"Touring Youths Meet 2 Pals from Home in West
By The Touring Three
El Paso -- Our last correspondence found us in the wilds of Colorado at Mesa Verde National park. Since then our itinerary has taken us into quaint cities of the southwest. Leaving Mesa Verde early Wednesday morning we stopped first at Gallup, N. M., the Indian capital of the world, where the national inter-tribal Indian ceremonies are held each year in August. Throughout the prairies of the southwest, we were quite interested in the living conditions of the Indians and their homes, which are known as "hogans," made of small logs, clay bricks and mud roofs.
At 4 in the afternoon we arrived at Santa Fe, the oldest seat of government in the United States. Here we decided to become quite "citified," so after driving around the ancient streets of the city, we registered at a tourist cabin where we bathed, shaved and primped for some time. Feeling like real western dudes, we made up our minds to go to one of the better restaurants in town and to have quite a spree, for us. The first place that we saw that had class (as we put it) was the La Fonda hotel. Deciding that the prices couldn't be too terrific, we entered -- and were shown to the main dining room where the melodious strains of a Spanish orchestra filled the atmosphere. All was perfect until we looked at the menu. We ordered, but as we ate the first course a single thought lingered in our minds -- that it had taken nine car washes to pay for the meal.
However, when the pretty Mexican dancing girls had performed and we had completed the Mexican meal, this thought was forgotten and the evening was considered a highlight of the trip thus far. Our only regret of the evening was that we were the most poorly dressed group in the dining room, despite vain primping.
Before leaving Santa Fe the following morning, we visited the governor's palace, which is the oldest governmental building in the United States, the New Mexico Art institute where there is a fine collection of pictures portraying the life of the Indians and the San Miguel church, claimed to be the oldest church in the country.
Thursday evening we camped at Bottomless Lakes state park, New Mexico, where we were entertained by an evening of conversation with two real western characters. They were most interested in relating to us the adventures of Billy the Kid, a notorious outlaw of these parts who had killed 21 men at the age of 21.
Our next point of interest took us to the Carlsbad Caverns in lower New Mexico. Arriving in time for the 10:30 tour, we found much to the dismay of Dick Christian, who counted on a private party of three along with several rangers, that we were entering the caverns along with 531 other interested sightseers, 10 of whom were from Ohio. By 1 o'clock we had hiked through three and one-half miles of the massive alabaster beauty of the stalagmites and stalactites and we now found ourselves in a huge [sic] subterranean cafeteria. After lunch we had a few words with Jim White, the cowboy discoverer of the caverns. Our next stop in the caverns and the most impressive was at the Rock of Ages, where we realized what darkness really was when they turned out every light within the caves. Adding to the impressiveness of the ceremony, there came from out of the utter blackness a beautiful interpretation of the hymn, "The Rock of Ages."
Because we had heard so much about the evening flight of more than three million bats from the caverns each night at dusk, we delayed our journey for several hours in order to witness this amazing spectacle. Because "the rains came" and the bats didn't, we only saw 37 of the three million. Battling our way through the dust and rain storm, we decided to go to El Paso. Approaching El Paso, we suddenly discovered that we had become bottlenecked by temporarily disrupting a night maneuver of Fort Bliss, the largest cavalry post in the United States.
In El Paso we were unable to find a camping ground and finally were forced to throw our sleeping bags along the road. Towards morning John Herbert, feeling something crawling down his arm, brushed the wriggling creature from his biceps and, reaching for his trusty peashooter with the same motion, arose from his bed. A 10-inch lizard was the antagonist.
Although we merely crossed a river to enter Juarez, Mexico, it seemed as though we were in another world. For the customs and the way of life are so different from ours. As we strolled down the Main Street of Juarez, which is bordered by numerous sidewalk stands where Mexican women pat pancake-like tortillas, we wondered at the constant babble of the Spanish tongue. The "Mexes" not only attempt to lure you into their shops by lingo, but often by bodily force. After being "stung" once or twice, we finally caught on to their method of bargaining. Most of the day was spent in the city market, where Bob finally spent nearly a half hour arguing over a nickel -- and lost. Although we had planned to stay in Juarez over night, we found that our stomachs weren't strong enough, so we returned to El Paso for the night.
Sunday afternoon we reached the Petrified Forest, where we enjoyed a private lecture by the park ranger and a comfortable night under the desert sky. Monday, being Herbert's birthday, we let him sleep until 4:35 before heading for the Painted Desert en route to the Grand Canyon.
Upon arriving at Grand Canyon we enjoyed a banquet in honor of Herbert's birthday. The principal speaker of the evening, Bob Finley, was introduced by Toastmaster Dick Christian, whose witty remarks intermingled with the colorful Finley oration to make the occasion a most happy one. To our added enjoyment, we had a home baked cake from Dayton and ice cream.
Tuesday morning was spent in doing a two-weeks' washing, which was the cause of many a blister and a bad case of "housemaid's knee." We'll have to admit, even though our scrubbing was done very industriously, that our clothes give evidence of tattle-tale gray.
We joined a car caravan in the afternoon for a tour to the places of most scenic beauty in the canyon. It was not until the ranger had told us how distant a few of the points were that we appreciated the overwhelming size of the canyon. An interesting evening was had at the nightly camp fire lecture where we learned something of the geology of the canyon.
A highlight in our canyon stay was the arrival of two of our Dayton friends, James Chenoweth and Dick Hochwalt, who are also taking a western tour. Being the first friends from home, they were forced to listen to our constant babbling of many experiences."