Day 25 -- Tuesday, July 20

I was awfully glad to hear your voice. Both of you sound swell. I'm now writing in the car as we head south for the Mexican Border, so please excuse the poor writing.

If I recall, the last time I wrote to you was at the Grand Canyon. We were at the North Rim of the canyon and it wasn't too crowded. We had a good time at the place, although I was "chicken" to dance. We left the canyon, had our generator fixed and headed for Bryce Canyon. We arrived there in time to see the beautiful red rock formations (quite unusual they were) before the sun went down.

Next day, after a dance at night, we headed for Zion National Park. The rocks weren't colored there, but they were just as pretty as Bryce's. On entering the park you have to pass through many tunnels, the longest of which was 1/2 mile. The road was very steep winding towards the bottom of a ravine. I trust that you got my note from there. I got a picture of that big rock but I'm sure it will look nothing like the picture of the Post Card. I've finished my role of colored film. Should I send it to Rochester? It costs nothing to have the pictures developed but I hear it costs 75 cents each to have them printed. Please check on it. I think I'll have my black and white pictures developed myself while on the road.

I haven't spent much money yet but some of the boys who came with $40 or so are broke. Bob sent home for more money and I will soon. Both Billy and Al have over $150 but they plan to buy experience Mexican stuff. So far I've spent about $10-$15, not more than $1 at a time. That dollar was for a watermelon I treated the boys to. (You should never use a preposition to end a sentence with). You see in Peru, Nebraska I found a dollar on the street when Al was teaching me to drive. By the way I haven't really driven yet. (Except for Al's lesson). I have just steered once or twice so there is no need to worry.

Well, to continue with my exposition -- as a matter of curiosity we have gone 5606 miles an average of 220 miles per day. I just felt like writing that, so please don't mind. From Zion National Park we drove on to Las Vegas arriving at about 9. Going through Arizona, however, was quite disappointing as well as discouraging. For 50 miles around there might have been nothing but road, cactus, weeds and dry dust. It was surely barren. The land that was perfectly useless, Uncle Sam gave it to the Indians. By the way, all of Southern Arizona, part of New Mexico and others were just packed with "injuns". None of them talked very much and they weren't too friendly. It didn't seem however that they bore grudges against us tourists.

Gee, the sun's out. This California weather is most peculiar. It is very misty in the morning, almost raining. Then at about 12, the sun comes shining through. The nights aren't hot but they're certainly not cool.

Well, we arrived at Vegas as 9. Pop gave us $1 for supper and we each went our way. Bob, Al, and Tom all got into the gambling halls, the name of some of which were "The Golden Nugget," "The Pioneer Club," "Frontier," "Eldorado Club," and others. The town was very colorful but it was entirely a tourist town. Every bar, eating place, drug store, department store -- in short every store in town had gambling machines -- we call them one-armed bandits.

About 20-40 per cent of the money put in goes to the owner of the machines. I never saw and didn't see anyone take a jackpot. For 5 cents the jackpot is $8 -- $.10 was $20 -- $.25 was $35 -- $.50 was $75 -- $1 was $150. They also had $.01 or penny machines but we didn't pay much attention to them. The boys didn't make out very well. The first night Bob lost more than $1.00 -- Tom lost about $5 -- Al won about $5 -- I lost about $.50 and that was when I could sneak a game in a drug store.

At about 12 we then headed for Boulder City and our camping sight. We then camped on Lake Mead. The next morning Tom and Bill, who are Catholic, went to church, so Al and I tried to call you from Boulder City. You were out. We then had our trailer fixed. Two hours later at 10 or at 1 your time we tried to call again. We could hear Marshall talking to the operator but we found out that again you weren't there. We returned to Lake Mead, the largest artificial lake in the world (115 miles long).

The day until 2 we spent in the lake. We went to get a soda and we discovered that the temperature was 110 in the shade next to an ice box. You can't imagine "heat that hot". At two we then headed to Hoover Dam, which was once called Boulder Dam. We took a tour through the place and took pictures, we went to the bottom and viewed the power houses. It was interesting. We returned to town so that we could see free movies there. Al and I then called you.

We went back to camp, swam awhile and then went to Las Vegas for supper at 9. We ate and again the boys tried their luck. They all lost but not as heavily as the night before. Al at one time I heard was $30 ahead, but he lost it in addition to a silver dollar or two or three or four... We then had our first real night driving. Leaving town at night it was around 100 degrees.

Entering L.A. almost 300 miles later the temperature was hovering around 60. Quite a change. By the way out here they pronounce Los Angeles with a hard G as in "good" and not with a G as in "George". We headed for Pop's brother's gas station right on Sunset Blvd. We ate breakfast at a Jewish-Hungarian restaurant where I had lox for breakfast in addition to rye bread. For lunch that day I had cold cut sandwiches along with an extra order of wonderful pickles. However, let's return to L.A.

We had many things to do. Billy had his glasses fixed, I got a box of Kleenexes (I only use 2 or 3 a day by now), and Bob went to the doctor. He had an ingrown toe nail and the Doc fixed him up. When we returned I got up enough courage to call Hannah Frankel. She was very nice and she gave me Helen's phone number in addition to the information that Ellen Barber and her group will be in L.A. on about Friday. We expect to see Mexico today and L.A. Wednesday and Thursday. I think that we'll miss them.

Anyway, I called Helen and got her address. After lunch the boys and I drove them 7 miles to Burbank outside the city limits. They were thrilled to see us. Only Helen and Henry were there. We chatted, drank their soda, and ate peaches for their own peach trees. They also have figs, apricots and strawberries. In addition to that they have a white bungalow and a new blue Buick (Try those three words quickly a few times -- you'll have a tough time). Helen said that they're having a tough time getting people in the movies. She said that she'd try but there wasn't much hope. She volunteered however to get us tickets for a radio show Thursday afternoon. I thanked her and headed back to LA. On the way back we saw part of the Hollywood Bowl, the outside of Warner's studios (a big treat) and Hollywood and Vine Streets in Hollywood. L.A. and vicinity was a new era in our trip. The whole city is filled with peculiar palm trees. I've never seen them before. Also it's the first time during the day in a long time that we've been able to listen to the radio.

We're now going through San Diego. It's really a buzzing town. I wanted to see La Jolla, but the boys overruled me.

We left L.A. yesterday at 4 and traveled towards San Diego. We camped about halfway down and left early this morning (at 11). You should see all the ships -- destroyed cruisers, etc. -- we can see now. It's quite impressive.

Well I hope you're satisfied with this letter. They don't come often but I'll try to drop a few post cards. Tell me the news of the shore since no one from there writes me. Your mail and a one page letter from Carl has been the extent of my letter reading. We're having a swell time but I still miss you.