My First 56 Years

It was a very comfortable big blue car. We left Peanut with Della to watch for us and we were on our way. Charles drove all the way down there about 500 miles. I was busy looking at sights and billboards and whatever scenery I could find. Charles had borrowed a tent from Della and Charlie and we were looking for a campsite to pitch a tent. After throwing the poles as far as he could and spewing enough cuss words to make the Devil blush he finally got the tent up and we were on our way to eat breakfast. It was 6 am when we arrived and we wanted to eat at a restaurant. I had a budget and saved every dime so we would still have the 18.75 for the weekly rent. We hadn't moved to Denton yet. We didn't move until February of 1977.The eggs at the restaurant were a funny color of green, but not to make a scene or complain, after all Jenny and Charles were eating theirs, so I remained quiet and ate them anyway. We wanted to check out the petting zoo we saw on the way down just north of Branson. On the way back I asked Charles if I could drive. He reluctantly let me behind the wheel. He knew it was a little more difficult to drive with the steering the way it was. I was driving west on highway 76 the main drag of Branson. It was a two lane highway with more traffic than it could handle. Traffic was bumper to bumper and I was used to gawking at the signs and billboards as I had when Charles was driving. Charles noticed I was getting too far to the left side of the yellow line and he said so rather loudly. There was a camper truck coming right toward me. I pulled the car over as far as I could and thought I had gotten over far enough to the side of the road when the front fender folded up before my eyes. Jenny hit her mouth on the back of the front seat and it was bleeding. Because the cars back then were built so well there was hardly any impact at all. I was able to pull the car over to the side of the road. The only damage we could see that was done to the truck was the chrome strip on the side. The police came and of course I got a ticket and because we were on vacation we had to pay for it before we left the area. I hadn't budgeted for that. We thought if the ticket was 20.00 we could still go to Silver Dollar City, having enough for the 18.75 rent money. We showed up at the court house but we hadn't figured in the court costs which were another 20.00.We weren't going to go all the way to Branson and not go to Silver Dollar City so we decided to pay two weeks rent when we got home and Charles got paid.
We went to Silver Dollar City and walked around and rode the rides.Jenny was fascinated by a mule drawn cart with flowers all over it including the mule's mane. She stared and smiled real big for our camera. The more we walked the sicker I got. We finally had to leave. The vomiting and diarrhea was non stop at this point and I had to go to the hospital. I thought I was going to die. When we got to the hospital they wanted to see our insurance card. We felt safe in showing them since Charles had good insurance with the Retail Union at his work. They of course said "since you are on vacation you have to pay now and charge you're insurance when you get back home".I told the Dr about the green eggs I had had that morning. He pushed around on my stomach, said I had gastroenteritis, food poisoning, and told me I couldn't eat any solid food for a while.
After sleeping on a dozen rocks under the tent we were ready to go home. The car still ran good and the only tell tale sign of the wreck was the crumpled fender, neatly folded back from the hood to the windshield. When we arrived in Wathena where Della lived we told her of our vacation A.K.A disaster. She couldn't believe our luck! We felt like the most unlucky people in the world. She told us how cute Peanut was playing with her cat, Cocoa, running around the house chasing each other. I was glad to see Peanut and the pain of losing Mitzy was starting to fade.