Left AKRON in a drizzling rain and the start of the trip did not look so good from the weather angle; however it turned nice just outside of MEDINA and got very hot. At one point along the way, the temperature read 98 degrees. Stopped a couple times to eat our packed lunch and got ice for our icebox; also some groceries. Made very good time, in fact, 480 miles in a little less than 12 hours. Started to look for a cabin at 5 pm; no could find. Don't ever take route 64 from outside CHICAGO to OREGON, ILL. if you want to find a place to sleep. there is nothing on that route but cornfields, but a very good highway, however. Finally in OREGON some boys sent us out route 2 for 8 miles to a state park. A very lovely place. I would like to spend more time there, but no can do. They had nice cabins, but all of them were full. Then up a road about a half mile to another place. This area was filled up also. We gave up at this point and rented a piece of ground for $1.00 and there we pitched our tent and set up housekeeping for a one night stand. There is a very nice breeze here which soon had the persperation all dried up.
Violet and I then went down the road a ways and had a very good Swiss steak supper. Quantity, quality and price all satisfactory. We then took another drive through the state park and then back to our wigwam under the pines. Where the misquitoes are bringing this little missile to an end. Oh yes ! The car has to be all repacked. My two weeks rehearsal at home did little good. After that, we will chase out the bugs and go to bed to sleep. (Violet hopes).
Boy, last night was a honey. One of the worst electric storms I have ever seen came up shortly after we bedded down. Thought for awhile that the teepee was going to take off, but by the grace of God and me holding down the top, we saved it! The little woman was pretty scared (so was I but don't tell her). the old wigwam weathered the storm nicely and we kept dry and finally did get some sleep. I think we can call that the supreme test for the tent, so it will now be considered out of the development stage.
Up at 7:00 and after slopping around in the wet grass, we finally cooked breakfast, repacked the car and took off with an overcast sky and much cooler, but pleasant. This seemed to be rather a hectic day. We only drove 357 miles and 30 miles of that was getting on the wrong road and back-tracking for my watch which I left in a wash room.
IOWA is a very nice farming country. Much like ILLINOIS. Their highways are good and very straight for miles at a stretch. Crossed the Mighty MISSISSIPPI RIVER this morning. Not what we expected even if it was at high tide. Pretty muddy. Looked good for catfish and carp.
We stopped in LELAND (IA) this evening, 166 miles from SIOUX FALLS, S.D. We rented a cabin here and are going to hit the hay early tonight and see if a good night's sleep will get us off on the right foot in the morning.
Saw plenty evidence of the floods which thay had been having around this area. Many cornfields under water and all the streams overflowing their banks.
A very good night's sleep here. Awakened to another very hard storm at 4:00. Had our breakfast and left at 5:00. Still raining. It rained for the first 200 miles and was just cool enough for nice driving.
Still plenty of water along the way and the MISSOURI RIVER at CHAMBERLIN, S.D. was very high. Stopped in MITCHELL, S.D. to visit "THE CORN PALACE". This is a very nice place and is well worth while seeing. The building is decorated inside and out with ears of corn, grass, etc. at a cost of $10,000 yearly. Many large pictures both inside and out, all made of different colored ears of corn. we got quite a kick out of the 16 year old guide. He sure knew his stuff and really poured it on for S.D.
Our good rest last night must have done some good as neither of us was tired after knocking off an even 500 miles in 12 hours and 2 hours of that was spent in MITCHELL, THE BADLANDS and eating our lunch.
We thought IOWA had it's wide open spaces, but it does not compare with this state, with it's hundreds of miles of rolling grazing lands with hardly a house in sight at times. The highways are fairly good, but some bad spots. They roll like a rollercoaster straight ahead for miles and you seem to be always looking into the sky, which gave me the feeling of riding on top of the world. We took the scenic route in through The BADLANDS and was glad that we went a little out of our way to see them. Quite a desolate looking place and very much larger than I had imagined. The drive through is about 30 miles and was very hot and dusty. Back on route 16 again at wall, where we rented a cabin for $2.50, took a shower, changed clothes and both feel pretty chipper.
The towns along our route today were mostly very small and no paved streets and this Dakota mud is the stickiest stuff I ever saw. Stopped in the town of KADOKA for ice this afternnon and met quite a character. He was about 2/3 oiled and told me the ice would cost 50 cents, whether I took 5 lbs or a hundred. We drove down to the ice house in his Ford, of about 1920 vintage while he wanted to give me a hundred lbs. after measuring the box, he was fianlly convinced that it would only hold about 20 lbs. When I paid him the 50 cents, he said that was too much, so he insisted I take a couple drinks out of his bottle of Schenly. He then wanted to introduce me to an Indian girl and wondered if Violet would care. Finally had to drive off and leave him.
Up at 3:30 this morning (by mistake) looked at my watch wrong. It was just as well, for we got an early start and was into the BLACK HILLS by 7:00 am. This is a very beautiful drive. Stopped and saw the Shrine of Democracy (MT. RUSHMORE) carved out of stone on the side of a mountain and a very impressive sight. The figures are WASHINGTON, JEFFERSON, ROOSEVELT and LINCOLN. Shortly afterwards, we were in WYOMING and for 200 miles, just sat and watched rolling grassland and cattle and a ranch here and there and once in a while a sheep herder with his flock. Enjoyed the trip today very much as we rolled along past odd looking hills of rock formations and various colors of soil. Finally, we saw in the distance, what I thought to be white clouds on the horizon until I woke up to the fact that they were snow covered peaks of the BIG HORN MOUNTAINS and a very beautiful sight. After many miles of driving we finally got into them and up to the summit (966 feet) where we stopped, played in the snow for a while and took some pictures. Then started down. The trip down was quite an ordeal with the very bad highway with it's sharp winding curves and no guard rails anywhere. Several times, on some of the curves, we almost met ourselves coming back. Coming out of the western side is much nicer than the east from a scenic standpoint. We came out through a beautiful canyon (TEN SLEEP) at the bottom where we rented a nice cabin for the night. Right between these canyon walls, there is a wonderful looking trout stream tumbling down from the BIG HORN and rushing by within 20 feet of our back door. There is a lot of trout in it and here is me with a lot of tackle and no license. A boy gave me a nice trout, so I will have one for breakfast anyways.
The wife has gone to bed, no doubt a little tired from our 400 miles today and the nervous strain of coming down the mountain. That is where I am going now and let these rushing waters sing me to sleep, hoping that a rock does not break loose on top of the canyon.
Up at 3:30 this morning and got away, regretfully from this very pleasant spot. Too bad that one cannot spend more time in these places. Made very good time again, though the same type of country as yesterday. This landscape reminds me of a lot of buscuits lying on a large table. Into CODY, WYOMING at 6:30 am. This place is a typical western town. Many of the natives standing around in their high-heeled boots giving us green horns the once over. They had plenty to look at for I have never seen so many cars from so many different states, which had both sides of the street lined solid. Had quite a chat with one of the natives and got some information on the stampeed (rodeo) which is to be held there July 4th, 5th & 6th. If our plans materialize, we will drive back into CODY on the 5th and see a real western rodeo.
Soon up into the SHOSHONE CANYON and here began to realize that we were just beginning to see some of the beauty spots of the world. Stopped here and took a look at the SHOSHONE DAM and a few pictures. This is a very high dam, Probably not as long or wide as some others, but it sure handles a lot of water and has the SHOSHONE RIVER backed up for 10 miles. A wonderful piece of engineering work. From here, we drove in up through SYLVAN PASS to the east gate of YELLOWSTONE [NATIONAL PARK] where the man said $3.00 please; we entered this wonderful national parkland on up to CANYON JUNCTION. Found that our cabin reservations were Ok, so this will be our home for 5 days at least. Still plenty of snow along the way to testify to the recent snowstorm they had in this area. Checked into our cabin around noon and was greeted by a big black bear out behind the cabin eating out of garbage can. This reminded us that we were hungry, too. So after having our lunch (not the same can :-), we took a short drive up along the YELLOWSTONE CANYON and DUNIVAN PASS. This canyon with its Niagara Water Falls, is the most beautiful and awe-inspiring we have seen yet. I here began to wonder why we had waited so long before making this trip out here. On this drive this afternoon, we saw 6 brown bears on the highwauy and one of them insisted on giving her two cubs their dinners in the middle of the highway. They have no regard for traffic but no-one seemed to care. We then drove down along the YELLOWSTONE RIVER looking for some people whom we had met in the BIG HORN. When we found them, they were fishing, which I knew they would be. I could not resist the temptaion, so rigged up and fished with them for an hour or so. When we quit, we had 15 trout, all 15 to 17 inches long, so we all came back to our cabin where we had a big trout supper, our first evening in this place. After supper, we regretfully bade them goodbye as they are leaving in the morning. They are from Indianapolis and appear to be very nice and friendly people and we have had a grand time together for the past two days. (Mr. & Mrs. STEAKIS, Mr. & Mrs. LUCKEMEIER & son. It is now 11 pm and Violet is thinking of going out to the little house in the back. I told her if she seen any bears, to leave them alone, now she has decided not to go.
Up at 6 this morning, but don't know why. Made breakfast and packed a lunch. Then started around the northern section of the park. Stopped at all points of interest along the way. TOWER FALLS, the PETRIFIED TREE, MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, GOLDEN GATE, OBSIDION CLIFF and ROARING MOUNTAINS are the principal points of interest. However, there are many lesser things to see. Of course, there were the usual hungry bears and one elk. The entire trip is a beautiful drive, up over mountains, then down into wide green valleys with their abundant pine forests and lovely streams. We stopped and ate our lunch in the shade of some pines along the GARDINER RIVER. Saw one lone fisherman here so went over and had quite a chat with him with the idea in mind of getting out my flyrod. However, he was not doing any good as the river was too high & riley so I gave up the idea.
Back to the cabin around 3 pm anmd took a little sleep before getting our supper. Have decided to stay in this evening and get to bed before it gets too cold. It really gets cold up here nights. The days are very hot but always a nice breeze.
Sight-seeing again today. Left the cabin at 7 am and started around the southern end of the park. We drove to MADISON JUNCTION then out of the west gate for a ways. This was a mistake for it being the 4th of July, traffic was pouring into this gate in a steady stream in three lanes of course we had to get in line to get back in the park. We took in all the principal points of interest including all the Geyser basins, mud pots, springs, etc. & there are many of these but when you see one, you have a pretty good picture of them all. While fooling around in the store at OLD FAIHTFUL, we missed the eruption of this most important geyser. We drove on in to the Thumb and ate our lunch under the pines in the camping ground. We decided then to drive back and see Old Faithful, so missed that part of park from Thumb up to LAKE JUNCTION. Anyways, we saw the old boy in action and sat around in the hotel lobby for a while just like real folks. This hotel is quite a place. Very large and modern and crowded. the building is of the rustic type and it is hard to describe the beauty that is built into it out of all pine logs.
All the above things were very worthwhile seeing but I believe those which I was impressed with the most were the large pine forests and the beautiful drives through them, the many rivers and streams, including the GIBBON, FIRE HOLE and MADISON and also a large herd of elk which were grazing in the valley.
Then back to Canyon and our little hut where supper is now being prepared by the better half. Then no doubt early to bed for tomorrow looks like a full day. One seems to be ready to turn in when evening comes in this part of the country and just as early to get up in the morning.
Gave up the idea of going to the rodeo in CODY today. It is 95 miles one way, so we decided to take a chance on seeing one on our way through MONTANA. Instead we drove down to the lake and visited the museum, Fish Hatchery and spent some time in the cafeteria and on the fishing bridge. The bridge and river was alive with fishermen today and everyone appeared to be getting some. Violet and I stopped along the river on our way back to Canyon and caught two trout for our supper.
In our travels, we saw a very large herd of Elk in HAYDEN VALLEY and this evening in DUNRAVEN PASS we saw a moose and coming back near Canyon, we saw a deer nursing her two fawns. She let one man stand within 20 feet of her but it was too dark to get a good picture. Of course, there was also the everpresent bears. It seems like they set up roadside stands for the summer. The thing that seems queer is that one does not see more deer along the highway. We made two trips today up to the GRAND CANYON (of the Yellowstone) and will no doubt go back again before we leave here. This is one spot where anyone who appreciates the beauties of nature could spend many hours. I doubt if there has ever been anyone able to put the color to be found here on canvas.
This evening over to CANYON LODGE to see a show (review of the Gay Nineties) put on by the young college students who work through the park. They do all kinds of work here and some of it is not so pleasant, but they all seem to have a good time doing it. If I were in that category, I would put in my application now for a job hgere. They had a dance after the show. We stayed to watch it awhile. What awed me was the large crowd of people in this one spot. Apparently 2000. Back home now at 10:00 pm and what started out as a light schedule turned out to be a pretty full day.
Started over to MADISON JUNCTION. this morning with the idea in mind of maybe doing some fishing in the GIBBON or FIRE HOLE Rivers, but by the time we arrived there it was a little late in the day and the sun was hot so gave up the idea. Instead, we took a MADISON JCT and there, down to the South Gate. Was glad afterward that we did this as we got a look at the LEWIS and SNAKE Rivers and LEWIS LAKE all down on this southern part of the park. These are pretty streams and I would like to spend some time there with a fly rod but one just cannot see this park and do much fishing in 5 days. I would say that 5 months would come nearer being the proper amount of time required.
On the way back up after stopping to eat our lunch along the LEWIS RIVER (while the mosquitoes ate us) we came back to Canyon by the only part of the park which we had missed, from Thumb up along Yelklowstone Lake to Lake Jct.
A large crowd in the park today and people fishing everywhere. Saw more bears today than usual; guess they were all takkng advantage of this Sunday crowd. Also saw deer and this evening there were two moose just up back of our cabin on the hill, One of them was jsut about as wild as an old cow.
The bears which we have seen appear to be of two distinct types, the true Black bear, nbis color may be brown, but he's still a Black bear; and tyhe madonna of the wilds and the other is the scavenger who hangs around the garbage cans. I do not believe that they are closely related for they certainly do not look alike.
Back at the cabin after our little drive of 143 miles today. We have had our dinner at the cafeteria and packed the car and are making preparations to sadly bid this place adieu and shove off in the general direction of Seattle in the morning.
Left CANYON at 7 am. Drove up by way of NORRIS and MAMMOTH and out the South Gate at GARDNER. Saw our one and only antelope at MAMMOTH, so now I believe we have seen everything in the big game line, but a buffalo. Was rather surprised at the level wide vallies up through MONTANA. Expected more mountains in this area, however, the mountains are here all right and plenty big, but our path seemed to wind between them. Still many thousand acres of grassland with sprawling ranches dotting the countryside, but most of them just a group of log buildings and stock pens and it was hard to distinguish the living quarters from the stock pens. Sometimes we thought that the stock buildings looked better than the houses. Guess the nice ranches are too far off the beateeen path to see them from the car.
After driving 290 miles today, we find ourselves along the CLARK FORK RIVER in the vicinity of the BITTER ROOT MOUNTAINS a little ways above the town of ALLERTON, MONTANA, these mountains look from here as if they are going to be really nice and this river is as about as nice as we have seen, so far, large and very fast winding its way among the rugged cliffs and deep gorges. We have rented a modern cabin here for the night in a very isolated spot among the pines and I know we will hate to leave here in the morning. We need be in no hurry, however, as we are only 150 miles from SPOKANE, WASHINGTON.
After working a very good supper here outdoors, I decided to go fishing in the CLARK FORK RIVER at a spot the owner of the place told me about. Now, comes the payoff. I hesitate to put this into writing as I am sure this will be the principal highlight of this trip for me, it should be mentioned. If for no other reason, it will advise the green horn like myself what not to do.
Without getting proper information, I went down the very steep sides, several hundred feet down to the river. It was bad going down, but did I not have too much trouble reaching the fishing spot. I must say here, that this is the kind of spot that the fisherman dreams about. I raised several and hooked one big one, but lost him and about this time an otter came in and decided to fish the same hole, so I sat on the rocks and watched him for about 15 minutes. He sure was a better fisherman than me. To make a long story short, getting up out of this place was an ordeal which I will remember always. Several times, while crawling on my stomach up over these loose rocks a few inches at at time, I thought that I would not be here to write this. The loose rocks gave way at times and to have slipped would mean starting these tons of rocks to slide and me with them, several hundred feet down into the swirling whirlpool.
After laying on my stomach, clinging to the rocks with my finger tips and resting about 8 different times, I finally reached the top and there gave thanks to my maker.
P.S. I lost my flyrood in the ordeal.
Felt pretty good this morning after my venture of last evening. The man and I went back down the cliff (the proper place this time) to look for my fly rod, but it had slid on into the whirlpool, so I will just charge this up to lack of experience. The trip down and back was not too bad this time and as I stood down there along this mad river, I felt as if the world was mine for I am sure that this spot is seldom visited by man.
Other than the sun being very hot, our 375 mile drive today was most interesting. We finished out the rest of MONTANA, came through IDAHO and stopped and rented a cabin here along the COLUMBIA RIVER in a little town called VANTAGE, just 140 miles from SEATTLE .
The roads were very good all the way. The balance of the way in MONTANA was very nice, mountainous country. Outside of the 150 miles of the lead and silver mining district, this state was clear beyond expectations. Mostly beautiful, green mountains with an abundance of virgin pine timber. We were soon into SPOKANE and drove around over the place awhile. It appeared like a very nice city. From there, we came through miles and miles of golden wheat waiting to be harvested. This amazed me somewhat as I had not pictured WASHINGTON as a grain growing state. We drove a little out of our way to visit COULEE DAM and am glad that we did for this is quite a project. Still a lot of work going on there. Would not be surprised if there is as much water going over the dam as Niagara Falls. The little town below the dam was very nice with its flowers and lawns kept fresh looking by their ever going water sprinklers.
From COULEE DAM to this place, 165 miles was through a most rugged and very different kind of country than what we had been seeing. It appeared like we were driving up through the bottom of a very wide canyon with it's high rock walls on either side and very barren. No vegetation of any kind except this gray looking bush that one sees everywhere out through the west. These are not canyons at all, but mountains. Violet says they are not mountains when there are no trees on them. There is no doubt a lot of beauty here for most people, but I can agree with Violet, they are so desolate looking.
There are a lot of petrified trees buried in the mountains in this area and every businiess place has some in front of their place of business.
We will pull out of here for SEATTLE in the morning and we both hope that very soon, we will get into some mountains with some real trees. If we don't, I am going to be very much disappointed with this state.
We loafed along today as SEATTLE, the first leg of our trip, was only 140 miles away. Stopped and examined trees. After one sees these specimens, no doubt remains in their minds that they once had been large trees of many different species. They (unreadable) burried in these barren mountains which indicates that perhaps millions of years ago before the volcanoes, water & Ice Ages, this was a vast heavily forested area.
We were soon into the CASCADE MOUNTAINS and now began to see that WASHINGTON as had been pictured in our minds. Large amounts of Virgin forests untouched yet by man and the big diesel trucks piled high with large pine logs coming at you like locomotives. We stopped along the highway among the mammoth pine trees, some of them 5 ft. through and 200 feet high before there was a limb and marvelled at their huge size. Must say that I felt mighty insignificant.
We then drove down around LAKE WASHINGTON and ate our lunch in the shade just outside of SEATTLE. After which we came on in to the city over the world's largest floating bridge and there sprawled out along this large LAKE WASHINGTON, lay this beautiful city. What we saw of its beautiful flowers & trees on the way through town to our friends, the LANGLEYs, indicates that this is not just an average city.
Just browsed around down town today. The women shopped while I stood on the corners and watched the people. Even they look more healthy and better dressed than in most places. Just have a good clean wholesome look about them.
We spent a lot of time in the huge market on the waterfront. This was really interesting as everything from oysters to roses had that same look of perfection that seems to be characteristic of things grown out here.
Drove around this end of town with the LANGLEYs this evening and paid particular attention to the lovely flowers growing along the streets and wondered how long they would exist in Akron.
Stopped and had some fish & chips, they were very good so think we will go somewhere today and have a dinner of their delicious seafood.
Nothing exciting today just layed around the house here and took life easy. Wrote one letter to the ROTHs and prepared to leave for CANADA in the morning.
Got away by 7:00 am. Raining some but soon cleared up and we had a nice day for the trip. Went out of SEATTLE and back up over the CASCADES, over and through STEVENS PASS. This is a real pretty part of the mountains but not as nice as the way we came in.
After 100 miles or so, we were again into the bare and barren mountains which are typical of eastern Washington. This time, however, our route lay along the COLUMBIA RIVER and through the fruit country. It is rather an odd sight a one drives along the river to see the mountains rising on either side with practically no vegetation but in the valley, such perfect looking apple orchards stretched out for miles. There is also much other types of fruit, such as pears, peaches. apricots and large delicious looking sweet cherries.
When one makes a trip through this part of the country, they have a more thorough understanding of why water means life to these people. The soil seems to be very fertile and will grow anything when you can get water to it. Their irrigation system is very elaborate and at times along the mountainside, one will see water troughs which traverse the mountainside for miles up the river to bring the precious water down into the valleys to the orchards.
The cabin situation today or this evening had the ear marks of not being so good, but one always gets a break if they have a little patience just when we were about ready to sleep out for the night, we found a nice cabin on the shore of the very beautiful lake where we spent a very pleasant night with the LANGLEYs who are just next door.
As I sit here writing this, looking out over the lake, with the clearest, cleanest water I have ever seen in any lake. I have the feeling of riding along in a cabin cruiser, viewing the scenery in a different land - Well, this is CANADA.
Up at 4:30 this morning feeling very much refreshed, have had our breakfast and now being rushed by the gang to get going on our final lap on up and across the ferry to our fishing spot.
A very nice drive up through more orchards along this very long lake to where we caught the ferry at KALOWA. The trip acorss the lake did not take long and we were soon on our way on the 17 mile drive to where we started up the mountain to BEAVER LAKE, where we were going to fish. 12 miles up this very steep mountain over rough winding dirt roads with the standing timber, brushing the sides of the car made one realize that they were really getting into the wilds. After about an hour of this we suddenly came to a beautiful lake entirely surrounded by pines in very rugged country.
This was around noon and after getting settled in our log cabin and having our dinner, LANGLEY, I and the two girls went fishing. This evening, it looks very much as if we will have all the fish we can eat. As we brought in 22 nice rainbow trout all from 12" to 15" in length. We had a trout supper about 10 pm and found that they were very good eating.
This is a very remote, quiet & pleasant spot and if one desired nothing more than a complete rest, this is the right place. However, I am afraid that it is not just what the women folk expected. there is no bathing allowed in the lake and one trip in here over these roads is enough & takes away any desire for pleasure driving around over this country. This is strictly a fisherman's paradise and anyone with the know how does not have to put in very much time at that in order to keep the larder supplied.
LANGLEY and I spent 1 & 1/2 hours on the lake last evening and came in with 13 rainbows ranging in size from 12" to 16". We started out with the idea of trolling for an hour or so until conditions got favorable for fly fishing, but by the time we were through trolling and a hard storm drove us off the lake, we had all the fish we wanted.
There are several other lakes in the vicinity which the natives say are better fishing, but the only way they can be reached is by hiking through the woods for long stretches. My partner & I plan on taking one of these trips before we leave here, more to look things over than a desire for more & bigger fish.
It looks now as if a week here will satisfy every one rather than the 10 days which we had originally planned. This just bears out the old adage that when things come too easy, they loose their appeal.
The time passes very rapidly here and by the time breakfast is over, it is almost time to start getting dinner. It is around 2 pm by the time that is out of the way. We then start to think about going fishing when we care to fish.
Today or this evening, LANGLEY and I confined this activity to the day fly and did very well. 26 were taken by this method, all nice trout, so we really had a good evening's sport. I find that theses trout here are as unpredictable as anywhere else and do not have very much respect for the conventional flies as I took my 15 trout on COOPER's spider until I lost it and then resorted to his straw man. Fishing it wet and keeping it moving in little short jerks and found that it was just as effective as the spider.
Just about the same routine as yesterday, looking around after sleeping late and of course, eating more than was necessary. About 3 p.m., the partner and I decided that this lake was too easy fishing and decided to do a little exploring.
The women packed us a lunch and after getting our gear together, we hiked up over the mountain following a little trail through the woods to a spot called "ECHO LAKE", something like 3 miles away. After climbing the mountain in this altitude, it seemed very much farther to me.
This one is really isolated and a very pretty spot and we surely had it to ourselves. Just two old boats on it and not very many signs of civilization outside of a few cattle here and there, which looked about as wild as anything else. The three loons which seemed to think they owned this lake drove us half nuts with their continual crazy yelling. Every time they yelled, we could hear it twice and readily understood why this was called "ECHO LAKE".
We had not fished very long until our efforts were rewarded by LANGLEY tieing into a very good trout with his light tackle and after a 25 minute battle, we got him up to the net and he surely was a dandy. We caught only one other good fish, but did not care for after one like the first a person feels as if their efforts have been amply rewarded. The big one tipped the scales at exactly 5 lbs. and that is a lot of trout in anybody's lake.
We stayed until dark which is about 10 p.m. in this country and then started home. The hike out was a little rough, but not as bad as going in, for this time it was mostly down grade.
This morning we took the women folks for a boat ride of about 7 miles up to the end of this lake and through a narrow channel to another very pretty lake called DEE LAKE. There is also large trout here but we did not fish as we were just sight-seeing.
On the way back Violet and Ernestine, one of the LANGLEY girls, did some trolling. Violet caught 5 trout until we made her quit as we did not want her to show us up.
Back home again and laying around intending to take life easy but the memory of the big trout of the night before, was too much. So, LANGLEY and I once again found ourselves on the trail back to "ECHO". This time, Lady Luck was not on our side. We had several good raises and I hooked into one that surely was a granddaddy, but he was too close to the lily pads and evidently knew what he was doing for he soon snapped my light leads around one of the lilys so that was the end of that thrill. We fished very hard for an hour after this but that was to be my last chance for that evening. We then hit the trail for home to dream about the big one that got away and wish that we could take a few more trips back there.
That will be all of that for now at least as tomorrow is Friday and our pleasant stay here is rapidly drawing to a close and we must prepare to leave on Saturday morning.
Our activities today were confined mostly to laying around the cabin and sort of getting things together in preparation for our departure tomorrow morning. This evening, however, the two of us decided to have one more try at fly fishing, not that we wanted or needed any fish but more to see just what we could do.
For our own satisfaction we proved that our previous trips were no accident as we did very well this time out, taking our limits of 24 trout and all of them from around 14-1/2" to 16". I stood in one spot and caught 16 all on COOPER's flies, a very unorthodox fly for this type of fish and used with some very unorthodox methods, but never-the-less the system took fish.
It developed that we were not to finish our stay here without some little trouble as LANGLEY's reliable little motor, up to this time, conked out on us just as we reached the fishing grounds, so we had to row the boat back home, which was approximately 5 miles.
After paying our bill of $65.00 for our one week's stay here for the two families, we had our (very light supper) finished packing the car and then hit the sack intending to get an early start out of here in the morning.
If one appreciates sheer rugged beauty, the drive of 130 miles through the Canadian Rockies on Rout #1 from near KAMLOOPS, B.C. to HOPE, just 60 miles from the Washington/Canadian border, I am sure we'll (furnish?) anything to be desired in that respect.
This was part of our 252 miles today and consumed 7 of the 13 hours that we were on the road and I am sure that no-one but the foolhardy would try to drive it in any faster time. So for this trip, we have been on some pretty nerve-wrenching highways, but for me, that puts the fear of God in you and keeps your hair standing up or your head up in your throat, this one remains number 1 on my list until something better comes along.
The entire trip is a narrow, winding road which at times goes to the edge of the beautiful FRASER RIVER, then soon reaches a height of 7000 feet, is carved out of the sides of these rocky mountain walls and with seldom a guard rail on these sharp curves to prevent your car to go hurtling down the steep cliffs to the river, several thousand feet below.
As one drives along at top speed of 20 miles an hour and is able to take their eyes from the road to catch fleeting glances of this rugged beauty as the scene changes as they round each curve, they will marvel at the solemn magnitude of these lofty mountains. Those of lesser height are heavily forested with the different varieties of evergreen timber. While the much higher ones of solid rock with their snow-capped crowns give one the feeling that he is as close to them as anyone has ever been. All one does is look at this beauty at a distance...they do not touch it.
As we drove along for the first 50 miles, we were too enwrapped with these things to give any thought to anything else, when suddenly we came upon two cars which had just met head-on and then we became aware of the lurking dangers on each of these elbow turns and began to wish that we were out of them and down on lower and more reliable highways. For the next 75 miles, we thought that we never would be, until at 7:00 p.m. we dropped down on what was to be our final descent to the river's edge in a narrow valley and soon found a cabin for the night.
We only made one major stop today. That was in KAMLOOPS, where the women went shopping for English made china. This was a mistake and from now on, will make it a point to shop only in grocery stores.
Came through a lot of Indian country and one small Indian village, they appeared to live very much like we do in this town. There's many scattered, little patches of graveyard along the steep sides of the mountains, made one feel sort of sad for this passing race of people.
The cool shower bath this evening was rather refreshing and very sorely needed after my week of roughing it at BEAVER LAKE and I feel like I am back in civilization again.
This is the end of another day but I still want to think of the trip yesterday over what we have now learned is The CARIBOU TRAIL. For my money, the Caribou can have it and if this writer ever sees it again, it will be from the observation car of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Had a good rest last night in a cabin under the pines where the trail, railroad and muddy FRASER RIVER all drop down together and start out into something like civilization on their final lap toward VANCOUVER and the PACIFIC OCEAN. We had a very good breakfast at the little tourist restaurant, of brown eggs, hot cakes and coffee & honey and was surprised that the cost was only $1.00 for the two of us. However, later on when we saw fresh eggs along the highway for $.25 per dozen, this was not so surprising.
We drove up to see MT. BAKER, which took us approx. 80 miles off of our route, but we have no regrets about that as no-one should miss seeing this mighty monarch of a mountain. As we stood at one place in the valley in the boiling hot sun, while the skiers were driving by us with their skis, we lost no time in heading toward this wonderful sight and prospects of a much cooler climate.
After 25 miles of continuous climbing over winding road that reversed so often that when one looked down, it was unbelievable that these were all the same road, we finally reached it's summit of 10,100 feet.
We loafed around here for an hour or so taking pictures, playing in the snow, but mostly just sitting and looking at the snowy peaks sticking up into the clouds. It was sure quite a contrast to come up from the sweltering heat of the valley to this cool climate where people were enjoying winter sports.
On the way back, we stopped along a good sized river, made by the melting snow on this mountain and all had a good picnic dinner and then came on into SEATTLE once again. This time on route #99 which gave us a look at The SAN JUAN ISLANDS in PUGET SOUND.
Today has been more or less like a vacation should be: sleeping late and just laying around the house doing nothing. However, Mrs. LANGLEY had material to cover her drain boards so I had to demonstrate my limited knowlesge of that business and offered to do the job for her. I took it in easy stages though and got about half finished. Lots of company and too much eating to make much progress.
Up at 7:00 this morning with the idea of getting the drain board finished and out of the way. Have had the LANGLEY kitchen torn up for two days and she is no doubt thinking I am rather slow.
Finished the thing around noon and everybody seems to be well pleased with the job, even me. Had LANGLEY take the car to his retread shop and it proved to be a wise move for when he looked the tires over, there was plenty of hidden trouble. The right front was ready to blow and I now dread to think of what might of happened if it had blown on the CARIBOU TRAIL. One of the rear tires had the tube lopped over and was ready to go flat at any time. The left front blew out going down through STEVENS PASS when we left for B.C. but as luck had it, we were going slow at the time. Our tire trouble had been sufficient for this trip but has caused us very little inconvenience. They are in good shape now, the result of having a good friend here in the tire repair game.
Took a drive this evening and saw some more of SEATTLE and once more feel like saying something about the beauty of the shrubbery and flowers seen everywhere. People seem to take great pride in beautifying their yards and gardens and the ordinary homes look about as good as the better ones in that respect.
Stopped down on the water front and had a most delicious supper at a sea-food restaurant. I would enjoy that part of living near the ocean
The ants are crawling again and as we are pretty well rested up, we are getting things together in preparation for going across on the ferry to the OLYMPIC PENINSULA, where we plan to spend the next two days among the Indians and seeing the wild part of WASHINGTON.
This morning around 9 o'clock we performed the very difficult task of bidding the LANGLEY's good-bye. They have sure been nice to us and we feel that during the nearly two weeks spent in their company has developed a very lasting friendship.
We took the ferry at SEATTTLE for BREMERTON which is about a one hour trip and a very nice ride. Sat on the upper deck all the way and was able to get a good view of the large harbor. There were many ships docked including flat tops and cruisers laying at anchor, very silent & grim-looking which made one do a lot of thinking about the recent world war and wonder if & when they would ever be used again. The sailor's barracks on the islands and signs of where they had had submarine nets across these channels leading in from the Pacific to these vital posts made one aware of the activity here during the war. The aircraft carrier was the Tycondaroga, the one on which my brother Bob was on when it took the terrible mauling from the Japs & was almost sunk in the South Pacific.
The trip around the peninsula has been uneventful so far. We have not been able to see very far as it has been raining since we left the ferry at BREMERTON. Considering our late start this morning, the 190 miles we made today was very good. Here at FAIRHOLM where we have a cabin is about half way around so with an early start in the morning and good luck, we should be back through OLYMPIA & TACOMA, somewhere near RAINIER by tomorrow evening. So far, this has been a very nice drive, practically all forest with many rivers and the timber mostly all virgin. The country seems rather wild and appears to be getting wilder as we go along.
We are now at the farthest point from home it is possible to get and stay in this country and what burns Violet up is that she saw a woman here at the cabin with a dress just like hers.
Tonight, from our cabin door we have a wonderful view of the mighty RAINIER, 35 miles away. With the glasses, it looks like two miles. At present the planes are circling around it's summit guiding a searching party to a Navy plane which crashed there in December of 1946 with 32 Navy men aboard. There is a terific lot of snow up there and from here it looks like climbing to anywheres near the summit would be an impossible task.
There was rain again today for the balance of the way around the peninsula. We enjoyed the trip immensely however as we just played along between showers. The first point of interest was a 40 mile jaunt off the beaten path, up into the OLYMPIC NATIONAL FOREST. Here we saw some of the largest trees either of us had ever seen. A great many of them were around 8 to 10 feet in diameter. There were areas here & there where the trees were completely covered with moss and their overhanging branches, completely covering the little narrow dirt road, made one feel that they were driving through fairyland.
Soon after this we came out to the edge of the PACIFIC OCEAN and went down on the beach where the breakers were rolling about 4 feet high. After we gathered shells and colored stones, we watched a party digging clams and learned a little something about that art. One has to work hard and be very fast at that business for those babys sure can go down deep, but quick. Violet could not resist the temptation to take off her shoes to wade out on the smooth, sandy beach to where the breakers rolled in over her knees. The sun was shining now and this was such a fascinating spot that neither of us cared much about leaving it, even if we were behind schedule
In fact, we were having such a good time that we forgot we had not had our dinner and it was now nearly 2 o'clock. We have been in the habit of forgetting things on this trip. I left my jacket in SEATTLE and the day we went over the CARIBOU TRAIL in B.C. we both forgot that that day was our wedding anniversary.
We soon found a spot along a little river, called HUMPTULIP, and are our lunch then came on into OLYMPIA. Drove up around the capitol building, which is very beautiful and saw a lot more gorgeous flowers. Our path lay through TACOMA but we did not stop here as it was getting late so we came on through on route 5 to a little town by the name of ENUMCLAW.
The peninsula is a nice part of WASHINGTON. Very wild & very thinly settled. There is a lot of virgin timber but the white man is leaving his mark by rapidly cutting it off right up to the edge of the national forests. There has also been a lot of it destroyed by fire in past years. The lumber business flourishes here, in fact, that is the only industry.
We have gone high hat tonight and paid, from necessity, $5.00 for the place near Mt. RAINIER. It is large, clean and modern, however, but I am going to have to do a lot of good sleeping to get $5.00 worth.
Our luck ran out on us at RAINIER. The morning was cloudy & raining, so after driving 25 miles up onto this mountain, or as far as one can drive from this entrance, we found ourselves in very thick clouds and it snowing quite hard. We now realized our view of the night before from our cabin in ENUMCLAW was to be our best. The drive, however, was very interesting as we came through perhaps 50 more miles of virgin forests and the uniform coneshaped trees on the steep sides of RAINIER looked like a painting. The abundance of large stately trees to be found throughout the western part of WASHINGTON are always fascinating to me.
Our third trip over the CASCADE MOUNTAINS, this time through NACHES PASS, gave us a very good look at this lovely chain of mountains and was perhaps the prettiest trip of all from a scenic standpoint. After a drive of quite some length we left these behind and came out onto the sage-brush country with its bare hills where nothing grows until we hit the YAKIMA VALLEY with its mammoth green orchards of apples, peaches, cherries, pears, hops, grapes and most anything that can be grown. One can readily see here how man makes the desert bloom like a rose when he is able to get the precious water to it. If people could see more of what these mammoth irrigation projects do for this part of the country, they would not object so much to the amount of money spent here by the government. Here water is wealth, for everyone.
At three p.m. we came into this prosporous shiny new town of RICHLAND and soon found Violet's brother's place where we expect to visit for a few days.
Slept late this morning, had breakfast and after Violet's sister, Miriam arrived we all took a drive over to PASCO to leave our films & have lunch. Stopped on the way back to visit an agate shop and was amazed at the beauty to be found in a lot of these stones found in this part of the country, after they are cut & polished. Cutting them is quite an art and the various pictures found in the heart of some of these crystal formations is unbelievable. After they are made up into rings, pins, etc. they are really a quality product, but expensive.
Took a drive around and saw most of this pretty triving community here in the desert between the YAKIMA and COLUMBIA RIVERS. It is quite a contrast to come out of a bustling city like SEATTLE into a quiet neat, clean-looking place like this where they do not run you down if you don't go over 25 miles an hour. The traffic laws are strictly enforced here by the deputy sheriff, however, there is no city Gvt.
Manufacture of atomic energy, I wonder for what purpose, makes this town of 16,000 here possible and everyone is sure it will soon reach a peak of 35,000 people. From what I have seen so far, I can agree with them. The plants are scattered up along the dry COLUMBIA RIVER VALLEY from 10 to 35 miles away in a very restricted area. I, no doubt, know as much now about the industry as I ever will. For I am sure that the many people who work there know but little about it.
Miriam, Harry, Violet and I took the truck and drove out on the desert to what was the bombing range, on a 3 hour expedition to hunt for agate and various rock formations. This is quite a passtime in this part of the country and quite a few people go in for it. I could get quite interested in this hobby but have learned that it takes a practiced eye to recognize the things of value. We did, however find a few agates & petrified pieces and quite a lot of attractive colored stones, but of little value. I hope to do a little more of this while we are here.
It has been raining quite a bit since we arrived here and these people are rather embarrased becuase this is supposed to be a land of perpetual sunshine. Perhaps the rain is tracking us people from Ohio.
Spent the afternoon & evening in the park here attending a little community picnic, then home and across the field to a sofball game, but got rained out. Softball is quite an activity here. There is 2 games played nearly every evening and some of it is really high class.
Just browsing around today. Made a trip over to PASCO to have a tooth out and again look the town over.
Not much to see, however, as this is just a small town of around 8,000 people, and about half the size of RICHLAND.
Saw two more soft-ball games this evening.
Miriam came out this morning, so her, I and Violet went rock hunting again. Found some nice agates & other stones. I am going to have to stop this business or trade the car on a truck. Drove into PASCO for the balance of our pictures, but they werer not ready so will have to make another trip in there. These people do not get axcited about making satisfied customers, especially if they know you are from RICHLAND.
Back home now and will soon have supper then pursue the usual past time here, go watch some more soft-ball games.
Back to PASCO this A.M. Pictures still not ready but I waited on them this time. Came back to RICHLAND for a picnic dinner. Miriam cooked a grilled steak dinner and we all rated it among the best steaks we had ever eaten. We will have to remember today some of these on the ARCHER's outdoor fireplace when we get home.
Went stone hunting again in the afternoon. That sort of thing is sort of a disease once one gets started on it. Found 3 nice agates. The car was sorely in need of a bath, so I took care of that and then in the evening, went to another ball game. Saw a colored team from SIOUX CITY called FISHERS GHOSTS who played some high class ball (games). After the regular game, they put on a GHOST game (without a ball) and it was very funny & entertaining.
Said goodbye to the folks here this morning and got away about 9 o'clock. In an hour or so, we were 20 miles up the COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE where we headed up over the top and towards PENDLETON. This stretch of around 90 miles was about as desolate as any. Mostly all sand and sagebrush so level that one could see for miles in any direction. After this, we came into The BLUE MOUNTAINS, which was a welcome sight after this prairie driving. We had our lunch here among the clear, healthy-looking pines, where I found a nice purse in the restroom (no money in it) and turned it into the Ranger Station.
Shorlty after getting out of these mountains, we were into IDAHO once again, but not through the pleasant, green mountains which we went through farther north as our way to SEATTLE. This state also has its share of prairie & sagebrush and no water except irrigation water from the rivers in the valleys. In fact, we had 150 miles or it until we got into BOISE around 7 pm. We did not stop in this city but what we saw going through was fairly nice. It is the capitol and the state's largest city with a population of 26,000 people and god knows how many jack rabbits as the route 30 was laying full of them. The cabin situation was bad in BOISE, so we caem on through for 50 miles and finally found one at 8 o'clock. But in the lonely sagebrush so it begins to look like this whole big end of IDAHO is all that type of country. However, there is an abundance of grain raised on the high plateaus of OREGON and IDAHO, which they call dry farming out here. Of course, as in WASHINGTON & D.C. in the low places where they can get irrigation water to the land. They have their quota of lovely fruit orchards and it still amazes me that these grass-green trees stop against the sides of these brown, burned mountains like someone drew a line with a straight edge.
Our 378 miles made us a little late this evening. It is now 9:00 and no supper yet. However, I smell the beef stew boiling so it won't be long now.
Don't let the above name fool you. We are still in the sagebrush and next door to a bunch of drunks so not much sleep last night. Got away at 8:00 am, tired and sleepy. It was fairly cool for awhile so we did not mind the prairie too much for the next couple of hours. We were then into the farm belt and will have to give IDAHO credit for raising something besides rabbits. For about 100 miles, thre were a lot of very fine fruit & grain farms along the SNAKE RIVER. This was not to last however. The sun had now started to go to work in earnest (around 100 degrees) and we had something to learn yet about dry country. Just about 150 straight miles through more hot sand and brush until Violet was most done to a crisp. She says for her they can give this part of the west back to the Indians.
This brought us well into UTAH where there were many miles of grain fields at the base of the bare mountains. For 600 miles outside of BOISE, IDAHO, OGDEN, UTAH was the first spot we saw on the OREGON TRAIL that looked like civilization should. BRIGHAM is a very neat little city which may be due to the fact that it was founded by Brigham YOUNG, who had plenty of wives to see that things wre kept in apple pie order.
Route 59 from here to SALT LAKE is very scenic and runs parallel to some very high, rugged mountains. We ran into quit a bit of rain along here, the first in I can't remember when, and needless to say it was a welcome relief to a couple of people who had begun to feel like desert rats.
We are now in the outskirts of SALT LAKE CITY where we have cabined, supped on mash potatoes and new corn and are prearing to go into town & hunt up Art's [son-in-law: Arthur Melvin ROTH} sister [Mildred LaBertha ROTH_SPRINGMAN].
About 2 hours was all the time spent in the city this morning. Just enough to start us on our way in the hot sun. SALT LAKE CITY, pop. around 200,000, can really be numbered in the upper bracket. It is very neat and clean with wide streets, with first class stores & hotels and good looking homes. We took in the capitol bldg, tabernacle & temple. We did not get into the Temple, however, but did not feel too bad about this for we understand that even the Mormons do not get in there until they reach a certain degree of purity. These places are all worthwhile seeing and are visited by many hiundreds of people daily and I would reccommend to anyone that they be put on their list as main points of interest. The exhibit in the Capitol Bldg. of pioneer days and UTAH's products are very educational. The pipe organ in the tabernacle is quite unique with its 7000 tubes all made from pine trees. We sat in there for a little while and listened to the history of the building. It is really a great house of worship.
Eleven o'clock when we left here and the sun was very hot but after getting on route 40 our drive proved to be much more pleasant than yesterday. Most of the 200 miles today was through the scenic part of UTAH. The road follows the valleys through a lot of mountains covered with sagebrush & mesquite, the latter very green which made the mountains very pretty. This along with the red dirt and many rock formations was something different and much cooler than the flat sandy sagebrush country of yesterday.
We have a cabin in VERNAL, UTAH tonight. Not very far from the COLORADO line and 330 miles from DENVER.
This was a very full day and about as enjoyable as any we have had. Got into DENVER at 6:00 pm, had our supper, took a shower and found Art's brother, Wayne, with very little trouble and had a nice visit with them
We were kept real busy all day with seeing ? and over 428 mile drive just outside of VERNAL, UTAH. We were 14 miles out of our way to see the DINOSAUR QUARRY. This trip proved to be time well spent for now there were at one time, such huge animals as these. The exhibit at the museum and the tracks and bones embedded in the rocks at the quarry will straighten anyone out on that point. This place is a National Monmument
The balance of UTAH which we saw is very scenic and all the way through COLORADO to DENVER on route 40 & 34 there is about as much beautiful scenery as anywhere we have been. Crossed the CONTINENTAL DIVIDE around noon and the cool climate on top was quite a relief from the hotter climate in the lowlands. The summit is around 9500 feet but we found out later in the day that this was not so high. When we hit route 34 we again decided to take another jaunt out of our way and went up through the ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK. No-one should miss this on their trips through the west.. Although not so large, it is much nicer than YELLOWSTONE and one can really see the ROCKY MOUNTAINS when they cross the summit here at over 12,000 feet. This has been the highest and hardest climb we have had. On the divide, it was cool but up here it was cold. We drove 70 miles of our course and it took us 8 hours to get over, but the many magnificent views made it well worth the effort.
We next went through ROOSEVELT NATIONAL PARK and its wonderful scenery of forests and red granite canyons leade me to believe that there is no unpleasant parts of this state. However, we will know more about that tomorrow. I know we have passed up many nice things to see here but there is just not enough time.
We had our daily picnic lunch along the YAMPA RIVER (more stones) and later drove along the COLORADO for a ways. This is a very pretty stream, but much smaller than I had imagined. COLORADO also has its share of cattle and we drove through many miles of its grain belt in getting into DENVER.
If there had been a shade tree along th highway in the 300 mile stretch between DENVER and NORTH PLATTE, NEB. we would have camped under it instead of driving that distance in the boiling hot sun. The thermometer said 100 degrees, but it felt much hotter
We looked DENVER over & did some shopping for cowboy hats for Danny & Billy [ROTH]. They took off around 10 o'clock on Route 6 for points east. It looks from here like our sightseeing on this trip is about over. Today, driving was all through the flat farm lands so there was not very much of interest along the way. Quite different than our trip of the day before.
Another tire melted off the car this afternoon just one more to go and we wil have new rubber all around. I must make it a point to mention this to Goodyear for this sort of thing does their product no good through the west.
We have a cabin tonight on BUFFALO BILL"s old camp ground in NORTH PLATTE and I don't think the dam place has been cleaned up since he left.
NEBRASKA corn looks nicer than IOWA's, however, it is a lot wilder country than we had imagined. We no sooner got across the border when we were chased by a Buffalo.
The weather just as hot as yesterday so layed around in the city park for four hours in COLUMBUS, NEBRASKA until it cooled off a little. We then drove until ten o'clock tonight until we found a room in a tourist home in CARROLL, IOWA. We made 378 miles so think we will do the same thing tomorrow. There is nothing to see but corn fields anyways and we have those in Ohio.
Still very hot. Been sleeping days and driving days as well sleeping & driving nights until we are not sure if this is yesterday or today. Anyways, we are so near home and the scenery is all the same that we both have jsut the one thing on our minds now, "home". It is peculiar how important that word gets after one has been away for so long.
We drove until late last night as it was too hot to sleep anyways, then, when we did decide to stop we found the cabin situation bad so we just got out the cots and slept along the roadside. This sort of thing is not bad when one gets in the right frame of mind for it. Personally, I would like to do it more often. I think the wife cold learn to like it too, with a little more experience.
As there was a bad storm brewing in JOLIET this morning, we folded our cots and got under way early. Getting anxious now. This proved to be a very wise move for shortly after we got on the road, it stormed very hard for about 2 hours. This was about 99.9% more rain than we have seen for six weeks. This has been more than welcome, however, it looks now like we will have a little more cooler driving from here home.
The sun finally came out and it warmed up but was not near as hot as the previous several days. We both, taking turns, stuck to the wheel pretty steady although the many beautiful roadside parks throughout OHIO was rather enticing. that is one thing that this state has that most of the other states do not have. After 391 miles, we finally reached AKRO N and home which was a welcome sight after our 6 weeks of gypsy living throughout the northwest.
Not that we did not enjoy this sort of life, for we both did, every minute of it, but these things always have to come to an end so now that it is over we will both have to try and overcome this daze which we are in and prepare to get back in harness once againm then do a little dreaming for awhile about another similar trip sometime in the near future.
This was written purely for home consumption & perhaps be referred to sometime in the future when we are in our dotage. Anyone else who may read this, we ask that they bear with us and please overlook all the grammatical errors and poorly concocted sentences, mispelled words, etc. for at times it was written under trying conditions.