The Trip to Kansas (1963)

Forty seven years later, we still call it the trip to Kansas. Seven people, in a Chevy II station wagon for two weeks. That’s what I still call fun!


With a covered luggage carrier secured to the roof, we headed out after Dad got off work. After dropping Pepe off in Sacramento with Uncle Darley and Aunt Edna, we drove all night.

Breakfast was along the side of the road, somewhere in a barren area – Nevada perhaps. Having traveled through Nevada on numerous occasions, I believe it is still the same. Same sandy earth, same sagebrush. This was my first experience with the little boxes of cereal that are wax lined so the you can cut open the box along the front, peel back the flaps and pour the milk right in. Dazzling technology.

Martha and I rode like queens, being the ‘little girls’ we were blatantly spoiled by our older siblings. These older siblings were jammed hip to hip in the middle seat. Martha and I were in the third seat, which faced backwards. Although the feet well had been filled with trip necessities, we still had room to stretch out our legs in front of us and play Barbie. We made pulling motions with our hands and fists and most passing truckers would reward us with a long blast of their horn.

Next stop – The Great Salt Lake! We had a great time floating in the lake, which has a high salinity factor that makes it easy. When returned to the hotel, the owner informed us that all of the city’s sewage is dumped in the lake. We spent the evening rinsing off in his pool.

At this point, the details get a little fuzzy for me. I remember an Indian museum in Oklahoma. There was a diorama that told the story of a 6 year old Indian girl who lived thousands of years ago. Being a 6 year old myself I was fascinated, and very sad to learn that she had now been dead for a very long time.

There were relatives in Kansas to meet, one older lady who gave me a tiny doll to replace one broken by a wildly flung screen door. In Kansas, Dianne met her future husband, Richard. There were paddled boats in Arkansas, a frog fry at the Wardlow's in Sedan, Kansas with frog’s legs poppin out of the pan and ‘shicken-fried steak” in New Mexico. Also in New Mexico was the Carlsbad Cavern, with the bottomless pit that my brother threatened to throw me in to (yes you did, Bill!). We posed for a photo on the edge of the Grand Canyon at dawn. More stops in Las Vegas and Bellflower before returning home.

Hard to believe we did it all in just two weeks. Hard to believe those two weeks can hold memories for a life time.