Helped a neighbor load an ice chest into
her car and we started reminiscing about traveling as kids. She is around my
age and was off to visit grandkids.
She remembered water bags instead of ice chests and that
started me remembering trips to Arizona with my parents and my mother’s parents
around 1952.
We had a 1949 Ford V-8 three speed manual
with overdrive. That car would cruise all day long at 80 mph. My Dad would tie
two canvas water bags on the front bumper guards. That water would get cool,
almost cold, from evaporation and tasted so good on a hot Arizona day. One time
one bag slipped and was drug many miles before we stopped. No water from that
one. Looking back I realized Dad was
smart to have two water bags along with a
5 gallon Jerry can in the trunk. He respected the desert. Said he
remembered training in the Mojave during WWII.
We stayed in motels on these trips but
cooked all our meals over an open fire along side the road. You would expect
something different from ranch people?
My grandparent sold their ranch outside
Saratoga, WY and retired to Cottonwood, AZ.
By that time I was off doing Army stuff so my wee sister had the fun of
trips through Moab and Mexican Hat or the Monument Valley to visit them.
