From Sept. 11 (Sun) to Oct 20 (Thrs) 1955 Mom (Rosalia Jane Hon, later Matyn) and Grandma (Rosalia Jane Mannheim Hon) went on a road trip out west and back in Mom's new 1954 Mercury. I don't know how and why they decided to do this then. Grandpa had been dead for five years by then.
I found the scrapbook (In bad shape and full of scotch tape!) when I went through Mom's papers. She documented everything (clearly I inherited that gene). They drove from Ann Arbor through Iowa, SD, WY, MT, WA, OR, California, UT, Col., KS, IL and back home. They visited tourist sites, national parks, big cities, Catholic shrines and always attended mass. They stayed mainly in pretty basic, cheap, noisy hotels. Mom was excited in one hotel because it had a hot plate and they could heat water!
She also noted they left early one morning after spending the night in a rustic room with stinky hogs in a pen behind it! I can't even imagine. That wouldn't even pass state laws today.
In the era before GPS in phones they used Strip Maps. You would contact AAA and say where you wanted to go. They would give you a booklet with the maps and the direction outlined in red marker for each section of the trip.
Mom put about 8000 miles on the car, which had about 8,000 on when they started on their trip. Part of the trip they drove on "New! US 40 the Main Line of America! She had a few car issues on the way and kept the receipts. Work on her crank case and a lube in Portland cost her $7.05 and they gave her the free postcard of Mt Hood seen below. In Holly, CO she paid a whopping $10.75 for a wash, grease, oil change and tire check. Can you imagine? I put she stewed about that. It was more than paid for a hotel room.
Mom and Grandma visited Grandpa's Hon side of the family, his siblings, Clyde Hon and Ethel Hon Johnson in Bedford, IN, Grandpa's hometown, and their kids and grandkids, and stayed with Mom's first cousins: Wayne and Myrtle Johnson and their three children in Wester Groves, MO, near St. Louis. I met Wayne and Myrtle and his brother Francis and wife Sally Johnson when I was in high school at a Hon gathering in Bedford. They were such kind, lovely people! They were all advanced senior citizens by then. You just loved them!
Mom also kept track of expenses, mileage, gas, food, hotel, stamps, tolls, church donations. They ate little and bought less. The most they ever paid for a hotel stay for one night was $7 for both of them. The total trip cost was about $490. You can't travel like this anymore. Here are some images.
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| Stinky hogs notation |
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| Corn Palace, Mitchell, SD photos |
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Strip map, Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park
on left: Clyde and Ethel standing w Grandma; on right: Ethel and Grandma sitting, Mom standing by Mt Hood, color postcard of Mount Hood, Portland, OR
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| Catholic shrine materials, Portland Oregon, Seattle city Strip map |
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| Mom sitting on a street car at the San Francisco zoo, Grandma in other photo |
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| Mom in her car |
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| Continental divide, Briggle art pottery, Colorado Springs |
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| Grandma, Ethel, Mom, Myrtle and her children: below Myrtle and Wayne with his new station wagon and their children: JoAnne David and John Johnson |
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| Mom's trip total, p. 1 of 2 |
