Sunday, October 25, 2015

Women traveled solo in 1944



Yosemite 1944!!

After a death in the family, revisiting the past becomes a comforting pastime. Going through my sister's files, I came across several travel journals our mother had written. Her words echoed in my heart as I relived her experiences through her words. I am convinced I inherited her travel gene.

The most common questions I am asked are, “Aren’t you afraid to travel alone? What if you break down?” Compared to 1944  setting out as a solo traveler is not so risky today.

For me, the  lesson hidden in my dear mother’s three page journal is not, “What if something happens,” but instead it is , “Do I have the courage to take that unknown  risk anyway?” and  “Will I be able to find the fortitude to face whatever happens?”

This is the final page of my mother's travel journal about a trip she took to Yosemite in 1944 and in February! She was on her way from Springfield, Illinois to pick up my father in California who had just been released from the Navy.

 

 Page one ended with a strange man knocking on her cabin door in the middle of the night and claiming to be her boyfriend.

 Enjoy!

Yosemite 1944 –Final page.

 



3 comments:

  1. Love the old record of her trip...however, she was going thru Yellowstone not Yosemite. I can almost feel her fear in the cabin and on the road when her car was stuck in the snow. What a brave woman she was. I don't think many single women would travel across country alone at that time. Love the story!

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  2. WOW. I'm with Suzi: more please! You could publish the whole thing as her memoir.

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