Our First Modes of Transportation
This is a story of my personal experiences with different modes of transportation. 
 They are listed in Chronological order from the time I was born until today.
   FEET 

       
Our Feet  did  a Good Job moving us around.  

We were always told it was healthy for us to walk. 
Means of transportation were few so our feet worked. 
 We walked to school. We walked to the store. We walked to visit with our family in their homes.
 Sometimes we walked many miles in a day.  When we started school we had to walk by ourselves and sometimes with family and friends. We walked home from school. We walked to church on Sundays. 

If we had a problem we would have to walk to talk with someone to help us. 
Yes our feet took us everywhere and we survived to talk about it. 
Those feet still work today and they are better mechanics than our cars mechanics are for our automobile. 
I think I will always want to keep my feet.  We now know that it is very healthy to keep our feet walking.   More information comes to us daily on the benefits of walking for exercise.    We try to walk around the lake where we live and many people get their walking in on Fitness Equipment called....

  Bicycles

My first ride on a bicycle was a Jr. Bicycle purchased by my grandparents. It was a used Bicycle but new to me. It had big fat tires. It was painted blue.  I became the proud owner when I was 8 years old.  We lived in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.  I learned to ride on the sidewalk.  When Mom or Dad were watching I could ride in the street. That was so they could watch to see if any cars were  coming.  Can't imagine having such a quiet street in the middle of town........ 

Del had a 1951 Wards Hawthorne. It did not have a banana seat like this one  

  Trains  

Metro trains 

Our trains in the city were called Trolleys.
 Trolleys rode on a track like a train does today, but it was within the city where it stayed
 and did its work.


Passenger Trains

  Later known as "Amtrak"
Amtrak was a passenger train that took people to far destinations. 

Before I was five years old I had the experience of riding in the caboose of the train with the workers. That was lots of fun. I always wished I could be a passenger on one of those big trains. My first ride on a passenger train was in 1952 when Mom and Dad took our family back to Wisconsin from Iowa for Thanksgiving.
We had planned to drive but because of the time allowed and the forecast of snow Dad decided we would go by train at the last minute. That was quite an experience.

When I was 16 I took my first Solo train trip from Sioux City to Los Angeles, California. I learned the Ways of the West during that summer while being hosted by my Aunt and Uncle Amy and Warner Johnson in Redondo Beach. I saw the Lights of that great City of Los Vegas as we whizzed through that Wide Awake Gambling place in the middle of the night. I rode out with a sailor going back to his duty. Met many more service men. The train was mostly men going home or returning to duty. Going home I was introduced to the Swedish language and culture through Elsa and Kristen with whom I spent 3 days and night. My seat partner this time was in the Army. He was very caring and protected me from some who were after things I didn't know anything about.  I was innocent and 16.  My luggage was so heavy I spent a quarter so the porter would take my bags out of the train for me. That was a lot of money to have to give up but my arms were about to break when I had to walk with bags on both arms for several block in a great hurry to catch my train in Omaha when transferring from the train I rode from Sioux City, Iowa. I learned I wasn't as strong as I thought I was.
After graduation from High School The train became a familiar friend. As a "Youth Caravanner" for the Luther League of America I traveled by train, bus, and car during the summer of 1955. That was such a thrilling experience. One ride took us all night sleeping in our own special room. We had porter service making up our bed and bringing us treats in the morning. We left Central Ohio in the evening and arrived in New York City in the morning after a nights sleep. I won't say it was a good nights sleep as the movement of the train felt like I might fall from the bed if I didn't hang on.  One meal in the dining room was unforgettable. The food really wasn't all that good as I recall. It made for an interesting story as we had to hold on to our stemware crystal or they would have tumbled over, ice and all.

Trains    This was Luxury Traveling. We still carried our lunches, but the train was rather smooth riding and kept traveling day and night so we could get where we were going much faster. 
I traveled from SE Iowa, Mt. Pleasant to Gothenburg (Western)  Nebraska in 1985. Del supplies as Interim Minister for American Lutheran Church in Gothenburg. I got off the train in Holdrege which was about 75 miles away and we took the automobile the remainder of the trip. I traveled all night on the train without a bunk or bed. I used two seats facing each other and laid down as much as I could and did catch a few winks that way. My wonderful husband was waiting in the Train Depot when I arrived at 5 AM. After a wonderful weekend he delivered me back to the Station where I boarded the Train once again for my ride back home. I again traveled all night and arrived in time to go to work in the morning at 9 AM. 

Automobiles
My first rides in cars were friends and grandparents vehicles. This is a picture of me in 1938.
In the summer of 1948  my parents  purchased the first car in our family. It was a Studebaker. Arthur Godfrey, a news commentator said, "You cannot tell which is front or back so how do you know which direction it is traveling?"  We were quite proud and happy to have this special piece of transportation. Now we could drive across town to visit with my mother's parents in our own car. And every body would turn and look at us because this was such a new invention.



Each year after we had a new Studebaker. Several years later Dad bought one for mom, and we became a 2 car family! Rare in our neighborhood. We had no garage in those days, only parking space in front of the houses. 

For those who never saw any of the Burma Shave signs, here is a quick lesson in our history of the 1930's and '40's. Before there were interstates, when everyone drove the old 2 lane roads, Burma Shave signs would be posted all over the countryside in farmers' fields. They were small red signs with white letters. Five signs,
about 100 feet apart, each containing 1 line of a 4 line couplet -- and the obligatory 5th sign advertising Burma Shave, a popular shaving cream. Here are more of the actual signs:

Check our Family Automobiles we have had through the years.                                                                                                             

  Motorcycles 


    

1946 Indian Chief  much like the one Del owned.
Del had a Cycle much like this one before he left for the Service in the Marine Corp. When he arrived back from Korea he found it in a repair shop in Sioux Falls, SD. He sold it to them for $75 as he didn't have the money to repair it. That was a good thing, because I was never very interested in any guys who rode cycles. I don't know what my reaction would have been had I met him that way. He really had a very nice 1948 Buick. I enjoyed riding in that vehicle.

Buses
School Bus

The ones we rode were not yellow like they were manufactured in later years.  School busses  became popular in the 1940's   I rode the school bus every day when we lived in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Our School was about 10 miles from home as we lived in the rural route area.   We would have to go to a bus stop which was in front of our house and wait for the time when the bus was scheduled to arrive. Then we would ride close to our destination and walk the remainder of the distance to our school or home.   When I was 5  our family had moved away from my family home to Stevens Point, Wisconsin.  I was lucky enough to take the bus with my grandmother to visit my Aunt Beth and Uncle Hank in Crookston, Minnesota s brief time before our move.    I took a bus which took me 100 miles back to Eau Claire where I visited my grandparents at seven years of age.. The Greyhound line was popular in those days and was not as comfortable as busses are today. You could not recline the seats nor did we have pillows. We always carried a lunch with us as food at the bus stops along the way was very expensive and not very good. It was not food like we ate at home. Restrooms were not on the bus but at any tavern  or bus stop along the way. I traveled alone, but the bus driver watched over me and saw that I arrived safely at my destination where my grandparents were waiting.   
        These people are all waiting to get on board the bus. 

Greyhound Bus Station

Airplanes 
 War planes were the Only planes we heard or saw in the sky above us.
I was very much afraid because what I knew was planes dropped bombs on people. Our town (Stevens Point) had black outs every night, and my Daddy was the block captain. 
He would go around the block and check on every home to be sure lights were out. We would hear Warning Sirens which meant, Turn out your lights! The planes are coming!

  Airplanes were not a part of our traveling experience.  We knew a few people who traveled that way.  They must have been very rich! I didn't think we would every have enough money to fly in an airplane. 
People and mail only moved across the ocean on ships and it took several weeks. 
We could buy an airmail Stamp for 6¢ and it would arrive across the country 
or ocean in only a few days.
When I graduated from High School I had my first airplane ride. 
I flew for the LLA (Luther League of America) which was a youth organization in our Church.
I was elected to the Board and traveled to meetings in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and Ohio. During that same time I flew for the State of Iowa where I also served on the State Board for Luther League.
Traveling with my new baby 18 months old was an experience of a lifetime. We traveled by plane from Omaha, Nebraska to Eau Claire, Wisconsin alone.  The airport shut down in Minneapolis on the way home, and I put Wendy in a nursery that was provided by the airport with caretakers.  Mamies they were called.
I was able to leave and go out and get something to eat. She was locked in with these people. The airport opened again and our plane began boarding. I had to get my baby out of the nursery, get it unlocked and run and run, run with my baby in arms and suitcases and belongings in the other arm. Out to the plane we went where we boarded just in time.
 Actually, everyone was waiting for us and the steps were pulled away as soon as we boarded.

Today's airports are many all over the country and abroad. 
Phoenix has one of the largest airports and.....   I have flown to..

     After Del and I were married Life changed some more.
 We owned a 1949 Pontiac. It moved us to Fremont, Nebraska where Del Attended Midland College
as a Pre Theological Student. After graduation He enrolled in Central Lutheran Theological Seminary.

Our Black Pontiac, now a 1951, served us well. We traveled from Fremont, Nebraska to Sioux City, Iowa.
Many weekend visits to His parents home. Later to Eau Claire, Wisconsin where Judy's Parents lived.
That Pontiac took us safely to our destinations many times. We could purchase gasoline from 15¢ - 25¢ a gallon.
We would look for every station that would give Green Stamps with our purchase. Filling those books gave us many bonuses in merchandise.  Sometimes we drove a few extra miles so we might get S&H Green Stamps.

We still own an electric heater purchased with some of our stamps in those days. Today we carry it in our Motor Home. How time has changed in the past 50 years!

Our last year in Seminary, 1961, Del purchased a 1961 Buick Special Station Wagon. It was our first new car. We drove that every week end while supplies pulpits in congregations throughout rural Nebraska. We could get 15-20 miles a gallon. Our oldest daughter Wendy always was with us and she could sleep in the back. We put a mattress down when the seats were lowered. I took a few naps there too, while Del was driving the high ways. 
  

RV &
Motor Home Transportation

See Winnebago Outside and INSIDE

Yes, Times have changed so much, We pinch ourselves sometimes. It is real! We have changed too.

updated May 1, 2007