cleo patterson’s small travel journal of her trip to texas, as found in my garage as i moved in
while moving into our new home last summer, we came across a few items in the garage that were left behind by previous owners. one such item was a thin, small black leather “memo book.” upon further inspection, i was so pleasantly surprised to find – hark! – a travel journal from 1940! how fortuitous! i sat down this week and reread it, which only further solidified my thoughts that travel journals are a must. do not leave home without one!
the journal, written by cleo patterson in the spring of 1940, is titled “my trip to texas.” an hour with google later, i learned that miss cleo (as i’m calling her), later moved to texas (must have liked that trip!), and passed away in lubbock in the 1990s.
i’ve included below some of my favorite passages from her journal. i’ll include some more in a second post so you can see how the trip (and not just the voyage) passed.. enjoy!
miss cleo’s bus route from ohio to texas (as depicted on google maps): (a) columbus, ohio; (b) richmond, indiana; (c) indianapolis, indiana; (d) terra haute, indiana; (e) st. louis, missouri; (f) sullivan, missouri; (g) waynesville, missouri; (h) springfield, missouri; (i) carthage, missouri; (j) joplin, missouri; (k) vinita, oklahoma; (l) tulsa, oklahoma; (m) chandler, oklahoma; (n) oklahoma city, oklahoma; (o) clinton, oklahoma; (p) shamrock, texas; (q) amarillo, texas.
“Saturday, May 18, 1940
I left the office at 12:00 o’clock noon. Ethel Evers took me to the Bus Station. Ate lunch there with Sam [believe her son?]. My Bus left at 1:20. All seats were taken, so I sat with a girl whose name was Eileen and who was from New York State. She was going to Los Angeles to be married. She was very interesting to talk to and we rode together all the way to Tulsa, Okla.
Sunday, May 19
We crossed the Mississippi river about 1:00 o’clock, and it was a most beautiful sight to see the lights from the docks all up and down the river. We arrived in St. Louis, Mo. at 1:30. Here we changed busses and received new tickets at the ticket window…We did not have a new bus as we had the first part of our journey, and were very uncomfortable. I bought a pillow, but even that did not help must. There were plenty of seats, so I had one to myself and tried to curl up in the seat, but was not able to sleep. I tied my hair and tried to get some dirt off my face with cream.
Then came the dawn, and we were passing through the Ozark Mountains and it is a sight I shall never forget. A particularly beautiful spot was when we were going thru a pass called “Devil’s Elbow.” Our next stop was at Waynesville, Mo. at 6:30 where we drank a cup of coffee. We were still in the Ozark Mountains. Waynesville was a very quaint little town and most picturesque. The drive from Waynesville to Springfield was rolling hills and winding roads. Very beautiful all the way. The bus station at Springfield was very beautiful and I was wishing for a picture, but unfortunately my Kodak was stolen.
While crossing Kansas and a small section of Oklahoma, we could see huge mountais of sand and gravel, white and gleaming in the sun. It was really very beautiful. I did not learn until I arrived in Texas that this was nothing but slec from the lead mines.
Our next stop was Vinita, Okla. We had dinner here and it was a most excellent meal. Here we had to pay sales tax and instead of using stamps they use little tin slugs that reads 1 mill 5 mills, etc. I was quite puzzled as to what they were and thought they were trying to pass me some phony money.
oklahoma city’s capitol building sits atop an active oil well. photo attributed to matthew rutledge, https://www.flickr.com/x/t/0092009/photos/rutlo/3863799533/
We left Tulsa at 4:10. Here I saw my first oil well. Next we arrived at Oklahoma City at 7:45; There I saw many oil wells which were almost in the Capitol yard. It was a very interesting sight. From Oklahoma City to Elk City I had a very interesting companion who pointed out many interesting things and told me many other things of interest about the country. One thing that impressed me most about this state was the red earth or soil. It is very beautiful to see the green things growing out of the red soil. Our next stop was at Clinton, Okla at 10:40, where we had 10 minutes. There I drank a coca-cola.
Wednesday May 20
Our next stop was at Shamrock, Texas at 12:50. We had a 10 minute stop. I got off and walked up and down until time to get on the Bus. I tried to sleep, but I was afraid I would miss something. By this time, I was too excited to even think of sleeping. The moon was showing so bright you could see for miles and miles. The next and last stop was Amarillo. As we were nearing the city, we went under an UnderPass that was all lighted up with hidden lights. It was a beautiful sight.”
a glimpse into cleo patterson’s travel journal of her bus trip from ohio to texas in 1940
i’ll post a few more tidbits next week from miss cleo’s visit to amarillo. i was so sorry to hear her kodak was stolen – how unfortunate! so funny to read her accounts of oklahoma, especially the oil wells on the capitol yard (they are still there!), and the red earth. growing up in oklahoma, we didn’t refer to parts of the state via cities or counties, but rather based on the earth. tulsa, where i grew up, is green country, due to the rolling hills, higher rainfall, and more lush trees. in contrast, oklahoma city is red carpet country, which, as miss cleo noted, is named after the thick red earth that spreads for miles and miles.