My First 56 Years

When we went through San Bernardino we could smell the salt in the air and we knew we were getting close to the ocean. We had left I70 and were on I- 40 soon to be headed for I- 5 and on our way to San Diego. We wanted to go to the famous zoo there and to Sea World. As soon as we got to the KOA camp instead of going to sleep first as we should have, we went straight to the zoo. We were tired and cranky and didn't realize what an undertaking the zoo would be. We hadn't seen much of it considering the size and everyone was so tired. We took a million pictures, as we had all across the country, but when you're tired things just don't seem so great as you have imagined them. We wanted to go to the wild animal park but we knew we only had so much time and we were really starting to count the pennies. We had given the money we had pooled together to Bobby at the beginning of the trip and he controlled the major finances. We kept extra money we had left to eat and do the things we wanted to do. There was a boat that would take people out into the bay and we all agreed we wanted to do that. First we wanted to see Sea World. We slept that night and started for Sea World the next morning. It was wonderful! We saw everything we could and I had earrings made from oyster pearls we caught in a lagoon. We went inside an aquarium and saw lots of sharks from various sizes. We couldn't believe how big some of the sharks were. There were shows with Walruses, one was even named Clyde! We had tried to get our brother Clyde to come along on the journey but he wouldn’t. We thought how we would tease him about that walrus when we got home!
When it was time to go home I was sad and hated to leave California and the sea gulls that seemed to be everywhere. We had gone to the beach one day and spent all day there. We all got terrible sunburns and by the time we got to Flagstaff Arizona to see the Grand Canyon I started to peel. My face was coming apart, literally. I didn't want anyone to see me and did not want to go to the little store at the KOA campground in Arizona because of my face and the fact there were Indians camped nearby. I had never seen Indians except in westerns and was a little uneasy. They were dressed out in their "Indian finest" and looked like any Indian tribe you'd see on T.V. It was a gimmick I'm sure but still, with me looking like a lizard and everyone running off and leaving me at the store, getting lost and so forth it was no wonder I was ready to cry when I finally found my way back to the trailer. Bobby was bright red. He never tans. His skin is as white as snow, and always burns. I couldn't believe I was so sun burnt! I never got sun burnt this bad at home and I hardly ever peeled. The sun in California is brighter and hotter than at home. Without the humidity that we have at home we couldn't tell it was that hot. The ocean made it seem cool and it was only in the eighties. At home our July's are hot and humidity so thick one could slice it with a knife.
We took the southern route back home. After seeing the beauty of the Grand Canyon at sunset with the hues of pink and orange surrounded by steep crevasses we headed home through New Mexico, more Indians, then through Texas and back up through Colorado where we stopped in Colorado Springs to visit the Gorge with the bridge only big enough for very brave cars to traverse. We got out and decided to walk across; it seemed the safest thing to do, unless you have acrophobia like Mary Ann and me. I got as far as the middle and held on.that was not one of the finest pictures I'd ever taken I can assure you, with a little prodding and pulling Charles got me off the bridge and back to the trailer. We headed home in pained silence and headed back on I- 70, across Kansas and finally to Kansas City so Bobby could pick up his paycheck. He worked for the Burlington Railroad. I counted the money I had left. Mary and Bobby were starting to worry about the money we had spent but when everything was counted I had 20.00 left. They were broke! We had to loan them money for gasoline to make it the rest of the way home. When he got his check cashed he paid us back.
When we walked into their house trailer that night, Kathryn and Clyde were there to greet us. We laughed and told stories of the time we had. We couldn't wait to get all the pictures developed.
Moving to Highland was no easy feat. We had the truck loaded down and had no horse trailer to move the horses.
we weren't looking forward to loaded him anyway. We started moving in November while the weather was still good. I rode Stony while Jenny was to ride Silver. I got a ways ahead of her and couldn't understand what was taking her so long. I finally decided to go back and check and she was walking alongside Silver holding the reins and looking a little disgruntled. I asked her what the hold up was and why she was walking instead of riding and she said, “He started acting up and bucked me off!” He seemed to be limping slightly so we figured he had a stone in his foot. We lifted his foot and checked but couldn't see anything but that didn't mean he didn't have a stone bruise some where. We waited at a house where 36 hwy met the graveled road we had been traveling on. The man who lived there had a horse trailer and agreed to load the horses to our new house in Highland. We were looking forward to riding the distance but it was a long ways and I don't think we would have made it. It was about 15 miles away. Charles had come back to check on us and helped load the horses. While we were waiting for the bridge to be finished and we could move by way of the main highway we put up a hot wire around the north side of the driveway. There was a lot of grass there. With two horses though, it didn't take long before it was depleted and we had to search for more. The neighbors said we should let the horses run loose in the hills because that was what they did with the cattle. Unfortunately the cattle would not cross the bridge. The horses didn't either until they discovered they could. They started getting out on a daily basis and every evening when Charles got home we went up and down “7” highway looking for them. We’d catch them by the halter and I'd ride one and Charles would drive with one hand and pull the horse alongside with the other.
We told Whetstines about the problem and they said they had some property just south and to the east of our house that was supposed to be land that sits. Tall brome grass, ideal for horses, grew there. They said if a government man came snooping around we'd have to get them out of there. So we put up the hot wire and put in the horses.
When Nicole had had those puppies we had given one to Mary Ann, Pierre, and we kept one too. We called him Lucky to keep him safe. After Suzy killed Casey we gave her to someone from the paper after we had put in an ad.