Westward Ho!

The family stops for a picture as they begin
the adventurous drive to California, September 1, 1928.

In those days, the drive from Lockport, New York to Los Angeles, California was something of an adventure.

Most of highway 66 was an unpaved washboard. The road was so rough that it shook the nails out of the wooden crates that people used to haul their household goods. The nails landed on the road, and people who followed had flat tires to contend with. Much of it was one-lane, so that somebody had to get off the road when cars met.

This was before auto courts dotted the highways to welcome tourists and travelers. The family tent-camped along the road. They cooked over a camp stove most nights.

They thought that Betty Dog couldn't make the trip, or that they couldn't handle a dog on such a trip. They gave her away, in preparation for the trip. This is one of those stories, where the family pet finds its way back home to the family before they left that part of the country. Everyone was happy that she did.