February 21 ,1946
February 1946. World War II is over and wartime production jobs were ending. During the war, Carl and Georgie worked a number of jobs in several places, finishing the war in Pocatello, Idaho. They elected to return to Iowa, where they both had family, but opted to make a grand tour of the west on the way. Georgie wrote a journal of the trip. The story starts here.
During the night the water pipes froze and we awoke the next morning to find what we could see of California covered with snow and we had expected to see flowers blooming. We drove into Weed, had breakfast, and crawled out of town on a sheet of ice. We finally ran out of snow and ice about 15 miles down the line. We passed the road to the Shasta Dam and then the soil started to look very red. Soon we saw flowers blooming and the vegetation was green. All along the road the banks were this red soil. Just before we got to Redding, we saw an airport which was just a little airstrip along the road. We wondered how planes could get in and out as there was a mountain on one side and the road and the Sacramento River on the other side. Stopped at Redding to look around and had another flat when we got back to the car. Bought a tire in Redding. Saw our first orange tree there with oranges ripening on it. Soon we saw palm trees and the further south we drove, the more it seemed like summer to us. Stopped at a roadside stand and bought some ripe olives. Saw many olive trees and English Walnut trees. Stopped at a roadside inn and had a very poor bottle of California beer.
February 21 ,1946
February 1946. World War II is over and wartime production jobs were ending. During the war, Carl and Georgie worked a number of jobs in several places, finishing the war in Pocatello, Idaho. They elected to return to Iowa, where they both had family, but opted to make a grand tour of the west on the way. Georgie wrote a journal of the trip. The story starts here.
During the night the water pipes froze and we awoke the next morning to find what we could see of California covered with snow and we had expected to see flowers blooming. We drove into Weed, had breakfast, and crawled out of town on a sheet of ice. We finally ran out of snow and ice about 15 miles down the line. We passed the road to the Shasta Dam and then the soil started to look very red. Soon we saw flowers blooming and the vegetation was green. All along the road the banks were this red soil. Just before we got to Redding, we saw an airport which was just a little airstrip along the road. We wondered how planes could get in and out as there was a mountain on one side and the road and the Sacramento River on the other side. Stopped at Redding to look around and had another flat when we got back to the car. Bought a tire in Redding. Saw our first orange tree there with oranges ripening on it. Soon we saw palm trees and the further south we drove, the more it seemed like summer to us. Stopped at a roadside stand and bought some ripe olives. Saw many olive trees and English Walnut trees. Stopped at a roadside inn and had a very poor bottle of California beer.
