California 1957

My dad was a manly man!

Immediately following Hurricane Audrey, in late June - early July, he loaded my brother, Terry Golden, my mom, her parents and me into our 1956 Dodge Texan and headed west. The seating arrangement was: Dad, Mom and Terry in the front and Me, Gramma and Grampa in the back. Sardines.

This was before the interstate system (conceived by Eisenhower) was fully available so we mostly drove on two lane highways. The car had no cruise control and NO AIR CONDITIONER.

Day one was Beaumont to Fort Stockton. We got there in time to swim in the motel pool. He must have had the pedal to the metal.

The second day we rocketed to Carlsbad, New Mexico, toured Carlsbad Cavern and then finished in Las Cruces. It was HOT!!!

So to cross southern New Mexico and Arizona we bought a block of dry ice. It was placed on the back seat floor near my feet. I don’t know if we were cooler that day, but after spending the night in Yuma we all had splitting headaches the next morning.