Train trip to California with Grandma Leora
May, 1962. Mom, Aunt Darlene, and I picked up Grandma Leora at Guthrie Center to take Memorial Day flowers to the cemeteries in Guthrie Center and Perry, while Great Grandmother Laura Goff stayed home. Grandma had attended my high school graduation twelve days earlier. Grandma, age 71, didn’t drive, so either Mom or Aunt Darlene (who lived on farms three miles apart) drove the half an hour to get their mother. That way she was able to get in on so many activities of her six Iowa grandchildren.
She’d been busy taking flowers to her church services, helping “sell” Memorial Day poppies, baking a pie for a funeral, getting plane tickets–for herself, Gloria, and me–to fly to California to attend cousin Leora’s high school graduation. Leora and I were born eleven days apart.
But there had been two airline crashes that spring, one in March, one in May (exploded over Iowa), with several killed in both. Mom didn’t want to take a chance on losing her mother and both daughters so Grandma returned the plane tickets and bought train tickets instead.
June 10-July 12, 1962
Grandma Leora, age 71, attended her Guthrie Center church the morning of June 10, 1962. Her energy and stamina was just amazing. She had even taken a bouquet of Madonna Lily buds, pink peonies, blue iris, and flax from her own garden, according to her little spiral diary.
My folks, sis Gloria, and I (I’d just turned 18 the week before) picked her up later in the day, in time to drive the 45 minutes to Perry to meet the train. We left Perry at midnight on a Union Pacific Railroad train, arriving in CA about noon on the 12th. I hardly remember the trip, but Grandma made sure she was in the observation car early to get a seat.
Where are photos of this trip? Surely Grandma took lots of photos.
Central California
We stayed with Uncle Del and Aunt Evelyn about 10 days. Grandma’s three other grandchildren lived in California: Leora and Donna were in high school, with a younger brother, Delbert Ross. We attended Leora’s graduation the next Sunday afternoon.
Delbert Wilson was Grandma Leora’s oldest son. Her next oldest was Don Wilson, who lived at Naselle, Washington, so we headed there next.
Washington
Grandma, Gloria, and I rode a bus all night to Portland, then caught a bus to Long View, Washington, where we were met by Uncle Don and Aunt Rose. As soon as they learned we were coming, they had added a room to their rural home–a bathroom. Aunt Rose didn’t drive, so Grandma rode in the cab of the pickup with them, while Gloria and I rode in comfort in the back. Uncle Don had lined it with cushions.
It was clam season while we were there, so we went clamming twice. Boy, did we sunburn, so Uncle Don stopped to buy us straw hats. They took us to other tourist places and a week later we rode buses to get back to Delberts. We did some sight-seeing–the Golden Gate Bridge and Muir Woods. After the arrival of Grandma’s closest brother, Wayne Goff from Pasadena, we took two cars and all of us drove to see Yosemite.
Southern California
Gloria stayed at Delberts while cousin Leora and I traveled with Wayne and Grandma to Southern California. Grandma also got to spend time with her sister Ruby Goff Blockley, who was ten years younger.
We took a bus back to Delberts where we watched the movie “Spartacus” and ate at the Mandarin Tea Garden.
Cousins Leora and Donna came back to Iowa with us on the Vista-Dome California Zephyr, the only streamliner between Chicago and San Francisco with five Vista-Domes (each seating 24 people) and “the most talked-about train in the country,” according to the 1962 brochure. My folks, Warren and Doris Neal, met us at the depot in Creston, Iowa. Leora and Donna came home with us and stayed in Iowa a month, visiting family and former neighbors.
So instead of my first plane ride in 1962, I had my first railroad trip.
Cousin Bob Scar added this remembrance: That summer, after Leora and Donna came to Iowa with you, I had the pleasure of ‘escorting” my 4 teenage girl cousins to Des Moines. I had just finished 11th grade and we saw the movie West Side Story. A flat tire on the way back home, 1959 Chevy. Otherwise, uneventful and a fun evening.
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Senior Class Trip
That spring, our senior class (33 students plus chaperones) from Earlham High School took a bus trip to the East Coast! Senior class trips up until then had included Chicago and Washington, D.C. The adults planning our trip realized that many of us would get to Chicago and decided to include New York City and Philadelphia, along with the Nation’s Capital. All during the week of April 14-21.
Before 1962, this Iowa farm girl had only been out of state to the Black Hills of South Dakota, but the spring and summer of 1962, I traveled to both the East and West Coasts.
Quite a long series of journeys. I remember my first train ride in grade school.
Jim, have you ridden one since? The Rock Island RR went right through our town but I never rode one until I’d just graduated from HS! My mom and ancestors before her rode a train much of the time. I’m thankful I had a chance.
Yes, several times. Mostly lines out of Chicago to Santa Fe, Seattle, DC, Boston.
Love it!
I love train trips. Thos would have been a fun one.
In 2016, my husband and I took an Amtrak train originating in Cleveland with a connecting train in Chicago to Flagstaff, Arizona. We spent most of our time in the observation car, just like your grandma. What a marvelous way for you and your sister to see the country! 🙂
We were too young and dumb to appreciate much of it! I asked Gloria for memories and she remembered less than I did! Your trip sounds wonderful. I’ve read about one across Canada that sounds incredible.
Oh, yeah-the Canadian Rockies. 🏔🏔🏔😁
That was an epic trip. Especially when one had not set foot outside of the state prior to that. Must have been eye-opening.
Looking back, I’m even more amazed. Thanks, Nigel. I wish I’d been smart enough to appreciate it all then!
There is still a lot more to see in this bid old world. Much to still be appreciated.
Nigel, it’s a good thing we got to see plenty of it because we’re both disabled. My husband is a Vietnam vet with Parkinson’s (and more) and I’ve lived with fibromyalgia for two dozen years and, since last year, Crohn’s! We saw much of the West before and after his year in Vietnam (that trip scheduled for the end of August), drove to Florida twice, much of the Midwest, plus a couple of overseas trips, so we’re thankful.
Please thank him for his service. I am glad you got to travel a lot, Joy. It is a smaller place thanks to the internet, but I do hope to get a few miles under my belt.
Thank you, Nigel. Yes, and do it while you can!
Both planes and trains are both safe forms of transportation, but statistically, air travel is safer.
Not in 1962, and Mom had lost three brothers who were pilots during WWII. She never got on a plane until her sister was determined to go to France to see where one of the brothers is buried and we were going with her. Mom finally agreed to fly, but she stayed awake and prayed the plane across the Atlantic!
I love every bit of this post, Joy. I can’t think of a single person I know who didn’t relish their cross-country train trips if the opportunity presented itself. What a year 1962 was for you — epic travel. Wow, wow, wow! 💝💝💝
Thanks, Vicki. I wish I’d really appreciated it back then!
Isn’t that the way? We just don’t realize, do we? Sending much love to you this afternoon dear Joy. 💝💝💝
Thanks for sharing your trip, Joy.
Thank you, John. I realized I had Grandma’s diary and she’d kept a couple of brochures. That’s why I can’t believe her photos weren’t among them.
Wow! Two trips of a lifetime with family.
One with family, one with classmates–we’ve lost so many of both, but there are memories. Thanks, Liz!
You’re welcome, Joy!
It’s wonderful you and your family had the train travel for such a good purpose, Joy!
Thank you, Tim. I wish I’d appreciated it more back then.
You’re welcome, Joy. 😍 We rode a train a few times in Germany, but have only ridden the subway in NYC in the U.S. When we travel here, we drive or ride an airliner.
A wonderful adventure Joy and one I am sure created to many memories.. tough to keep in touch in those days and those personal visits must have made a difference.. ♥
Thank you, Sally. Grandma Leora did a pretty good job of keeping up with her West Coast relatives!
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That summer, after Leora and Donna came to Iowa with you, I had the pleasure of “escorting” my 4 teenage girl cousins to Des Moines. I had just finished 11th grade and we saw the movie West Side Story. A flat tire on the way back home, 1959 Chevy. Otherwise, uneventful and a fun evening. Cousin Bob
I’m so glad you added this detail, Bob! I remember the flat tire but not what movie we went to!