Journal February 14, 1953 (Jane)
Got an early start this morning, about 11 am. Drove down near the speedway. Today was the start of the Daytona races. Roland wasn’t planning to go but he kept edging nearer and nearer until we got into a slight traffic jam. Finally we got on our way.
It was very windy all day and the trailer swayed a lot. Roland had me hanging out the back car window to see if the hitch was wiggling on the car. Boy, the ground was going by fast. Sandy is fussing for another new tooth.
We finally put up for the night at Fort Pierce, Florida.
Journal February 15, 1953 (Jane)
Rained this am. Lesley went out with raincoat and rubbers. Roland and I took showers and washed our hair. The water in the trailer park was soft for a change.
We drove on to Lake Worth and found a trailer park near Boynton.
Journal February 16, 1953
Roland took the car to have the sand taken out of the brakes (from riding on Daytona beach), while I washed Lesley’s hair and put it in pins. Then I cleaned and ironed. After lunch we dressed the children up and went to see my cousin, John, who lives in Florida.
After leaving there we drove along Palm Beach and saw all the beautiful estates. In one parking lot there were 15 cars and 12 of them were cadillacs.
We stopped at Howard Johnsons and had a soda each. From there we called another cousin who came to visit us for the evening.
Journal February 17, 1953
Roland sanded and lacquered the station wagon again this morning while I made lengthy and complicated potato salad. Then I cleaned house a bit. Then we had lunch and donned our bathing suits. Inky dashed out the door for a second (thinking she was going swimming), but we caught her and put her back in the trailer. We were just climbing in the car when an old crosspatch came to complain about Inky.
We went to the beach for the afternoon. Lesley loved the waves and we all got splashed. Les and I ducked all the way but Roland only got his legs wet. After supper Roland spent the evening fixing the trailer brakes (rewiring) and getting ready to move south tomorrow.
I love going back to the early ’50s with you as you describe everything so well. When you mention you called someone, I imagine going to a pay phone and either having a bag of coins handy or having to call collect. No cell phones then!!
I’m also expanding my vocabulary. I Googled the term “old crosspatch” to make sure I understood its proper meaning. I was surprised to see that the 5th hit on the Google listing was “Blog | Jane Pinel janepinel.com/blog/”. You’ve hit the big time!!
Hi Dave, Great to hear from you. You are right, making a phone call was not always easy. Had to find a phone booth somewhere, and have the right change, usually for three minutes, more change if you talked longer.
Also realized as I was posting this journal, that life is more standardized today. Everywhere we went then we stayed in mom and pop trailer parks and restaurants. No big box stores or chain restaurants.
Thanks for writing.
Jane