During the summer of 1949, Jim Manry, Willis Carmichael and I won permission (barely) from our parents to take a trip west in hopes of getting jobs in the Kansas wheat harvest to finance a longer adventure to the mountain west and California. We drove in Jim’s 1934 Ford Coupe hot rod (no fenders, dual carburetors, bored-out cylinders, milled cylinder heads: HOT).
We went through Jackson, MS, where we visited my fathers youngest sister, Nancy Robinson, who had held the highest female position in the US Treasury during the War. My 1st cousin Frances Peake from Virginia lived with Nancy.
Then on to Anthony, Kansas where we learned there would be wheat harvesting jobs. We camped out at the local reservoir and went to the town diner the next morning in search of jobs. The harvest was indeed just arriving at that area from the south. Jim proceeded to play the guitar and drew a crowd. Jim and Willis got jobs with Clarence Hudgins, a local wheat farmer.
I got a job with another farmer who placed me next to a silo into which I was to “scoop” (shovel) the just-harvested wheat from a 14 foot-wide combine. I did my best but, by the end of the day, I collapsed into the pile of wheat I was supposed to have scooped into the silo. Fortunately, my pals Jim and Willis came by and picked me up. It turned out that I had a serious case of heat exhaustion. My fever was at least 105 degrees, but my youth prevailed and I felt much better the next morning.
I then landed a job with Clarence and Miriam Jacobs, unmarried siblings who owned a “quarter section” (180 acres) of prime wheat land. My job was to drive a tractor pulling a plough to “turn-over” the recently cut wheat stubble. I did pretty well but had trouble on the corners where one had to be very precise. I never got it…
In any event, Clarence and Miriam were won over and became good friends and sponsors. I went to see them years later when Sally and I were moving west to Los Angeles.
Our social life in Anthony was very active. Charming, handsome, guitar-playing Manry “fell” for a local girl; Willis and I did the best that we could. I got quite close to a nice girl who turned out to be the girl friend of the senior star of the University of Kansas basketball team (at the time I was the freshman manager of the Georgia Tech Basketball team). When we learned that he was coming home for the weekend, we decided it was time to leave town! Which we did….
Our next target was Colorado Springs, where Jim’s wealthy cousin Becky Milner lived. Her son, Jack, was a contemporary of the three of us and most impressed with himself. We were treated very well but knew we had to head west to fulfill our goal of getting to California.. We drove from Colorado Springs south to New Mexico. Our first morning there we stopped at a small Mexican restaurant for breakfast. I noticed that the small Hispanic child at the table next to us was eating a dish which looked appetizing. I pointed at and ordered it. It was chili, not just any chili, but the hottest chili ever! I was done after the first mouthful! That first, and last, bite will always be remembered.
We proceeded west and arrived at Boulder (now Hoover) Dam where it was extremely hot. We thus took a tour into the cool dam. That night on the shore of Lake Mead it was still 100+ degrees. I slept half submerged in the cool lake. The next morning we had planned to check out Los Vegas but it was still incredibly hot - in fact it was the hottest day ever recorded at the Lake - 119 degrees. Jim’s car started vapor-locking and could only go a short distance between coolings of the carburetors with splashes of cold water. We had a talk and agreed that we would never be able to cross the Mojave Desert to Los Angeles.
We had to conclude that we must give up our trip’s main goal of making it to California and decided to head north toward higher, cooler Utah. We spent the day at (in) Lake Mead and started driving north that night. Even then it was so hot the car continued to vapor-lock so it was slow going until we got to higher elevation St. George, Utah, where we were thrilled to discover cooler temperatures.
Driving toward Salt Lake City, we stopped at Utah Lake, a fresh-water lake where we were happy to take a swim. Our next objective was the Great Salt Lake with its high salinity. We got there in the late afternoon and jumped right in. Our ability to float was wonderful. We met some local Mormon girls and thought it odd that they would drink beer but not Cokes. They also cussed like sailors.
We proceeded on toward Salt Lake City. At a truck stop, Willis asked Jim and me for all of our remaining cash. It added up to 25 cents, enough to buy 3 Tampa Jewel cigars! We drove into Salt Lake City smoking those cigars and wondering, button worrying, where we would sleep.
We found a small park near downtown. There were plenty of bushes to hide under so we unrolled our sleeping bags, got in and went to sleep. I awoke to a guy in jeans standing over me pointing an automatic pistol at my face. He said: “Boy, you make the wrong move and this thing is going to spit. Put your hands out and crawl out of that bag”. I did as instructed, to learn that Jim and Willis had been similarly treated. He was a detective. He asked where I was from and what was I doing in Salt Lake. Since he and his associates seemed very focused on Jim and Willis and there multiple weapons, I told him within earshot of my companions that I was a hitch-hiker who had been picked up by Jim the day before. Fortunately they bought the story and hauled us all down to the jail. Two of the cops drove Jim’s car to the jail, the one who busted me cracking Jim’s bull whip out of the car window! They took Jim and Willis in but let me go.
I immediately found a Western Union (remember it?) office and sent my father a telegram asking for money. He wired me $200. I went back to the jail and found that Jim and Willis had been released but that the authorities thought that it was time for us to get out of Salt lake city and Utah.
The police accompanied us to the city line and made sure that we headed east! For years after, I felt a twinge of guilt and anxiety every time I went to Salt Lake City.
The wind was out of our sails and we all knew it was time to head home. We stopped at Colorado Springs but then drove hard toward the east. After driving through Newnan, GA, 40 miles south of Atlanta, Jim tried to pass a slow car at high speed. Just as we were next to the car, it turned left into us. I was in the “death seat” on the right. At the moment of collision, the plate glass windshield popped to covering us with shards of glass but just a few cuts. My door held up because Jim had filled the bottom of the door with rocks and tar to make it “sound like a Cadillac door” when shutting. Our car rode across the steep side ditch on top of the other car. We landed 4 wheels on flat ground, basically uninjured. The 3 occupants in the other car were not so lucky. The middle-aged male driver seemed to be seriously injured and was taken away in an ambulance. Hi female companions seemed badly shaken but OK.
We got to a phone and called my father who came down to pick us up. He was remarkably cool about the incident and went on the attack with the police as to who was at fault. I do not recall that Jim was contacted again by the other party or the law. Jim’s car was totaled.
But it was a very inauspicious conclusion to an incredible adventure for a 17 year old.
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