Christmas 1967

My Mom had came to California in August to be with me for the arrival of Ken. He did not come when expected so she had to go back home.

It had been 4 months since I had seen my family, so we decided to go to Arkansas for Christmas.

When we had to have the car fixed, we thougth all would be well. Not So.

Joe and Daisy wanted us to come over before we left for dinner. She had made chicken fried steak for your Dad, we were running really late. But we decided since they had gone to all that trouble we would go. By then it was late in the after noon or early evening. Daisy gave Ken the cupie doll he has, and Charles got a Pistol and Hoster.

Next was a trip to Red Bluff, Mom was going with us too. We always took her when we made an Arkansas trip. When we got there, It was pretty late, and she had Alan with her. She begged us to let him go, Your Dad said, "NO Mom he can't go". So we called Jim and Modest and they kept him until the next day when they could find Jodie.

Now we are on our way, Finally!

We drove all n ight, and the next morning we were at Tehachapie, Then on to Flagstaff Arizone. Our car broke down somewhere. We got a motel room and settled in for the night. Your Dad kept checking the weather, so really early we got up and got on the road. It was so cold outside. Your Dad came into the motel room shaking and said we had to get moving as it was really cold and we need to beat a storm out.

Again we were on the road, when we stopped in Flagstaff for breakfast, the world around us was white, but the roads were still open, Flagstaff is at a high elevation so we figured it would clear once we got to the valley.

We were so wrong.

The snow got deeper and deeper, we put chains on and kept going. Ken was in my arms, Charles was under his grandmothers care in the back seat. At that time Child seats were unheard of, We had a bed for Ken, called a traveling child carrier, a lot like a bassinett but with metal edges and plastic, for a covering. We lined it with blankets and he had all the warm milk he wanted so he was happy. (he liked milk then)

Did I mention our Car was a white Falcon station wagon? Well it was and as we know snow is also white.

Did I mention your dad only had one arm usable? The other one was in a cast.

Several times we tried to find something, anything, open to stop. The entire area had shut down, At one point, a big truck passed us, I am sure he could not tell when it was clear to move back in, So he pulled back in, right on us, Your dad turned the wheel quickly, we did a complete 360 over to the other side of the freeway, and turned back into the freeway, straightened up as perfect as possible, and were still headed East. . He did all that with one hand. I remember calling out to God and telling Mom to hold Charles, Your Dad recalls saying, Hang on to the babies.

At that point we would ahve stayed in a teepee. But none were to be found. Our chains on the car broke, They were slapping the underside of the car, It was a horrible noise,