When our Aunt Anita made this trip, she had many challenges with her itinerary, her car, weather conditions, the roads. . .
We met up yesterday after noon in San Francisco after each of our flights and began our adventure. Our challenges began with trying to figure out how to start the keyless car, the air conditioner, cell phones not working, lack of internet access, finding information centers and museums closed due to different circumstances. . .
After spending Monday night in Reno NV at the scary Circus Circus with clowns and an interesting conglomeration of attendees of the annual Burning Man celebration. Heather said that they reminded her of folks who live in Homer AK.
We ate breakfast at the familiar Denny's restaurant and shared Anita's story with an interested server who in turn shared a story from his family. His great great great grandmother was the daughter of the Hawaiian king - Kamehameha and one the family's servants.
Her itinerary included San Francisco, Sacramento, Truckee, Reno,
Fallon, Austin, Ely, Fish Springs, Salt Lake City, Green River,
Rawlins, Laramie, Kimball, North Platte, Grand Island, Omaha,
Boone, Cedar Rapids, Dixon, Chicago, Valparaiso, South Bend,
Elkhart, Fort Wayne, Delphos, Lima, Dayton, Springfield, London,
Columbus, Zanesville, Wheeling, Pittsburgh, Greensburg, Bedford,
Chambersburg, Hanover, York, Columbia, Lancaster, Coatesville,
Westchester, Philadelphia, Camden, Trenton, Princeton,
New Brunswick, Elizabeth, and New York
While enroute she stopped at 100 Paramount Theatres
and spoke on the art filmmaking.
Four days out, the "Queen of the Screen" was driving in masterly style and averaging
more than 100 miles a day.
Then she hit Nevada...
The New York Times quotes Miss King in their September 19th edition.
"Leaving Reno on what is known as the Lovelock Road,
which is impassable in wet weather, ten miles from Lincoln Highway,
I got stuck in the mud. There had been a big cloudburst,
but I did not know it, and I worked from 9 o'clock in the morning
until 8 o'clock that night shoveling mud.
I got the car out, drove fifty feet, and was stuck again.
It was impossible for me to go on, and I had no food with me
as I expected to make Fallon in four hours.
I was exhausted so I got blankets out to lie down.
About midnight a mad coyote attacked me, and after a terrible struggle
I finally killed him, and knew nothing more until I was picked up by prospectors,
who heard the shots of my gun. This was 3:30 A.M.,
so I must have fought with the coyote for three hours.
The prospectors took me eighteen miles to a station house and gave me food.
When I fully recovered I went back and got my car
and followed the prospectors to Lovelock.
Then I continued on my journey.
The roads were terrible, so hot and dusty, that it took me nine hours
to drive 80 and a half miles to Winnemucca."
