Early Trips to the Mountains

We lived at Guymon's place and drove the Model A. We went to LaJara Creek. I don't know if we ever went there after we moved away from Guymon's. It was in LaJara Canyon. Arlo liked to fish there and Doris Faye and Don and Kent were the family then. We went there one day and spent the day. Arlo fished until dark and we started home. It started raining and it came down very hard. The storm followed us all the way out of the canyon and to our home. We couldn't see rain in front of us or after us, but the roof leaked, it came down so hard and fast. It was like the rain was our best friend or worst enemy. All of us were wet when we got home.

Fishing was Arlo's favorite thing to do.

He also enjoyed a ride in the mountains and to follow roads to see what was at the end of the road. We wandered all over the mountains. One day I went with him in the Jeep station wagon. He liked to sight see along the sides of the road. We rode up a high mountain road, where you felt like if you fell off, you would land in China. As we were going down the hill, the car hit some loose gravel and we went off the road and rolled down the hill. He said we rolled twice, I'm not sure we did that, but we landed on all four wheels and had a hard time driving out onto the road again. We did get back on the road and drove home. As we rolled, I hit the ceiling and my seat folded up. I landed on the folded seat and had a fish hook in my bottom. That took some effort to get out. Didn't feel good. We got razzed when we got home. There was no denying that we had rolled. The jeep had gravel on the roof and some dents.

We did have a few adventures.

The Death of Arlo's Brother, Melvin and our trip to Washington

Arlo's brother, Melvin, lived in the state of Washington, he died there, It was requested that a family member come to Washington to identify him and prepare to bring him to Colorado to bury him. Arlo and I, (Gatha), and Earl and his wife, Augusta. (is first wife). went to Washington.

Kent was a small child and I was still nursing him. Grandma Dunn tended Don and Kent, so I could go with them to identify and prepare Melvin to bring him home.

Melvin and his dad weren't very good friends. Melvin left home when he was young and the family didn't know where he was for many years. He had never married and Arlo hadn't seen him for a long time. He joined the army and was finally in touch with his family. He came to LaJara when Grandpa Vance, Arlo's dad, died. Arlo didn't know him when he saw him.

On with the story. Arlo, Earl, Gus and I drove to Washington. It was January and it was a very cold and snowy time. Idaho was snowed in, so they decided to go through Arizona and Nevada. Flagstaff was snowed in. There were drifts on the sides of the road, so high that we hardly saw any homes in Flagstaff. We went a hundred miles into Nevada and the pass we had to go through was closed, so we drove the hundred miles Back to Arizona, and drove through California. We did finally reach Washington. Arlo and Earl took care of the business of getting things ready for Melvin to be shipped by train to Alamosa and on to LaJara, where the funeral was and he was buried in the Manassa Cemetery.