Tag Archives: Family Vacation

My Southwest Adventure Part~4

13 Nov

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

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The next day I was tooling along across West Texas when, all of a sudden, I found myself 1on a 2-lane road out in the middle of nowhere.  I had not studied the map too closely, but thought I remembered that all I had to do was to stay on U.S. 84 (4-lane road) until I picked up I-40 at Santa Rosa, NM.   In reality, U.S. 60 had split off from U.S. 84 at Fort. Sumner, NM and I didn’t realize I had missed the turn.   I had traveled several miles without seeing a road sign of any kind, and began to worry about my being stranded on this lonely road that looked like it never ended.2

 Have you ever prayed for a road sign?  Well, I did.  And, a few miles later, God provided a U.S. 60 road sign, and I knew I was on the wrong road.  I stopped and checked the map closely, discovering that if I just continued on U.S. 60 to U.S. 285, I could still connect with I-40 at Clines Corners, NM, without having to do any backtracking.  Whew! What a relief, especially since I would have enough gas to get me there.  Somewhere along that desolate stretch of highway, I went thru Muleshoe, TX and Texico, NM as I slipped across the border into “The Land of Enchantment”, and finally to I-40.

Back on Interstate I-40 heading West, my next stop was Albuquerque, NM to visit my 3childhood friend, Leon, who still lives in the same house he did when we were growing up together in the mid-1940s.  We had a great time recalling our younger days and he introduced me to his cat, Rusty, and gave me a tour of his model circus railroad project.  Later he went with me to the National Nuclear Museum and the Ernie Pyle Library.  We experienced one of New Mexico’s dust storms late that afternoon, and I remembered how the wind could almost knock you over, and the wind driven sand could blast the paint off the front of your car and pit your windshield, if you were foolish enough to drive into one of those storms.  And, there was no way you could get your house windows closed tight enough to keep that fine sand from filtering into the house, and getting all over things.

The next day, after breakfast at Leon’s favorite restaurant, we toured the Sunset Memorial Park where his and my parents were buried.  I had made arrangements with a couple for lunch that day, and we met and visited over a great Chef’s Salad at the famous Frontier Restaurant across the street from the University of New Mexico, where DiVoran and my sister Judy had attended.  Of course, Norm is an R/C model airplane enthusiast like me, and his wife, Pat, is the sister of our Chiropractor in Florida, so we had lots to talk about.  What a joy it was to meet and get to know them.

After lunch, I decided to take a trip down memory lane by driving the length of Central Ave. (which was the 2-lane U.S. Route 66 when I lived there).  East of town, many of the 4motels I used to throw papers to were still in business, and the Highland Theater where DiVoran worked selling tickets was still there.  Leon told me he was a ticket taker and usher at the Highland Theater about the same time that DiVoran was working there, but he didn’t remember ever meeting her there.  The Ice Arena had been turned into part of a shopping center, and Highland High School, where DiVoran and I met, all those many years ago, was now three times as big as it was when we attended.  Further down Central, our football rivals, Albuquerque High School had been closed and converted into condos (of all things), while the First Baptist Church, which my folks and I attended all the years we lived there, had moved and their buildings were now empty and up for sale.  What a shock that was!

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                                                                        —–To Be Continued—–

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Our Trip to Maui~Part 7

3 Nov

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

 JUDY

We decided that our last day in Maui would be an easy one, since we had been “on the go” the rest of the time.  So we drove up the coastline to Kapalua.  Kapalua is a rather expensive “plantation” resort, and home to the PGA tour’s, the Hyundai Tournament of Champions every year.  If you are into golf – that’s the course to play, and the tournament to watch.

The drive up the coastline was breathtaking.  We stopped quite a few times, just to get some pictures.  Fred found some catamarans in a little bay, that was literally “picture perfect.” He found what we think are some coral beds. We saw swimmers on the beach as well as in the water..Blue, blue water.  Really gorgeous. We drove down to Lahaina and had lunch at the Aloha Mixed Plate again.

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The remainder of the day was spent just resting and packing for our return flight to the mainland the next day.  And then we just spent time visiting with Fred’s Dad.  It was a quiet and very precious time for us. We decided to have one last meal of that delicious Ono fish, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

The next day, on our way to the airport, we stopped and took a picture of the island of Molokai – the only one we have without clouds covering the top of the island.  Lovely! 6
We had a short hop from Maui to Honolulu, and then from there to Seattle.  We were late arriving, so we stayed the night in a hotel before driving the next day back to Shelton.

Our Maui trip was over – so fast!  We are just so grateful that God allowed us to have this wonderful vacation time – and time with Dad, and for him to rest.

And then, home sweet home – our bed felt soooooo good that night!

The End

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THE ELEPHANT WALK

9 Jun

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

 

JUDY

                                                     

 2When I was a small child, we lived in Dallas, Texas.  My mother’s mother and father lived in San Antonio, so it was probably a short ride (about four hours in today’s time) for a trip to visit with Granny and Grandpa.  I have many pictures of my brother and me in Granny’s yard.  They lived in the country, so there were lots of animals – particularly peacocks, cats and dogs.  Interesting times.

 Mother told me once that, as I was sitting on Granny’s back step, they heard me scream and then cry out.  When they rushed to see what was the matter – they discovered that the peacock had plucked my peanut butter and jelly sandwich out of my hand, and I was furious!

 San Antonio has a lot to offer – whether you are living there or just visiting.  And we 3found that one of the best zoos in this country is in San Antonio.  I actually remember visiting there often.  Remember – we moved from Texas to New Mexico when I was just four years old – so that is a long memory!  But one memory that has stayed with me for a very long time, is the elephant ride we took.  I have pictures of my brother and me on one of the elephants.
4While I don’t know whether or not the San Antonio Zoo still offers those elephant rides, I do know the zoo was still offering elephant rides when our girls were young and we were living in San Antonio.  I have pictures of both our girls – along with me – on an elephant ride.  I’m not sure Janet remembers that ride – she was pretty young – but I’m pretty sure that Karen does.

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Apparently an elephant ride isn’t such an uncommon event.  Fred’s sister and her husband took a trip to Africa not too long ago, and they took an elephant ride, as well!

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It’s always been interesting to me just what my mind has stored away.  But it only takes a comment, or a picture, to bring an event back into focus.  And the elephant ride of my childhood stands out as a grand event.

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Our Trip Across America-Part 12

26 Dec

   A Slice of Life                       

 Bill Lites

Bill

 

We headed East out of Westcliffe on SR-96 and then South on SR-165 so we could stop and take a tour of one the most interesting local attractions in the area.  It’s called Bishop Castle.  Located on the edge of the San Isabel National Forest, it is a truly amazing structure.  What started out to be a one-room stone cottage in 1969, over the years, has turned into a life’s project, for Jim Bishop, who has built the entire “Castle” by hand.  As it stands now, the “Castle” has three full stories of interior rooms, complete with a Grand Ballroom, soaring towers and bridges with vistas of a hundred miles, and a Fire-Breathing Dragon, all making the Bishop Castle a most unforgettable experience!

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We picked up I-25 North out of the mountains, stopping in Pueblo to visit DiVoran’s grade school friend Joan and her family.  She and DiVoran had a wonderful time remembering “The Good Old Days” they spent growing up together in Westcliffe.  It wasn’t long after leaving Pueblo, heading East on US-50 that we had our 2nd flat tire on the camper.   I guess all those sharp rocks we encountered going up and down Hermit Lake Road weakened that old tire.  We were able to find a replacement tire in Lamar, CO and were soon back on the road toward Dodge City, Kansas.

 

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Of course, we had to stop for a spell in what was the famous frontier town to have a Sarsaparilla at the Long Branch Saloon, and take a stroll out to see Boot Hill, where some of the West’s most famous outlaws were laid to rest.

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From there, it was on East through parts of Kansas and Missouri, where we encountered some of the vast mid-American heartland, with its huge farms of miles and miles of lush wheat and corn crops.

 

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At some point we crossed that grand old  Mississippi River, with all its commerce and history.  Boy that sure is a lot of water!  It was about this time in the trip that we had our 3rd camper tire flat.  What a pain!  I said to myself, Come on now, there are only three tires on this camper, and now we have had all three go flat.  I hope this will be the last of them!

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If the picture above looks familiar, it’s because I was becoming an expert at changing those camper tires.  After replacing that 3rd tire, we now had three brand new tires on the camper, and we never had another tire problem with that camper as long as we had it.

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We continued our travels Southeast, making stops in Tennessee and George, and we were awed by the sights of some of the most beautiful parts of the Appalachian Mountains we passed through.

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As we got closer to home, we stopped in Atlanta, Georgia and Tallahassee, Florida.  Part of the joy of this trip was to experience the different parts of the country, its history, and the way people have lived down through the years.  The southern plantations were of special interest and beauty, as they were surrounded  by so much history and grandeur.

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What a great adventure we had visiting our good friends and relatives and seeing all those wonderful sights across our beautiful country.  But now we were heading for the barn, and there was no way to stop us.  After the six weeks on the road, we were all ready to get home, see our Florida friends and sleep in our own beds again.  Boy did that feel good!

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By the way, remember the freeze-dried brine shrimp we bought in Salt Lake City, Utah?  Well, sure enough, when we got home, we put them in water, and they came back to life.  That was Amazing!   Who knows, maybe this is where the Science Fiction folks got some of their ideas.

Well, that just about wraps up “Our Trip Across America.”  I hope you have enjoyed it as much as we did.

 

—-The End —-

 

 

 

 

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Our Trip Across America- Part 10

12 Dec

A Slice of Life

   Bill Lites

                            Bill

The next major attraction we visited was the Great Salt Lake.  As we neared Salt Lake City, Utah we discovered the city is skirted by some of the most formidable looking mountains we had ever seen.  We swam (or I should say floated) in the super salty water of the lake, bought a package of freeze-dried brine shrimp, and took pictures of the famous Mormon temple.  That night at the campground, we were surprised to be entertained with, of all things, an outdoor movie, and even popcorn.

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The next day we headed Southeast, through the Southern Utah and into Western Colorado mountains.   After an overnight stay in Grand Junction, we headed East, on US-50, which runs along the Arkansas River.  This was familiar territory for DiVoran as she and her parents had made many trips along this route.  This leg of the trip took us through Montrose, Gunnison and Salida to Canon City, Colorado to visit some of DiVoran’s relatives. This was where she spent a lot of her growing up years with her grandmother and her grandfather who had worked as a guard at what was originally the Colorado State Territorial Prison.

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It became a Colorado State Prison in 1876 and operated as such until it was closed in 1988. At that time, it was converted into a very interesting museum, showing conditions at the prison during those early days.

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An aunt and three cousins and their families were still living there. We had some great visits with them, and enjoyed a wonderful walk along the Arkansas River that runs through town.

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Canon City is well-known for the America’s highest suspension bridge, which spans the Royal Gorge.  Amazingly, we discovered the total cost of building the bridge in 1929 was $60,000 and only took 5 months to complete.

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The railroad that runs alongside the Arkansas River, at the bottom of the gorge, was originally used by the Denver & Rio Grande Western (D&RGW) Railroad in the 1870s & 1880s as the transcontinental bridge between Denver, Colorado  and Salt Lake City, Utah.  Use of the Royal Gorge portion of the track system was ended in 1997.  Then a couple of years later it was purchased by a private corporation and reopened by the Royal Gorge Route Railroad to provide daily scenic excursion trips from Canon City to Parkdale and return.  On one of our many trips back to Canon City, DiVoran and I took that “Scenic Excursion Trip” and it was an outstandingly beautiful experience.  We can highly recommend it.

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Another less known attraction in Canon City is the Skyline Drive, located on the western edge of the city.  This is a 3-mile long road that runs, one way, along the top of a 800 ft. high ridge overlooking the city.  Skyline Drive was a prison project started in 1903, and was built entirely by hand by the prisoners.  The road has been improved over the years, and offers a glorious view of the city below.

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—-To Be Continued—-

 

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Our Trip Across America Part 7

22 Nov

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

 The next morning we headed West again, this time on I-8 across the desert, thru Yuma and El Centro.  It was so hot, even with the car A/C on full blast, we still had to continually suck on ice cubes to try to stay cool, and we were still hot.   I kept expecting the engine to overheat, but luckily it didn’t, and we finally came out of that desert heat into the cool of San Diego, California.  Wow, what a relief that was after several days of blistering heat!

 

 

 

 

DiVoran and I were married there while I was in the Navy, and we lived our first eight months there before I was shipped out to Japan for a six month cruise of the Far East.

We visited DiVoran’s brother David and his family who lived in Bonita, which was just south of San Diego, almost on the Mexican border.  He had a Mexican housekeeper named Angelica who hadn’t been in the U.S. very long.   She had come from a rich family in Mexico and didn’t know the first thing about house cleaning, but boy could she cook!  She made the best Chili Rellanos I ever ate.  David’s house was so close to the border that he said he could sometimes see the Mexican illegals walking thru his back yard on their way to town to look for work.

 

                    

Our next stop was up the coast about 125 miles to the city of Inglewood, where I went to college and to show our kids the hospital where they were born.  And, of course, the donut shop where I had my breakfast most mornings during my college years.

 

 

          

 

We also looked for the three houses in town that we lived in during the 8 years we were there, but could only find two still standing.  Boy, had that area changed!  Somewhere in the Los Angeles area, our A/C fan belt broke and I was so glad it hadn’t happened while were crossing the desert.  Here again, things worked out, as the spare fan belts were in the tool box and I was able to change it myself without too much delay.

 

 

From there we went out to Diamond Bar, a suburb of Los Angeles, to visit Terry and Mary, some of our friends from Titusville.  I had worked with Terry, and our kids had grown up together.  They took us to one of their favorite restaurants called Pinnacle Pete’s, where we were treated to wonderful Mesquite grilled steaks in a very relaxed atmosphere.  When we walked into the dining area, we were surprised to see the ceiling covered with ties.  I asked “what’s with all the ties?” and was told that it was a tradition to bring unsuspecting friends there for dinner, after which the waitress would bring your check and a big pair of scissors and cut the tie off of anyone wearing one.  It would then be stapled wherever there was an open space.  What a hoot that was!

 

        

 

 

—To Be Continued—

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Our Trip Across America – Part 6

14 Nov


A Slice of Life

 Bill Lites

                                   

        

We stayed on US-285 North thru Roswell till we were able to picked up I-40 (Old Route 66) West into Albuquerque.  The visit with my family and friends in Albuquerque was great. It was a restful time in familiar surroundings with my mother, aunt and grandmother who were thrilled to see us and our kids.  I was able to show the kids the houses where my DiVoran and I grew up and the schools we attended.

 

 

We took them to “Old Town” and had dinner in one of the restaurants on the original 250+ year old town square.  After dinner, we walked around the square, checking out the sidewalk Indian jewelry displays and visiting many of the shops that carried beautiful handmade Indian jewelry, crafts and artwork.

I was able to have short visits with two of my childhood friends who still lived in Albuquerque and catch up on how the years had been treating them.

 

 

 

 

 

We replenished our food and water supplies before heading West on I-40 (Old Route 66) thru Grants, over the Continental Divide, and thru Gallup into the Arizona desert.  We stopped in the Petrified Forest National Park long enough to get a good look at those age old wonders.

 Then it was on West into the Arizona mountains thru Holbrook and Winslow toward Flagstaff to visit high school friends.  It was the slow going in the mountains on the way to Flagstaff that the station wagon engine got so hot the transmission oil boiled over.  The oil ran down on the exhaust system and when I saw this huge cloud of white smoke in my rear view mirror, thought “oh no, we’ve burned up the engine, out here in the middle of nowhere.  What are we going to do now?”

 As it turned out, we were just coming up on a rest stop, and were able to pull in to let the engine cool off.  This is where that extra transmission fluid I had brought along came in handy.  After the engine and transmission had cooled, I was able to replenish the missing fluid and we were on our way again.

When we finally got to Flagstaff, we had a wonderful time reminiscing with our friends about our high school days, Charlene and DiVoran’s time in beauty school together, Jim and my chance meeting in Japan while in the Navy, and  how fast our kids were growing up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

But, the next morning, after that great visit, I discovered we had a flat on our station wagon.  It was Sunday and there were no tire repair places open.  So, the repair entailed disconnecting the camper, and unloading everything in the rear of the station wagon to get at the spare tire and jack.  This was not in my plans for the day’s travel and got us off to a late start toward our next destination.

Our friends had told up about this wonderful Sonora Desert Museum that was a must see, so we headed South on I-17 to Tucson.  They were right!

It was a very unusual museum in that many of the exhibits were cutaway underground burrows showing how the desert animals survived the harsh environment they normally lived in.  There was an interesting temperature farm that showed air temp, surface temp, and the temperature every 6” underground.  It is amazing how fast the temperature drops the further under the surface of the desert you go.  The day we were there it was 120 degrees F in the shade with 140 degree F surface temp.

I can’t imagine how hot the asphalt walkways between the underground exhibits were, but it almost melted our tennis shoes.  We literally had to run between the underground exhibits, and then take our shoes off to let our feet cool.

   When we got back to the campground that afternoon, it was still so hot that we jumped in the pool and were enjoying ourselves, when all of a sudden the wind came up so strong we were afraid it would blow the camper over.

That was the most miserable night of our whole trip, trying to sleep in all that heat.

  

 

—–to Be Continued—–

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Our Trip Across America Part 4

31 Oct

A Slice of Life

 Bill Lites

We took I-49 North toward Shreveport to my dad’s family home site near the small town of Many, LA.  We had a wonderful visit there with several of my uncles and aunts, remembering the good times my sister and I had during the many summer visits there when we were young

there was always the “ole swimming hole” where we spent a lot of time swimming, fished and chasing the crayfish.  On the way out of town we stopped at the old country store where my cousins and I used to spend our nickels and dimes on candy and lots of firecrackers.  One of my uncles ran the store back then but, by this time, the old lever handle gas pumps were gone and the store was closed.

From there, we continued north to Shreveport, to visit another of my uncles and his wife.  He was a typewriter repair mechanic and had a wonderful shop full of all kinds of tools and equipment that he used in his typewriter repair business.  It smelled of cleaning fluid and printer’s ink.

This is when he related the “watermelon nest” story to us.  Seems as how he had this watermelon vine that had somehow attached itself to and grown up a tree in his backyard.  Now I had never heard of a watermelon plant growing up a tree but my uncle wasn’t a man to fib.  So, when a melon started growing high up in the tree, my uncle climbed up there and built a platform for the melon to rest on.

Well, would you believe it, when that melon matured to full size he climbed back up there, brought it down and he and his wife enjoyed it together.  I asked him if that was the same tree, I fell out of and broke my wrist when my family was visiting him on one of our summer trips to Louisiana, and he said it probably was.  My aunt had a fine dress shop out in the country away from everything. She often went on buying trips to the big cities, brought the latest styles in ladies dresses back to her shop, and sold most everything to the local ladies near and far.

To be continued……

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Our Trip Across America-Part 3

24 Oct

Last week Bill and his family were getting all packed up to begin their trip across America. This week they begin their journey. Bill’s wife, DiVoran will be sharing  memories of her first trip to  the South.-ONISHA

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Bill

We headed North on I-95 to Jacksonville and then I-10 West through Tallahassee, Pensacola, Mobile and Biloxi to New Orleans.  We didn’t stop there on this trip, but told our kids all about our visit there when they were just 3 years and 18 months old.  How we cruised Bourbon Street and how we enjoyed the party atmosphere during our quick stop there.

DiVoran

Bill and I remember different things, so he asked me to put some things I recall into his stories.  He’s speaking of my first trip down south.  Being from the Southwest, where we had mountains and deserts, it was like a wonderland, especially all the trees, rivers, and lakes.  I’d never seen Spanish moss or Pathos vines with leaves bigger than a man’s head covering the trunks of many of the big trees.

Of course, this was the mid 60’s, in the south, which was a time of race riots, sit-ins, and bathrooms and drinking fountains that said, “Whites Only.” Even though it didn’t affect me personally, it was a bit unsettling.

We had been living in LA at the time of the Watts riots, but I was unaware of the way the everyday African-American was treated in public and in the homes of their employers.

One other thing that was so different, I hardly knew what to think, was when we asked about going down to the French Quarter to hear some music that night.  Our hostess, in the very large house where we were staying, told us if we’d put our eighteen month old and three-year old to bed before we went she’d see that they were taken care of. Then she asked kindly if it would scare them if they woke up and saw a black face leaning over them to tend them.

Of course, that would be one of her maids, who had probably tended her children when they were small. “Oh, no, I’m sure not”, I said.  I believed then, and I know now, that our kids are “color blind.”   However, it didn’t come to a trial so all was well, and we absolutely loved the Dixieland band we were privileged to hear that night.

To be continued……..

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Our Trip Across America-Part 2

17 Oct

Last week BIll began a series, Our Trip Across America. He picks up this week with his transition from tent camping to a pop up trailer. Onisha

A Slice of Life

  Bill Lites

The camper was an older 6’x10’ unit I bought from a friend at work.  He told me it was in good shape, but had been sitting in his driveway for a long time.  This was a very basic house shaped square box camper with gas for a stove but no electricity. We had to use Coleman lanterns for lighting and we took a small three burner Coleman stove in case we had a gas stove problem or needed to cook outside for some reason. The camper had a small fresh water tank, but the water had to be pumped into the sink with a hand pump.

Everything had to fit within the camper footprint as the tent portion opened straight up to a peak running fore and aft.  The small gas stove, sink and counter top were on one side, with an office size “ice box” (remember, no electricity) under the counter.  On the other side was a small fold down table with bench seats for four people.   My wife slept on the twin bed that ran across the front with storage under it, and I slept in the other twin bed that ran across the rear with more storage underneath.  A swing-away bunk bed was pinned into each of the fore and aft upright tent supports and that was where the kids slept.  It was a very compact arrangement.  When folded down, everything was flush with the top sides of the camper and a canvas cover over the top, was secured in place with ropes.  This did not allow anything to be carried on top of the camper, so all our clothes and personal items needed for the trip had to fit inside the camper.

I spent many hours on maintenance on the camper and on our 1968 Ford 10-passenger station wagon to make sure all went well during our trip.  Knowing we would be traveling over some mountainous roads, I had installed a transmission cooler for the engine. I had packed tools, spare oil, transmission fluid, and fan belts for the car, and extra jacks and spare wheel bearings for the camper in case we had any emergencies.  The two seats in what we called “the back-back” of the station wagon faced each other, so I built a small wooden table to fit in that space where the kids could sit and read or play games when they got bored with the scenery.

 

 

 

 

 

My wife loaded the camper with all the creature comforts we could think of, including our fresh water tank filled with the best drinking water anywhere.  Finally, all was ready, so we arranged for a neighbor boy to take care of our dog and off we went.

 

 

 

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