AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL, PART 2 January 26, 2004 It had only been seven months since we had unpacked our household goods from our move from Niagara Falls to Spokane in July 1951. Now in February 1952, we had packed them all up once again, the moving van had picked them up and we were on our way to Memphis, Tennessee. February 10, 1952. The car was all packed up, the four of us piled into the car (Mother, Daddy, brother Johnny and me) and at 7:00 A.M. we left S. 1418 Adams Street, Spokane, Washington, behind us in the 31 degree weather. I was certainly dressed for the weather in my storm coat with the warm lining and the large mouton lapels and collar that I could hug up to my neck in the worst weather. Driving the roads through Washington wasn't any problem at all in spite of it being definitely winter there. As I recorded in my Trip Journal, we stopped along the way at Connell, WA, for a cup of coffee. It was the same place we had stopped at on our trip out to Spokane just a few months prior. I also reported that it was a beautiful, beautiful spring-like day. I even heard a bird singing! It was a really beautiful day. However, the road had quite a few potholes in it! We crossed into Oregon later that morning and drove along the Columbia River. To quote my journal, "The sun's a-shining!" We continued to drive in a southwesterly direction and stopped at Arlington, OR, for lunch. I made comment that it was a warm day! Note: during our entire journey so far, we went through mountainous country with deep canyons along the way and crossed over bridges so high over the canyons that the sight took my breath away. We continued driving on and on with Daddy at the wheel and after twelve hours of driving, we finally stopped for the night in Klamath Falls, OR, near the border into California. I noted that it was a windy and much colder night. When we got ready to leave the next morning we realized that a LOT of snow had fallen overnight. However, I could still appreciate how white and pretty all of it was. We crossed over into California at an early hour and found that the roads were snowy and slick. As I recorded in my journal, "Really slippery!! WHOOEE!!" We had to stop at Doris, CA, just over the state line to put snow chains on the car. (Snow chains in California????) However, where we stopped to put the chains on the tires, there were six other cars pulled over, doing the same thing. As I noted in my journal, "Snow's really comin' down in SUNNY California!!" We stopped for lunch in Redding, CA, and although I didn't make note of it, I'm certain that along the way we had seen Mt. Shasta and the Cascade Mountains in the distance. Maybe I had become rather blasé about such marvelous sights by then! Outside Redding we FINALLY ran out of snow! Phew! I thought we'd never get out of the mountains and the snow. It was one scary curve after another. But nowthat we were on a straight road, I hoped we'd make better time. To top it off we saw our first palm and orange trees and actually saw a cherry tree in bloom! vee