Road Trip, vol. 14

A note to the reader: It might interest you to know that Uncle Alvin, at the time of this trip, was a seminary student, and pastor of a small Minnesota congregation. I am reserching the other 3 boys, but I suspect they were also college kids.

Sunday January 22, 1933 The next morning being Sunday we slept a little longer than usual but got up in time to go to church at Trinity M. E. Church, which was the one the Lehnerts and Borchardts attended. The district superintendent was there that Sunday and preached though I was rather disappointed over the sermon itself. The singing was quite good but the most striking thing about it all was the very friendly spirit of all the people in the church. Everybody it seemed came up to us and shook hands and wished us well.

That afternoon we went over to Borchardts and then went driving around with the same party as the night before except that Agnes and Pearl were not along. All seven of us rode in Milton’s car so we were very crowded. We first drove out to Roosevelt Memorial Park where we heard part of the organ concert, including Mother McCree and the The Glowworm. The organ is enclosed in quite a large structure about 50 or 60 feet long and probably 40 or 50 feet wide. One side of it is open except for iron bars, this of course being the front of it. The organ itself could not be seen but when one stood right up to the front of the building the music was so loud a person could hardly stand it. The organist was in a glassed-in dugout perhaps a hundred feet away from the building. The keyboard of the organ was the most intricate of any I have ever seen. It was a Wurlitzer organ and one of the largest in the United States.

We then drove on through rather hilly country out to Long Beach and then to the breakwater. We walked out on this for a ways as far as the boardwalk went, where the rest of the party stopped except we four boys. We went out perhaps half a mile further to enjoy the ocean air. Some of the navy ships were anchored quite close to the breakwater so we could gain a very good view of them. Most of them were hospital ships or others besides battleships and cruisers, though when we got out farther we came close to a battleship. They certainly were large ships and as we all know, very expensive. There were a few freighters and at least one passenger ship moving about in the harbor that day, too.
We could see Catalina Island from the breakwater, though it was very distant.

Towards evening we drove along Long Beach and saw a few passenger ships at berth. One of them had been partially destroyed by fire a while before. After darkness had fallen we drove out on a circle of land which shut off a bathing beach. From there we could see two gambling ships beyond the three mile limit. They were all lighted up with electric lights so they would be conspicuous, and their purpose was certainly achieved. We then walked through their amusement center there, sort of a Coney Island, and just looked the thing over for a while. There was nothing else to do so we went back home.

Road Trip, vol. 13

January 21, 1933 The next morning, also cloudy, we again went out to Hollywood and drove up to the Japanese Gardens but as there was not very much to be seen there in winter time, we did not go in. We also drove up to the Hollywood Bowl, which is a huge ampitheater in a natural setting in the hills of Hollywood. Milton and I stayed down on the stage while Sidney and Earl ran up to the topmost row of the seats. It was a considerable climb, too, for they couldn't run all the way up. It seemed to take a considerable time for the sound from the stage to reach them up there, so we concluded it must have been a good long ways. We also stopped in at Hollywood cemetary and walked through the mauseleum there. It was very beautiful there at the cemetary. It was right next to one of the large movie lots so we peeked over a high board fence but there was very little to be seen besides some rickety buildings and a small pool of water which in regular pictures became the ocean. There were only a few workers around, and nothing at all looking like a camera

We went out to Pasadena that afternoon and drove through the best built up section of the town where only rich folks live. We were rather surprised to see a great many For Sale and For Rent signs ahead of many homes. On the way back we tried to get up in te tower of the new Los Angeles City Hall, but we were ten minutes late so we had to postpone it.

That evening we went to the premiere showing of "Cavalcode" at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. The party included Harold, Paul, Laverne Lehnert, Ruth and Agnes Borchardt and our bunch. The picture itself was quite good though the vaudeville was not any better than one was accustomed to seeing at at a lower priced theater. The picture followed the lives of an Englishman and his wife from the dawning of the twentieth century until the present time. It seemed to concern itself most with the wars through that time and showed the rather deadly influence they exerted on certain persons as well as the general public. It really was one of those pictures that one has to see several times before the full meaning of it can really be gotten.

After the show we invited the bunch up to our apartment and fed them on ice cream and coookies. We all had a very good time.

Road Trip, vol. 8

January 16, 1933 The next morning we drove into Mexico to see what there was to be seen. The Mexican authorities examined us at the border but all they did was just look at us and then motion for us to go on. The town of Tia Juana (sic) is only three or four miles across the border, and quite a while before we got there we began to see many beer and whiskey signs. In fact, they were about the only signs to be seen at all. About all we saw in the town were bars and saloons with a few stores and hotels sandwiched in between them. We drove through the town and went on to Rodriquez Dam, which is about 15 miles from the border. It is to be an irrigation dam, apparently, though work had seemingly just started on it and was going forward at a very slow pace. Going out to the dam we had to stop at two more Mexican inspection posts though all they did was just wave at us to go on. At the second post which was only a half a mile from the dam, we saw about half a dozen soldiers. all of them armed with heavy rifles and sidearms. We supposed they were there just to inspect trucks to try and stop contraband goods, perhaps rifles and ammunition.

On the way back to Tia Juana we stopped at Agua Caliente, which is a large racing and gambling center built up entirely by American interests. It was built up on a hilly desert where practically nothing would grow. They had transformed it into a really pretty place and had developed it into a very popular resort. We were there on Monday, which is the only day when races are not held, and so we could see nothing beyond a few racehorses warming up on the track. It is said the place cost several million dollars and is a very popular resort.

Then we drove back to Tia Juana and stopped in a curio store. There were about half a dozen women clerks there who paid absolutely no attention to us so far as we could see. However, they were speaking in their native tongue so we could not tell what they were saying. We bought a few things and paid for them, receiving change in our own money, but when we asked if they had Mexican money, we found that they had only a few pennies that they sold for souveniers, otherwise their exchange was wholy in American money. This gives just about the true light on the town. It is Mexican, but is for the Americans' benefit only.

When we drove back into the United States we were inspected by U.S. authorities, though all he did was to glance through the car and ask us if we had purchased any merchandise, and then allowed us to go on and so we were on our native soil again.

That afternoon we visited Balboa Park and viewed the museum there. There was a very interesting animal display containing all the birds and animals common to that territory. There were also many more objects of interest. The park was an old exposition ground and had vegetation of many different climates there. Most of the buildings on it had been put up hurriedly some years ago and most of them were unsafe now. The walls were constructed so that they seemed to be made of concrete but upon tapping them with our hands, we found them to be only plaster and board construction.

We went to Chula Vista in the evening

Road Trip, vol. 7

Uncle Alvin's 1933 trip from Minnesota to California

January 14, 1933 The next morning we started out quite early and soon found ourselves in desert country again, though for a while it seemed to have some agricultural possibilities. We were climbing quite steadily and soon crossed the Continental Divide. It seemed quite funny to be crossing the divide and at the same time to be on an almost level plain. After crossing the divide we began losing altitude, and when we reached Tucson had dropped almost two thousand feet. From there on we traveled mainly through desert and mountainous country. We saw quite a few mountains but very few of them were snow-capped. When we reached Yuma we had our first sight of the great Colorado River. We were also inspected there, and the roots were cut off the cactus plants we were taking along.

After leaving Yuma we entered a real desert. There were great sand dunes with very little vegetation. The sand was drifting across the roads, there being quite a strong wind. The strip of desert lasted for a while until we entered the fertile Imperial Valley. Here we saw our first really green country. Everything seemed to be green: truck gardens, lawns, and everything.

Later that day we advanced upon the last mountain range between ourselves and the coast. For perhaps an hour we had some very steep grades and many curves. When we reached the top we found a very strong wind blowing over the mountains. Shortly after, we ran into our first rain of the trip. This was just a week after we had started. We had now reached an elevation of over 4,000 feet, but we soon started going down. As we descended into the valley we soon found ourselves in some really beautiful scenery. The vegetation was almost every color imaginable, from red, green yellow, brown, to white and grey. The rocks were grey and brown, with dark mountains for a background it presented a really pretty picture.

That evening (Sunday) about four o'clock, we entered San Diego. About the first thing we did there, even before we rented a cabin, was to buy four dozen oranges for twenty-five cents. They were quite large and of excellent quality. We then drove through the city and finally located a cabin camp on the southern side of the city and quite near the ocean. It was my first sight of the Pacific Ocean, and it was rather disappointing because it was in reality a bay, and had only a very narrow opening into the ocean proper.

That night we drove around the city for a while, but there was not so very much to be seen. We just formed the impression that San Diego would really be a better city if the border were not so close.

San Diego is the most important naval base on the west coast.The fleet was out while we were there, however, so we saw only a few sailors walking the streets.

Road Trip, vol. 6

This is the on-going saga of Uncle Alvin and friends’ trip from Minnesota to California.

January 13, 1933 (continued) We then entered the lunch room, a large room equipped with lunch counters and tables where the parties ate lunch. After about a 30 minute stop we again started for a tour of the Big Room, a room over 4,000 feet long and 625 feet wide at the farthest part. In places the ceiling was over 300 feet above us, and in places it was 600 or 700 feet above the floor below. The Big Room was by all means the most beautiful of any one in the cave. In places we saw pools of water in hollows in the floor. The stalactites and stalagmites assumed giant form in this room, too. There were giant chandeliers suspended from the ceiling in places along the room. We passed the Giant Dome which is about 60 feet high and 16 feet in diameter, but was connected to the ceiling. The Twin Domes nearby were almost as large and were true stalagmites. In places we saw pillars shaped about like a Santa Claus. In one place we saw the Giant’s Foot, with a large stalagmite for the big toe and four small ones for the other toes. At the end of this room we came to the Jumping Off Place, which was a sheer cliff with a drop of some 300 feet. The floor below was lighted by electric lights, so we could gain some idea of how the second level looked. As the ceiling was some 300 feet above us the space before us was about 600 feet high. It must be said however, that we could not gain any comprehensive idea of the dimensions because everything seemed much smaller than it really was. On the way back, we passed by a pool that was actually 10 feet deep, but that really seemed to be only about two feet deep. In another place we passed right by a huge hole in the floor that had never been fully explored, and the true dimensions of which could only be estimated. It was believed to be over 300 feet deep though. Another interesting formation was a series of drip stones on the wall that seemed just like a waterfall. Most of the formations in the caverns were dry and non-growing, but in places they were wet and glistening, which was the sign that they were growing at the rate of one cubic inch per one hundred years so it can be seen that some of the formations must have been millions of years old. In one place a growing stalactite was dropping water at about the rate of one drop of water every 55 seconds. Some others dropped much faster, too. There was one stalactite that came within 1/32 of an inch of touching the stalagmite below it but then it stopped growing before they connected.

Later we came to a large rock that had been named “Rock of Ages: because of the fact that it was estimated to be about 50,000,000 years old. We sat down there and all the lights in the caverns were extinguished. Then we heard the beautiful hymn “Rock of Ages”. After 30 seconds of absolutely total darkness the lights half a mile away were put on, then on closer circuits and finally the lights right around. It was really a most moving experience.

Then we walked back to the lunch room where we rested for a while, and where the party split up. Part of it (mostly men) began walking back, the others making use of the elevator service, for an additional charge of 50 cents. The elevator itself is really a marvel of engineering, being 13 months in the construction, and being built from both ends. It was bored and blasted 750 feet through solid rock, in places being only about a hundred feet from the walls of a room. The surveyors had to measure about a thousand angles to find the correct places to drill from both ends. It is said there was an error of about ¼ of an inch when the shafts met. It cost something like $100,000 dollars.

The party walking back then left and went through the caverns at quite a rapid pace. We had numerous rest periods for it was really quite a climb back. We spent about five hours in the cave and traveled about seven miles.

We drove quite late that night so we could get to El Paso, where we rented a cabin for the night.

Road Trip, vol. 5

January 13, 1933 The next morning we started about 9:45, and drove to the Carlsbad Cavern where we bought our tickets for a tour of the cave. The tickets were $1.65 apiece which seemed rather high, but when we came out we knew that it was about the most worthwhile way we had ever spent our money. The tour started at 10:30 and lasted til 3:30 which was when we got out of the cavern.

We started down into the cavern over a series of switchback trails until we came to a large room a few hundred feet below the surface, where we rested while one of the rangers in charge gave a short lecture on the formation of the caverns. We then went on through a large chamber for perhaps a quarter of an hour when the ranger said we were only coming to the cavern proper. During this time, the formations in the cave were few and not very interesting. We then continued onward and down until we reached larger passages about 400 feet below the level of the entrance. Here we entered a portion of the cavern with some very interesting ornaments. When the lights were placed, various shadows were cast on the walls and the ceiling, some of which resembled human faces, cats, witches, an Indian’s head, etc. One stalagmite resembled an elephant’s ear. A light had been placed back of it, and shown through it. In on place on a wall, a formation had grown that resembled exactly a man’s face while reclining. We then went still lower over stairways and trails and through narrow passages until we reached the main floor at the 750 foot level. On the way, we passed by a loose boulder, supposedly the largest in any cave, weighing probably some 22,000 tons. We then passed through three rooms: the King’s Palace, the Queen’s Bedroom, and the Papoose’s room. In the King’s room, we saw a stalactite called The King’s Bell Cord, which was eight feet long, and one-quarter of an inch in diameter, also being hollow in the center throughout. There were many stalactites and stalagmites in all the chambers and many unusual formations. In one place the formations were growing in any direction. (to be continued...)

Road Trip, vol. 4

January 12, 1933 The next morning we found ourselves in regular desert country. We ate our breakfast at Odessa. (note: photo to the left is Odessa in the 1930s) While there we were passed by a car from Minnesota, and stopped and talked to them for a few minutes.

We then drove on to Pecos where we stopped for a while and then started for Carlsbad. This was typical desert land with nothing much but cactus and some scrubby brush. We ate our dinner some distance from Pecos and looked the desert over.

We arrived at Carlsbad shortly after dinner and looked around. We visited the museum and saw some very fine arrowheads and fossils of one type or other. We also saw a spring that produced medicinal water at about the rate of 25,000 gallons per hour. The spring was enclosed in a concrete tank with an open top. In places the water could be seen bubbling up from the bottom. The water was of quite good quality, too. We then drove down to a small town near Carlsbad where we camped over night.

Road Trip, vol. 3

January 11, 1933 The next morning the man who owned the place came over to do his chores at his barn, and seemed rather surprised to find us there; but he made us feel very welcome anyway. We had a flat tire that morning, and he even offered us the use of his car to take it to a filling station a mile away to have it fixed. He had a small herd of cows there, and while he thought they were quite good-sized, we thought they were very tiny indeed. I doubt if any of them weighed much over 600 pounds if they weighed that much. Apparently, he had to buy all their feed, and also he never kept them in at night.

Later we went into Hot Springs to look around a little and buy a tire. While we were walking around, we were seperated, and had quite a time finding each other again. We didn't get started from Hot Springs until almost ten o'clock. We saw a few high hills later that morning, but we soon descended into the cotton country. Later we entered more or less of a swampy country. In one place they must have had a very heavy rain, because the water level in the swamp had evidently risen a few feet. At Fulton we had to cross the Red River by a toll bridge. The river seemed to be aptly named because it had a very red color.

We entered Texas at about 3 o'clock that afternoon. By that evening we had reached Greenville. The country that we had been passing through was mainly a plains country. We saw a good many negroes throughout the day. Most of them lived in rather squalid shacks, and apparently were in rather poor financial conditions.

It had been rather cold weather that day so we decided to drive all night as long as we were passing through plains country, anyway.

Road Trip, vol. 2

This is part two of a series taken from the journal of Uncle Alvin, who traveled with three friends from Minnesota to California in 1933.

January 10, 1933 The next morning we left Buffalo about 8:00 o’clock and after going through Springfield we really entered the Ozark Mountains. The hills really turned into mountains for height; though they were still composed largely of ground and were covered with forest. The towns became more and more back-woodsy. At Harrison, Arkansas we took a short cut to Hot Springs, going over State highway No.7. The road was very crooked and up hill and down, so that we made very poor time, but the delay was recompensed by the beautiful scenery we saw.

Shortly after, we passed through Jasper, which was really a one-horse town. We stopped there for a little while and just took notice of the inhabitants for a while. The people really seemed dull and might one say “backward”.

Going through the Ozark hills in Arkansas, we saw quite a few mountaineer’s shacks. They didn’t seem to have very much as means of support beyond a few acres of poorly cultivated land. In places we saw land so stony that we couldn’t understand how they could cultivate it, or how anything could grow. Most places the fields contained boulders and dead trees in profusion. I suppose the largest support the inhabitants have is moonshining.

We believed that we had a real depression in Minnesota, but after going through the Ozarks and after leaving them, we had changed our minds. We stopped at a filling station at Perry and spoke to the man there, who happened to be a German and who had traveled “right smart”. We had seen quite a few teams of mules hitched to an old lumber wagon and with four or five people riding on it. He said that it was getting to be quite an event when the people could borrow a mule and wagon, and make the trip to town. Most of them had owned Fords, but had to junk them. Most of the crop there is cotton, so that it could only be sold. Each man could farm about 30 or 35 acres alone, and as it could produce only from 1/3 to perhaps 2 bales per acre, and white cotton was only about 5 or 6 dollars a bale, it could be seen that it is very hard to earn enough to live on. Incidentally, or perhaps more a matter of necessity, the people had returned to the practice of raising as much of their food as they possibly could.

At this time we had been forced to detour because of an unfinished highway and just about dusk we got onto a very poor road. To add to our troubles, in several places the bridges on the road had never been built and so we had to go on old ones that happened to be there. In one place there was not an old one so we had to ford a small stream. Beyond this just a ways we went over a road that resembled a roller coaster because of innumerable dips and curves in the road.

We finally got onto paved road again and entered Hot Springs at 10 o’clock that night. We walked up and down the streets for a while before we hunted a camping ground. We finally stopped at a place where a house had burned down. We thought the place deserted but found out the next morning that it was not. It was so warm there that we camped without setting up the tent.

Road Trip, vol. 1

Seventy-five years ago, Uncle Alvin and his three best friends decided to take a trip from their homes in Belle Plaine, Minnesota to California. Alvin kept a diary of the trip, into which he poured his daily observations. Climb into Milton's 1931 Chevy 2-door with Alvin, Milton, Sydney and Earl, and let's make our way to the Golden State. (Note: with the exception of two photos I'll post in a later installment, the pictures I'm including are for interest only, and were not taken on Alvin's journey. They are, however, photos of the places Alvin and his friends visited.)

January 8-9, 1933 Left from Milton's at 10 p.m. The first night we drove over fairly level country and did not see much scenery. We had an awful time getting to Des Moines, but finally got there and lost Milton's gloves. Got into Missouri yet that morning at 8:15. Had breakfast just over the line near Rineville. We then drove on, entering the Ozark Hills that morning. We drove through some pretty scenery though the hills were not high. That afternoon we arrived at the Bagnal dam, going through a deep cut in a hill just before we got there. We walked part way across, taking a time snap from the dam. The lake was apparently flooded into a series of ravines, quite dry. The lake winds over a considerable section of country, and we saw it a number of times after we left the dam. The dam itself is a concrete structure about half a mile long. That night we drove to Buffalo, arriving there at 8:00 and camped there. It was the first night we set up our tent.