are either among those big trees or right along the edge of the ocean.    If Pukey would get cracked in her steering gear, we would plunge right in the briny billers.    Oh how I love the roar of the ocean!     I could camp here for years.

8/4: I'll tell you these crooks and turns are getting me weary. Already Pukey has had to take a header into the bank and bend the fender all down to keep from colliding with a car. It was just a big fine head behind the wheel that had mind enough to bank her too. The fern print against the windshield is still impressed there too. I'm telling you; those huge ferns are beautiful, if a fellow had time to look at them. I can see they are as high as Pukey but, say those corduroy roads sure do get man's goat. Our old handsome driver wouldn't give a whoop whether you could have heard him - bless em? Or not. Yes it was real honest and truly cussin he did and that's not all either, not by half. I heard him talking about a man having nervous prostration If he drove over those roads long. But say, the ocean is fine, so peaceful looking. We left all this behind. Crescent City is only a memory and tonight we are on the summit of Oregon Mt. Three miles form the state line.

8/5: We are not going to break camp but once more I'm sorry and a little glad not much for I love it all.    We are in Ore. Pines again, down through Waldo, Kirby, Grants Pass, Medford.     Here I pick up 25¢ and on to Ashland, a mighty pretty place.    Have a puncture and blow out there.     Climb to the tiptop of Green Spring Mt. where a road branches off through the woods and ping! Another blow out.    Wasn't a sack busted either.    It's so late we camp right there not knowing that down that branch road three miles is Jerry camped with his sheep.     What would we have done if we had known it?     Now, right here, while things are not so 'certin', I recall that around those nerve racking crooks back yonder in the redwoods just after we ferried across Old Klamath River just where she empties into the Pacific, we met a band of sheep in the road.     Those sheep knocked a big branch of some dead tree down in the road and as Pukey charged over it, it flew up and punctured a great hole in the radiator.     Water was flying ahead like a sprinkling wagon.     Ward says, "Well, what will we do now."     I sized her up, got a rag and tore it in strips and Ward began to plug her up.     She worked! And we're here yet.

8/7:We will pull in home today over the roughest roads I ever saw.    Ward says they are just like God Almighty made them.     But I said, "No they're not for he never put all those chuck holes there."     We stopped to wash and doll up a little when we got to the river not far from Keno for it's just 15 miles to the Falls.    We didn't see any one we knew and the roads are good in the valley.     Everett met us at Rhodes place.     Looking for the one we left behind, and maybe the one that went on before, I don't know that for sure.     Everything is fine.    Chickens and lambs have had a two-month's picnic on the back porch.     They held all day sessions there.     I got up courage to go in.    It's not bad, but so stuffy after being in the great out of doors.     There is a glorious good letter on the table from her telling of the prize handsome Harry has won.     Truly, that's the best you ever did, and I don't believe you can do it again.     It's a whole week and three days before I hear from Clifton and all is going well there; only that Mama isn't well and there is a shortage of nails caused by Lyle driving them all in a circle, one for every mistake he made when making boxes.

9/8: It has been a long time since I wrote the few previous pages but I was afraid to send it to Yakima for fear you had gone and since you said B. Bldg., I have been busy.

It is cold and stormy now when they are trying to head.    I have laid off since last Thursday on account of wet.    We don't know what we will do another year.    It seems such a long time to find out.    The sheep man won't be up until the first of October and then Ward may not want them.     Jerry and Jack will go along to look them over.     Jerry came and was willing to give $800 or $1,000 if he had them along on the trip.

I read the part of your letter about Ward's beauty to him and I know you could have heard him laugh 2 miles.     "And that's caution, Ward you will sure have to scratch your head to answer that one."    Ward said he was going to write and tell you he would have been surprised if it had been you or I that had won the 100 but wasn't anything for him to win it.

Ward read the trip part of this over and said, "you left a lot out."    Of course I did.     But I couldn't seem to think of it all as I wrote.    Maybe it won't be so long until we meet and I can tell you the rest.     You must be planning some way to get up here this summer.

It takes too much energy for me to write about that trip twice so I wish you would send this one to mama so they can read about it and then if you cared for it to keep she will send it back to you.

We got ready to go to town right after noon and Pukey failed to puke so we are here yet.     She won't spark so I guess we will stay at home as it's 5:30.    This is the first offense since leaving Grand Junction.     I know you have had a glorious time since leaving us and am anxious to hear about it.

Lots of Love,
Coral

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