On September 10, 1978 after months of quivering on the brink of "shall we?" or "shall we not?" make the trip to National Extension Homemaker's Council in Seattle, Washington, we were actually ready to board the bus at the Holiday Inn in Greenville. Women with big bags and little bags - new Samsonite and old shopping bags waited in anticipation. At the last minute Jan asked if it was too late to back out, but the money had been paid and the bus was there so we climbed aboard.
We learned there were 74 people aboard after the bus was loaded and we were on our way. There were five men - four with their wives and Jan with me. Ten of the women sported red crawfish badges to identify them as the ten women from Louisiana who were traveling with us. Our bus driver was Maurice Robertson of Jackson and the other bus driver was Billy Buckett. They both were veteran tour drivers and had a reputation of being the best - and they were. Maurice not only had a supply of jokes to keep us entertained, but he had a vast amount of information to give us about various places of interest along the way. Jan told him later he was better than Jerry Clower and should go into recording.
For many women on the trip it was their first to National Convention. Mrs Munn said it was her 18th, so their was a wide range of experience of what to expect of a bus tour. Our tour chairman was Jerry Burge of Poplarville, with Geraldine Corocran of Vicksburg and Anita Mason of Baton Rouge as her assistants. Geraldine said this was her eighth convention. Some of the ladies were not club members but were going along for the trip. Pete King of Vance was going to visit her brother in Tacoma, Washington. The oldest member was 78.
We began leaving cotton fields behind as we traveled through Arkansas. We found that it was dry and the crops were stunted. Even apple orchards were being irrigated. The first day of traveling was spent in making acquaintances on the bus and passing out little gifts or mementoes of the country. Each day we had a devotional given by different members and a "sing-along". The first night we spent in Tulsa and were told we would be called the next morning at 5:30 - this became a regular ritual.
On Monday, before leaving Tulsa we toured Oral Roberts University. The campus grounds are very pretty with flowers and fountains. We went into the prayer tower which has a nice view of the campus. We could see the new hospital-faith healing complex starting to be built. We also were shown the athletic building and the broadcasting room. Courteous student guides, neatly dressed showed us around. We saw a film on Oral Roberts University. The theme is "Education-Excellence-Outreach". No Sunday services on campus as students are taking part in other church activities.
As we left Tulsa we began seeing beautiful rolling country and oil wells. Grain fields were being prepared for the next crop and millet was being harvested.
Our next sight-seeing was in Dodge City, Kansas. This was a restored Old West town in the midst of Dodge City. It was mostly tourist gimmicks and souvenir shops. Dodge City was once the center of cattle drives and had saloons for travelers. In Kansas we started seeing feed lots where thousands of cows were being fattened. Fields of alfalfa were being irrigated. We spent the night in Garden City, Kansas at a new motel on the outskirts of town. Crickets and a mouse seemed to disturb some the second night.
As we drove into Colorado, we could see vegetables being grown. We saw fields of spinach or sugar beets, onions, cantaloupes, fields of zinnias, small tomatoes, corn and honeydew melons. The bus driver stopped at Rocky Ford, Colorado and everybody piled out to buy. I bought one cantaloupe, while others bought a half bushel. We gathered sunflowers and saw a machine cutting corn for silage. Along the road we saw gopher holes - some fields were given over to them and they popped up from holes all over the field. There were grain bins along the way.
We arrived in Colorado Springs, and after eating at a cafeteria, we went to see the Air Force Academy. We drove through the Garden of the Gods which is almost within the city of Colorado Springs. There were huge mountain formations of red clay-looking rock. This was a city park. We checked in at the hotel and hurriedly got ready to go to the Flying W Ranch. This is an eating place that has food prepared and eaten very much as the food was on the cattle trails. It has been in operation for over twenty years. You are given a tin pan and a tin cup and told to hurry through the line before it got too hot. Your plate was served with roast, potatoes, beans, apple sauce, and sour dough biscuit cake. Everything was hot but the apple sauce. Over two thousand people were served and had eaten in a matter of minutes (there were four lines), then the waiters took off their aprons and put on old time western entertainment, with singing and playing guitars.
The next day we looked forward to passing the Continental Divide, but our first stop was at Royal Gorge. This, to me, was one of the most awesome things we saw. A gorge in seeming solid granite was over a thousand feet deep. We rode a tramway to the base. There is a clear river (Arkansas River) and following the river was a railroad track. The train passed while we were at the base. There is a bridge across the gorge which we walked across, and also a skyride which I didn't take. There were big souvenir shops at the top. We saw some deer along the road climbing the mountain to the gorge. The road was so winding we were almost afraid to look down!
The next day we had lunch at a hotel at Monarch Pass, which was probably almost on the Continental Divide. A glassed-in porch looked over mountains where aspen trees were turning yellow and winter was in the air. We had gotten our coats out for the day. We saw ski lifts ready for the first snows. As we went through the mountains we saw firs, spruce, and aspen trees, but after crossing the divide (elevation 11,000 feet), we came to Grand Junction where there were more and more bare spots. Some were flat on top, and water from melting snows watered the crops below. Roads followed the streams and houses were few. There were sheep ranches and lespedeza hayfields.
Our driver pointed out some missile sites tucked away on isolated mountains. At Price, Utah we saw coal and silver mines. There were trees on the mountains again near Provo, Utah. We all wondered if we could see Donnie and Marie's (Osmond) place, but we didn't. Salt Lake was to the west of the highway, but we never really came near enough to see it.
In Salt Lake City, we were housed in a hotel that joined Temple Square in the heart of the city. As soon as we put our bags away, a guide came to take us on a tour of the city. An attractively dressed man and his wife - a priest in the Mormon Church - took us to the state capital. Gold from Utah was used in part of this. It was very elegant. There were bountiful flowers and well-kept lawns in public as well as private areas of the city.
The guide showed us Migration Canyon, where Brigham Young came into the city. A monument is near this point, as well as an old log cabin being restored. Brigham Young University was nearby - much of the town is owned by the Mormon Church so they control which businesses are allowed in the area.
That night we were on our own. We walked to the square (which is enclosed within a brick wall), and had a guided tour of the Tabernacle where the choir practices. In the visitor's center were pictures depicting the history of the Mormon religion. Joseph Smith as a young boy had a vision and was given sheets with the Mormon scripture. There was a white marble statue of Jesus in the center part of the building, as they worship Jesus, but also use the additional Mormon chapters in their bible. We saw and heard the Mormon Tabernacle Choir practicing. The main temple is not open to the public. There are 2600 Mormon missionaries.
The next day we left Utah and drove into Idaho. There were cherry orchards, valleys of wheat and hay along the road. We saw potato bins - buildings partly underground with dirt piled on either side. We ate lunch at Twin Falls and I saw Snake River Canyon, which Evel Knievel tried to jump - how foolish he was! We saw the Idaho State Capital in Boise and spent some time in a museum there.
From Boise we drove to Portland, mostly along the Columbia River, which separates Oregon and Washington. The Columbia looks wider than the Mississippi and the water is blue - not muddy like the Mississippi. It was along this stretch that one of the buses was stopped for speeding. We had to pay a fine! The bus made up a pot to pay this for the driver; after this our bus led the way because he had a "fuzz buster"!
We were supposed to have lunch at Pendleton, Oregon, but a rodeo was in progress, so we went on to La Grande. The driver usually called ahead to see if an eating place would be able to take 95 people - we weren't always wanted!
It was in La Grande that we experienced a dust storm. As we got nearer to Portland, Oregon, we saw Mount Hood in the distance. We stopped beside the road to see a beautiful waterfall cascading down the side of the mountain. The Oregon mountains were covered with trees. The Washington side of the Columbia River was almost bare.
It was raining as we crossed the Columbia River from Portland and headed north toward Seattle. This was west of the mountains and was more thickly settled. We saw logs in the bays waiting to be floated to a sawmill. We saw more of these in northern Washington and specially around Everett.
At last we were in Seattle and would have a little respite from the daily schedule of rising early and riding most of the day. We checked into Olympia Hotel, which had been assigned to the Mississippi delegation. We had stopped at the National Extension Homemakers Council headquarters and picked up our bag with our tickets to the various events we had signed up for. We were pleased with other goodies - a notebook, pin and sanddollar to wear around our necks, and some pamphlets with maps to help us find our way around. As soon as we were settled in the motel, we called Don Walter (my cousin who lives in Washington) and his wife Mary. They came to the hotel and took us to their home.
They live in a little house they bought in 1942 almost in the heart of the city. The house belonged to a Japanese family who had to move at the beginning of World War II, when Japanese people on the West Coast were put in camps further inland. Their little yard had a pretty pool with water lilies that the Japanese had made. The house was chilly to us as it had turned cold and we were not exactly clothed for this weather. Mary and Don took us out to a pier overlooking Puget Sound for dinner. We ordered broiled salmon steaks served with rice and corn on the cob. It was good to have family there to visit.
Our National Extension Homemakers Council meetings didn't start until Monday night, so we spent Monday with Don and Mary. They took us to Auburn, Washington, where he grew up. He showed us the old homeplace, and the cemetery where my Aunt and Uncle were buried on a beautiful hilltop overlooking green valleys.
Donald and Mary got us back to the hotel in time to go to the opening meeting in the Opera House at the Civic Center. There was an introduction of all officers present from each state and a welcoming of delegates. The next morning we had a Southern Regional meeting. Several states put on skits. The president from each state made a three minute talk. Mississippi president Marion Carmichael told about our needlepoint map. We viewed the cultural arts exhibits, where there were crafts from each state, then we enjoyed the shops in the Civic Center where there were shops from every nation.
Jan took the King County Tour, saw a winery, a salmon hatchery, the Carnation Milk company headquarters, and other places of interest. That night I went to the awards banquet. Two ladies from Mississippi were there to receive 50 year pins.
Jan and I went up in the Space Needle and looked over the city. Don and Mary met us at noon and we rode the monorail and walked through the Peoples Market, which is on the waterfront. We went again to the waterfront for lunch. That night we had an hour long ride on a boat to Blake Island for supper. We had salmon baked over an open fire served with a baked potato, salad, green beans, beets, and a native berry tart. It was rainy and cold as we went back to the hotel.
Next day a tour bus took us to Vancouver, British Colombia. It was raining more or less all day. We stopped at the Peace Garden on the border, and spent the day in a mall in Vancouver.
On Friday, Don and Mary came to see us off. We had a short time before saying goodbye. I wish we had spent more time with them. We passed over the Cascade Mountains where the foliage was turning fall colors. After we left the mountains, there was farming for miles and miles - beef cattle, mostly with big feed lots. We stopped at an overlook as we passed over the Columbia River, then came upon level land with beautiful farms, apple orchards, and fields of grain. Spokane is an old town, but Coeur d'Alene is more modern and we had a nice motel there for the night.
The next day we covered almost 500 miles. We saw tall fir trees and a buffalo heard - even a gray wolf. We ate lunch in Missoula, Montana at Kings Place Cafeteria. We saw copper mines near Butte, Montana and passed again over the Continental Divide.
On Saturday night, just as it was getting dark, we drove into Yellowstone Park. We picked up a guide and drove about forty miles to the Old Faithful Lodge. It was an eerie feeling to see the white vapor rising from the various hot springs as we drove along. We had seen snow on the mountains before dark and the air was brisk and cold. There had been a nine inch snow the week before and some roads had been closed. Most of the things were closing October 2nd for the winter or until December, when the roads would be opened for snowmobiles. Tall poles had already been placed along the roadsides to guide the snowplows. The Old Lodge at Yellowstone was built in 1904 and added to in 1928. It was built of logs and had a cavernous lounge and a huge fireplace.
We ate breakfast and packed, then went to see Old Faithful erupt. We waited about a half hour, and finally had the thrill of seeing water spout into the sky. We saw other boiling pools and heard some history from our guide. At lunch at one of the picnic places, one of our members slipped and broke her foot. A park ranger was called and the accident victim was transported to the hospital, where we would pick her up as we left the park.
Our guide told us that the policy in the park was to have everything as close to nature as possible - if a fire breaks out naturally, it is allowed to burn. If it was set by people it is extinguished. We saw elk and deer, but no bears. As we were leaving the park, we found the our injured member would have to be transported to Billings where we would spend the night. She had to remain for several days and would fly home from Billings as we proceeded on the trip.
It was good to get back to the sunshine of the Great Plains. We saw another Prairie Dog town and many sheep ranches. We crossed the Big Horn Mountains and stopped to visit the National battlefield where Custer's Last Stand took place at Little Big Horn.
We were driving into Sheridan, Wyoming for lunch when the bus driver stopped to check at the port of entry. There we were told we didn't have a certain sticker we were supposed to have on the bus to go through Wyoming. We set for an hour and a half waiting for a decision. The decision made was that we would go back to Montana and not go through Wyoming. We only had to backtrack about five miles, then took a small state road that went through an Indian reservation. We saw herds of antelopes grazing with cows or alone. We had to go through a tiny tip of Wyoming to reach South Dakota, but there was no port of entry, so we gave a cheer as we drove into South Dakota. None of us felt particularly friendly toward the state of Wyoming!
We spent the night in Rapid City and went to Mount Rushmore to see the sculpture of the presidents. Next we went through the Badlands, where rugged canyons had been carved by nature in the multicolored dirt. We got to Mitchell, South Dakota about 7:30 and found the main street through town was blocked off, as a carnival was in progress. This night was the first time the group had t stay in two different hotels. We drove past the Corn Palace, a building that is made from corn.
We left Mitchell and saw farmers harvesting corn, and saw sheep farms and hayfields. We followed the Big Sioux River, and the next day toured Boys Town, in Omaha, Nebraska. There is a beautiful chapel there where Boys Town founder, Father Flanagan is buried. The boys live in houses (not dormitories) and we saw the school and farm where the boys live and work.
Next day we drove to St Joseph, Missouri and continued along the Missouri River to Independence, Missouri where President Truman was born. We finally arrived in St. Louis and checked into our hotel. Our driver had promised us a good eating place. We unpacked and went to Heritage House Smorgasbord, which had really good food - all you could eat for $4.75. We got a good nights sleep our homeward trip on Friday. We were finally back to cotton and soybean country as we came to the Mississippi River and drove from St. Louis to Memphis. It was good to see homefolks again!
We had oohed and ahhed across the West and Northwest and back, and most agreed the trip had been a dream come true. I certainly had always wanted to go to Seattle and to see the West. We had seen how vast this country of ours is. We had seen that irriagation was a way of life for most farmers. We saw so much hay in round bales, oblong bales stacked in long mounds, in pyramids, and always out in the open. The rainfall is so small that it doesn't damage the hay.
As we traveled, many places the farm homes are few and far between and we realized that the Extension Homemakers Cub has played a part in bringing these isolated women together and given them a purpose in home and community.