NYC or Bust # 1

Four young men, including myself, felt that we had learned all there was to learn in our hometown.  The names of these boys were. Glen, Richard, Jack, and Jim.

For several years we had planned to take a trip to New York City.  We needed to broaden our horizons.  Each year some thing had come up that caused us to cancel this plan.  This year, however, was "the year".  We were seriously serious.  To motivate us to not cancel, we agreed to each place $25 dollars in a joint saving account.  Then if any one cancelled, they would lose their 25 dollars.

Jack and Jim agreed to use their car for the trip.  The car was a 1930, Model A Ford sedan.   We were all familiar with this car and felt that it was in good condition.  How we reached this conclusion I will never understand, since not one of us had any mechanical experience.

Preparations commenced.  We started accumulating maps and travel brochures.  We purchased a canvas water bag to hang on the front of the car.  (All travelers did this in those days). Since we intended to prepare our own meals, we purchased a two weeks supply of food.  Since we could not afford to stay in motels, we each took a sleeping bag.   Then we proceeded to brag all over our town that we were going out to conquer the world.  Finally,we painted "New York City or Bust" on each side and the back of the car.We,re ready to go.

Then a crises arose.  Jim announced that he was not going with us.  Instead he planned to travel to Minnesota with some friends.  We did our best to convince him that it was much more impressive to travel to NYC that it was to go to Minnesota. We reminded him that he would lose his 25 dollars.  He than mounted an impressive argument why he should receive a refund of his 25 dollars.  That argument was simple but very effective.  It was:  "If I don't get my 25 dollars you can't use my half of the car for your trip".  We quickly capitulated.

Even though we had lost 25% of our crew, on August 10, 1948, we three intrepid explorers left Vernal about noon on a beautiful, hot day.  We each had $100.00 in our pocket and a week's supply of food and three sleeping bags stacked on top of the car. The car was humming along smoothly.  All right's with the world.

This "humming smoothly" lasted exactly ten miles.  Suddenly it started to rain.  Water spots were appearing on the windshield.  We looked out the window and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.  The water was coming from another source.  That source was the radiator.  The water in the radiator was boiling and was shooting out the top like Old Faithful Geyser.  We had to stop to solve this problem.  That's right, our first break down occurred exactly ten miles for the starting point.  We poured all the water from our water bag into the radiator and waited for the boiling to stop.  We also discussed whether to return home looking like three stooges.  We decided to continue on about two more miles to the little town of Jensen,Utah. There was a service station and we could refill the radiator and water bag.  We hoped the problem was just the extra hot weather.

When we pulled into the service station the attendant came out with a big grin on his face.  He said, "My Lord, I thought you were driving a "Stanley Steamer".  We didn't think that was funny.  We told him our problem and asked if he had any suggestions.  He said, "I don't know a thing about engines that old; I just pump gas."  After another conference we decided to continue on to Artesia, Colorado, that was about 25 miles down the road.  Maybe they could help us.

Not only would they not help us, but we were faced with another stumbling block to our goal of reaching NYC.  We climbed back into the car, pressed the starter and nothing.  The starter didn't work. A repair man said he thought a broken Bendix spring was probably the problem.  He also told us he could fix the problem but it would take several days to obtain the part from Denver.

Doubts were starting to challenge our resolve to reach NYC.  We held a vote and decided that if we returned home, the humiliation would be unbearable.  The whole town would never let us forget our foolish, ambitious, silly goal.  We decided to travel a day more. Maybe things will get better. We had to start the car by manually pushing it.

With all the stopping to refill the radiator and allowing the motor to "cool down"  it appears that we were traveling at almost 8 miles per hour.  That means it would take us about 300 hours or 37 1/2 days to reach our goal.  Then we had the problem of getting home. Maybe we could sell the car and ask our parents to send us a bus fare home.  All three felt that the answer from our parents would be, "Forget it, you got yourselves into this silly situation, now get yourself out."

To be continued on blog, "NYC or Bust #2".