Memory Monday

 "We cannot start over, but we can begin now, and make a new ending."
.....Anonymous
   
     So I am back home in Pittsfield, Illinois. I am engaged, but without a ring...my choice!  I knew Dick couldn't afford an expensive ring and, at that time, I was very much against diamonds because most of them were coming from the mines in Africa and I had read of the atrocious  conditions for the workers...my own little private protest!
     Remember, none of my family have ever met Dick so my mom decides she should go to Reno on a little vacation and meet him.  She even talked me into taking her car rather than mine...it didn't take much convincing!  She had a Ford LTD with air conditioning and I had my little Fairlaine sedan without air!  It was June/July of 1963; my little brother Jack, my mom and I take off for the far West. Jack would have been 12 or 13 at the time. So it was up to mom and me to do the driving.
      It was a great adventure! None of us had been West before and mom was an avid reader as was I...historical fiction being one of our favorite genres.  We were on the same trails as the pioneers!!  We had read about the Donners and other travelers in their Conestoga Wagons..."Ships of the Desert"!  I was driving when we had our first view of the magnificent Rocky Mountains as we drove through Nebraska. What a thrill for us flatlanders of corn and wheat fields!

The Rocky Mountains!

          We finally got to Reno, Nevada...

The Biggest Little City in the World!

Reno...nestled in the foot hills of the Sierra Nevadas

We scoped the town and found a  motel where we could get a room for  a reasonable price for a week.  Then time for introductions! I was a little nervous about mom meeting Dick...I don't know why because he was a really nice guy albeit a little shy, quiet, and really good looking! But he had her instant approval, probably because of those very traits...calm and steady to my occasional flightiness!

     Dick worked part time at a Shakey's Pizza Parlor as did many of his military buddies.

Jack thought it was pretty cool to know someone who made pizza!  Pizza parlors were just becoming popular at the time.  Pittsfield didn't have one yet and, of course, we are right next door to California where everything begins! Shakey's was a west chain...I think they still have them even now.

       Dick was working a nine to five job on the Base at the time, so mom, Jack and I were able to go exploring on our own.  We hit the strip but we would have to leave Jack outside as he was too young to go in the casinos.  Back then, there was no reason to worry about anything happening to him. And we didn't leave him for too long.  We even found a casino that had Black-jack tables for $.50...that's right...fifty cents, a pop! 

       We were also able to take in a few of the tourist attractions....Virginia City for one.

Virginia City, Nevada...around 1860

Virginia City a hundred years later

     Virginia City was a boom town when silver was discovered in the mid 1880's.  This is where Samuel Clemens  had his first writing job as a reporter for the Territorial Enterprise.  And  where he adopted his pen name, Mark Twain. Virginia City is way up in the mountains ...mom would not think of letting me drive even though she had not done any mountain driving either, but it was her car! She was so much fun... a little nutsy, but fun.  She had read somewhere that if you had been driving on steep inclines, you could tighten your brakes up by driving your car in reverse for a period of time.  So, before we could start back down the mountain, she got off on a side street and drove backwards several times assuring that we would have good brakes for the trip back down the mountain!! One of those memories repeated at family gatherings.

     Then there is Lake Tahoe, a natural crater lake not far from Reno...the clearest lake I have ever seen.  You can see clear down to the bottom! And cold!  It was fed by runoff from the snow in the mountains.  We were up there in July

Lake Tahoe

     After a week with Dick in Reno, we headed back home by way of going to California first!  My mom had cousins in Santa Barbara she had not seen or been in touch with for years she wanted to try and look up.  Of course, we took the scenic Highway 1 South through Big Sur.  But going South meant driving on the outside of the very winding highway...a sheer drop down to the ocean below!  Of course, mom had to drive this also!  I'm sure we were one of those cars that the locals hated, going slow on the curves, braking frequently!  But we made it all the way to LA...stopping to look for her cousins to no avail.  Then headed back to Illinois!  A successful trip...mom could report to dad that I wasn't a complete idiot wanting to marry someone I had only know for a short time...she gave a favorable report!  So all is well!!