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ment and then this threat came up in 1931. It almsot looked as though we weren't meant to take this trip. But we were and it proved to be quite an adventure for us. Also, Mother accompanied us and she had never had such an experience before either. She was 61 at the time and I regarded her as quite ancient, so was surprised at how well she stood the trip; in fact, I'd suggested she go as far as Denver by train and meet us there, returning by train. But she felt she could handle it okay by car.

So, the next day, Friday, June 12th, I left the office a little early and Mother and I took off in Dodgem IV at 3:10 p.m. and headed westward. We circled Cleveland via Twinsburg and, I wouldn’t be surprised, Brecksville, thence Strongsville and headed for Mansfield through lovely country. We put up at the Mansfield—Leland for the night, having covered 198 miles. Little did I dream what the Brecksville area would some day mean to us. The driving seems so straighforward to us nowadays that it is interesting to note that on this apparently simple trip, we got lost a couple of times but not seriously. We were pleased to have it a beautiful day with the mercury around 80°-—this was COOL compared to what was to come.

The next day was both hot and rainy. We checked out of the Mansfield—Leland early and took off, breakfasting in Swope's Restaurant in Delaware and I wondered if the proprietor was any relation to our Gerard "Swooop" as one of the machinist's in Bldg. 105 used to call him. We also lunched on Swope sandwiches en route and found the breakfast had been better then the sandwiches. We ran through some violent thunderstorms in Kentucky but arrived without incident at 6:10 p.m. after a 327 mile run which took us through Cincinnati and Lexington. Bab had been upset again and the doctor came soon after we arrived. Willie was nearly wild but the doctor said it was just teeth and nothing to worry about and to go ahead with our trip and not be concerned about her. And so we decided to proceed with the much postponed and thwarted trip to Rocky Mountain National Park.  Mother stood the trip to Louisville well and appeared quite capable of negotiating the drive west without difficulty. I kept an expense record of sorts on the trip and some of the items are interesting, particularly in light of the violent inflation we are currently having. On the trip from Erie to Louisville, gasoline was about 17¢ per gallon and oil, Dodgem requiring three quarts, was 25¢ per quart. My room at the Mansfield-Leland, a good little hotel, was $2.50 and garage for Dodgem was 75¢. My dinner the night before was 75¢.  My breakfast and sandwich lunch that day totaled $1.00. The toll for the bridge, presumably across the Ohio at Cincinnati, was 15¢. My pay, by today's standards, was pitifully low but so was the cost of doing things and as I look back upon that depression period, it seems to me that we lived pretty well.