4155 Lancaster Drive, N.E., Salem, Oregon 97303
In the Fall of 1976 wrote a story of an 8,000 mile trip my wife
and I made in the summer of 1976.1 got several letters in response
to this from several states and from Canada. This summer we started
another trip, but as it turned out, not all of it was very happy
traveling.
We left Salem, Oregon, May 30, 1978. The night of May 31st, we
stayed in a motel in Rawlins, Wyoming, and at 6 o’clock the
next morning, when we started on, our car was covered with ice. It
rained on us in Nebraska. We got to Minden, Nebraska about 4:30 PM
on June 1st. Drove 1526 miles in 3 days. Told my wife that was the
easiest thing I had done all winter and spring as I had been busy
working on different jobs at Antique Powerland. Some of those jobs
were too hard on my system. I had completely restored an 1918 10-20
Titan; the care-taker and I built 3 sections of bleacher seats for
the show grounds; and repaired and re-made all the upper wooden
sections on the antique merry-go-round and put them in place.
We stayed the night of June 1st at the motel on the Pioneer
Village Museum grounds. They are now building another big two-story
motel nearby. We ate at their modern up-to-date restaurant next
door to the motel and the museum.
We entered the museum at 8 AM on June 2nd. They have over 30,000
items to see there. We saw over 100 old tractors and over 200 old
cars, as well as a lot of other displays such as an old church,
school house, general store, an old railroad station, etc. The
tractors and cars are all displayed in nice condition – kept dusted
off, but do not run. These are housed in long 2-story buildings
with concrete floors.
We left Minden around 4:30 PM, as we wanted to arrive at Adrian,
Missouri, the afternoon of June 3rd, and wanted to make another
stop near Leavenworth, Kansas, on the way; hardly any corn planted
– too wet. Went south into Kansas and hit Highway 36. Went east to
Marysville and stayed there overnight. Next morning drove on east
to Hiawatha, Kansas, had breakfast and then headed for Leavenworth.
We looked up a friend there, Del Seuser. I think some of you
readers know him. He was at our show at Brooks in 1976. He was
secretary of National Gas Engine Club then. He has some goodie old
tractors, and several old cars. We stayed there 2? hours, then hit
south on 73 Highway; just on the southwest corner of Kansas City.
When we hit Highway 150, we turned left and went across south side
of Kansas City to Highway 71, then south about 50 miles to Adrian,
Missouri. This is where my wife was born and grew up. We arrived at
her nephew’s home around 3 PM.
Sunday morning, the 4th, we went to chuch at the Christian
Church where my wife, Margaret, and her parents before her had been
members for many years. We saw a lot of her friends and relatives –
quite a few I had met when were there in 1976. That afternoon some
of her cousins were having a family get-together and picnic dinner
out in the country about 18 miles.
That is fescue country; everybody was putting up fescue hay.
Fescue is dynamite to me for hay fever. I sneezed and sneezed and
blew all afternoon, until we left about 5 o’clock. Next
morning, Monday the 5th of June, I had a heart attack – and I think
all that sneezing may have had something to do with it. Something
broke loose in an artery and stopped up a valve in my heart. Maybe
a weak valve spring! Ha! Anyway they took me to the Bates County
Memorial Hospital, 10 miles south of Adrian. I was in intensive
Care Unit for 9 days and then in private room and ward for 11
days.
Of course, I worried about how we would get home, as my wife
doesn’t drive. Doctor said we would have to fly home, anyway.
Checked on motor transport to get the car home, but the price was
prohibitive; then thought of selling the car, but used cars are so
much cheaper there. I shouldn’t have worried, as my family had
been planning, and some of them were coming to get the car.
As it worked out, our son and daughter-in-law from Vancouver,
Washington flew to Kansas City the afternoon of June 24th. Margaret
and some friends picked them up at the airport, and they arrived at
the hospital to see me around 9 PM. The doctor said he would have
me ready to leave the hospital the next morning. The nurses started
getting me ready about 5 AM on the 25th. My son, my wife and her
nephew arrived at the hospital at 9:30 and I was ready to go. Drove
back to Adrian where my son and his wife left with my car about
10:30 AM. All across Kansas it was 102 degrees, and the car has no
air conditioning. They drove to Vancouver, Washington in 2? days
with two drivers and they put in long ways. Stopped one night in
Denver and the next in Twin Falls, Idaho.
I had an appointment with the doctor at Butler on the 27th of
June, to see if my condition was still okay for me to fly home. He
said we might as well take the plane on the morning of the 28th of
June, when we had reservations.
Some friends took us to the airport north of Kansas City (about
70 miles), and we were off. That was my first plane ride. We had
just started out of Kansas City, and they served breakfast. We made
the mistake of not asking for a wheel chair to be ready for me when
we got to Denver — had to change planes there. On top of that when
we got into Denver the landing ramps were all full, and they
disembarked us out on the runway. Had to walk down steps, across
quite a distance on the runway and up an escalator, and it seemed a
mile away. Margaret tried then to find a wheel chair and several
people went scurrying to find one, but they were all in use. I sat
down in a phone booth and took a nitro pill and in a few minutes we
walked on. Inquired where our plane for Portland would be loading,
and was told to go to Gates #3 and 4 straight ahead of us. It
looked like a half-mile away to me; but we managed to get down
there to the waiting room and the seats were all full. But a lady
saw that I was in bad shape and gave me her chair. Bless her.
In a few minutes we boarded the plane for Portland. As soon as
we got off the ground they served lunch. We were about 37,000 feet
up and it was a beautiful clear day. I sat next to the window just
ahead of the wing with the engines on it. As I looked at those
engines and how well they were performing, I decided one must be a
John Deere, the other was a Hart Parr on one side and on the other
side there was a 15-30 McCormick-Deering and a 10-20 Titan. Anyway
they were doing their job and took us safely to Portland. I cannot
understand how those planes get off the ground, unless the noise
scares them off. You antique tractor buffs think that one over.
Ha!
We asked for a wheel chair before we got to Portland, but it was
the same story there, none available. I walked off the ramp to some
seats real close by, and a man got me a chair in a few minutes. I
was wheeled to the outside where my daughter was waiting with the
car; then on home to Salem. Certainly thankful to be there.
It was quite a trip, and I enjoyed some of it, even if I was a
shot rod.
We were lucky to be at the far end of our journey when I had the
attack, as my wife had relatives and friends to take her to the
hospital and a place to stay. Our plans were to stay around Adrian
about eight days. I had several old tractor friends scattered
around there. I did get to see some of them for a few minutes, but
did not get out to see their tractors.
We wanted to see the wheat fields of Kansas that were just ready
to harvest, and to stop in Boulder, Colorado to visit
Margaret’s cousin and family. Also my sister who had lived in
Iowa for many years, had moved to Grand Junction, Colorado and had
her piano tuned up fresh, so that with my fiddle, we could really
make some good old-time music together. Our older sister from
Dawson Creek, B.C., Canada, also flew to Grand Junction to be in on
the reunion. My sister and I had only played together a couple of
times since we lived in Saskatchewan back in the 1930s. Anyway the
heart attack kind of knocked out the last part of our trip.
After getting home, I was getting along pretty fair at Salem. I
was walking a mile a day, doing tinkering jobs getting our mobile
ready for winter, when I was hit again with another heart setback
on October 6. I spent two weeks in Salem Memorial Hospital.
I’ve been home now, but not much force. This sitting around the
house is almost as hard as any work I ever did. I have started
walking again, but that is hard to do in the rain here in the
winter time. So as of now, I am not much; maybe in time, I’ll
be able to enjoy a bit of life again.
I am 69 years old, and I am about like an old car or tractor;
knee action is shot, frame bent, head cracked, hittong on 2 or 3
cylinders. Differential bearings are rough, headlights dim and out
of focus. But anyway, I am still going. So take my advice, friends
out there in the old tractor world — ‘Slow down and God Bless
You.’
