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Siblings Slideshow 3 & Video - The California Trip - 1965

(click here for Slideshow 3a or here for Siblings Main Page )

(click map above for enlarged view)

In early June 1965, Dad and Uncle Lennart (Gerda and Knut's son) drove out to Saratoga, California (Southern Santa Clara County just outside San Jose) for Grandpa Söderling's funeral. They drove straight through taking turns driving Len's car and coming straight back because Dad had to return to work. He was so impressed with the trip that Mom and him decided that they should take the family to visit Grandma Söderling and Grandma Wally's sister, Martha, in California. They knew the old 1957 Plymouth Suburban Station Wagon wouldn't last the trip, so they bought a used 1962 Ford Country Sedan Station Wagon (Rangoon Red) from Ashley Ford in Fairplain. The plan was set, during Dad's two-week vacation in July we would motor to San Jose, California sleeping in the car. It would be a tight fit but with a mattress over the closed far back seat and the luggage tied to the top of the wagon we could make it as economical as possible. Grandma Wally and Grandpa Warren were going to Gerda's to bring back some of her furniture because she was moving in with Martha.

Late in the evening on July 2, 1965, we left our home on Broad Street for our first family trip, an adventure West to California. We got a late start, which was pretty typical for our family (Note: the first photo was taken at dusk by Mrs. Barnes so very poor quality, especially, given the cheap 126 cameras at the time). Dad worked nights so he felt he could drive even though it was late, and we had spent all day packing and preparing for the trip, including Dad buying cowboy hats for all the boys and other hats for Mom and Dayle. The plan was to drive straight through with occasional stops while Dad and Mom took turns driving and sleeping in the back on the mattress. Somewhere near Chicago on the first night out, Dad started to fall asleep and, fortunately, Dayle caught him and woke him up (I doubt it would have turned out like the "Vacation" movie were Clark fell asleep at the wheel and they ended up with their station wagon safely in a motel parking lot - thank you Dayle!). After some coffee and stretching his legs, Dad pushed through to the first stop in a small town in Iowa, Perry. A woman told mom about a nice park there for the kids to play - Pattee Park.

In Perry, Dad slept while we played on the playground equipment in Pattee Park (Dad did take video - click here to see home videos of Park). From Perry we drove to the Badlands in South Dakota. The next stop was Mt. Rushmore, where it was raining. Dad wanted to drive Needles Highway to get back to I-80, it was really cool, there are hairpin turns and very narrow passages through the rock formations. I don't have any photos but I clearly remember the drive and talking about it with Mom over the years. Once back on I-80 we stopped again somewhere in Wyoming to climb on rocks and for Dad to sleep again, this is where Dayle picked the flowers (see photo in show). It was somewhere about here that the only problem occurred on the trip out to California, us kids were bored and fighting in the back so Dad threatened to pull over and spank us, which he eventually did :). I remember Nevada being boring and long! However, once we made it to Reno and started to climb into the Sierra Nevada Mountains at Truckee near Donner Pass it was gorgeous. I remember Mom and some of us children being very concerned about the steep cliffs to the side of the car as we drove through the beautiful mountains.

Once we arrived in San Jose, about five days after we started, we drove to Saratoga where Grandma Soderling lived (18718 Afton Ave - click here for photo from 2022). Her house was too small to hold all of us plus Grandpa and Grandma Christopher, so we stayed with Wally's sister Martha Beatty (Söderling). She had three children, Doug, Denise, Dayle's age, and Derrick, who was Bernie's age. Bernie recalls Derrick had a drum set in his bedroom and he got along well with Bernie. Martha and her family were fantastic hosts and treated us really well. We drove to San Francisco to cross the Golden Gate Bridge and we were consumed with the thought there were sharks in the water beneath the Bridge. I remember Mom and Dad being impressed with the eight-lane highways around the Bay Area. We also visited Harold's ranch out away from San Jose where we saw peacocks. If anyone remembers other stories while we were there please let me know.

Grandma Söderling asked Dayle to stay for another week and ride back with Grandpa, Grandma Christopher and Ava, she accepted. The four boys, Mom and Dad left with enough time to get back to St. Joseph so Dad could go to work on Sunday night, July 18th. Unfortunately, fate stepped in, and our "brand new used car" broke down just outside of Sparks, Nevada. Dad hitchhiked into town, it was quite small then (today, Sparks is a large city of its own - 110,000 people). I remember waiting in the car and being very nervous about everything: the broken car, the heat, which was ridiculous, very little money, and if we were going to get back to Michigan in time for Dad to go back to work that Sunday. The service that towed us in to town had a garage and the mechanic told Dad the engine was shot, completely useless, and we would have to have a new one installed. The mechanic said he would have to find one somewhere because they didn't have an engine that size anywhere nearby. Mom and Dad were furious with Ashley Ford when they refused to cover the cost to repair the car under the warranty because they said we had traveled so far with the car it was out of warranty even though it had only been a couple weeks since they bought it.

We didn't have enough money to stay in a motel let alone cover the cost of repair to the car, a new used engine. A couple who ran a small motel near the gas station that was doing the work agreed to let us stay on credit, with the promise we'd pay when we checked out. We didn't know how long it would take to find a replacement engine and install it. Mom called the relatives for help and they passed the hat. Fortunately, for us, Uncle Norm agreed to lend us hundreds of dollars to cover the cost of the repair, staying in the motel and travel home. The boys loved the adventure even though we stayed in a room with two beds for the six of us, the owners lent us a rollaway bed. Mom was so grateful for the people who owned the motel and said they couldn't have treated us nicer. We had to eat out all the time and loved the large portions of food from the casino nearby. I remember it being the biggest hamburger I ever saw. We children weren't allowed in the casino but could wait in the lobby while Mom and Dad got the food to take back to the motel room.

In all, it took about five days to repair the car and Dad was one week late returning to work. Auto Specialties was okay with the extra week of unpaid leave given the circumstances, but it was a huge dent in our already tight budget. Still, the trip was a tremendous adventure, and we all remember it fondly, except perhaps Robin because he was only three-years-old at the time. Dayle rode home with Grandpa and Grandma Christopher who had rented a U-Haul to bring back furniture from Grandma Söderling's. She arrived home just a few days after we did.