OUR 1936 PLYMOUTH

cousin Sue and our Plymouth

If I asked you what were you doing in 1936 what would your answer be? Probably many of you would say; the world had not yet been blessed with my appearing - - it had to wait a little longer until I arrived.

In the year 1936 I lived in North Carolina, in the town of Cliffside. I went to the first grade there, saw my first movie, and also got a baby brother all in Cliffside.

One other thing we acquired was a new 1936 Plymouth automobile. It was bought F.O.B. at the factory where my dad went to pick it up. It was a fine, brown, four door sedan with about 80 horse power, and hydraulic brakes. We usually had a good car but this was something special.

My dad had a new job in Oakland California, and we had to travel from one coast to the other, which was about 3000 miles. It was a hot and dusty trip; my brother was only 6 months old, and was a little cranky for good reason.

I wasn't allowed to be cranky so I just endured the trip. There were only two lane highways and many detours every so often. It took us around 6 days to make the trip and I was glad we had that nice new car to ride in.

In those days there weren't any motels, as we now know them, but you could rent a cabin for the night. All along the highway we would see signs saying cabins for rent then it was just a matter of selecting the best looking one. I thought this was grand, because they were just like a small house. It gave my mother a chance to wash diapers, and get ready for the next days drive.

Most of the travelers had an evaporating water bag hanging on the front of their cars in case they got thirsty or their car overheated. They claimed that the water evaporation would cool the water inside the bag but it seemed to me that it was always hot.

In the South where I had lived everything was green, but as we came West, from Texas on, it was very dry, especially in the Mojave Desert. I felt that the trip aged me.  

We finally arrived in Oakland, and my dad started his new job, and I entered the next phase of my life for I had arrived in Canaan land at last.