Fe and finally that day to Taos, where we spent the night. The next day we drove through Northeastern New Mexico, Southeastern Colorado and into Kansas. On the third day of the journey we drove through Missouri, where I began to see hardwood forests--that is to say forests of hickory and sweet gum, oak and sycamore -- that I had been told of, or had read about, but had never seen before. It's interesting how I remember now wondering about things like that! When we crossed the Mississippi I at long last saw the locale where Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn experienced the fun things in their lives ... things I had read about and looked forward to seeing.

 

I think it was the fourth day of our trip that Uncle Harold and Aunt Mona dropped me off in Ottumwa, Iowa at the home of Aunt Ella Chadduck, my grandfather Will's sister. Grandmother, grandpa and I stayed with Aunt Ella and her husband, Jake, and their daughter, Alice for about two weeks. During that time we visited Grandmother's relatives in Oskaloosa and Des Moines and Grandpa's relatives around Agency, Iowa. I remember, in particular, Grandpa's Uncle "Wib" Clemmons, who we visited in Agency. Uncle "Wib's" barn was filled with samples of gold and silver ore, Indian arrowheads and all-kinds of artifacts that he and his nephew( my Granddad) had brought back from Colorado Territory when they went out there in 1879. Grandpa was seventeen years old then; and, he and Uncle "Wib" lived in a cabin near Leadville, Colorado for four years. I remembered many of the stories Grandpa had told us about his adventures with his uncle; therefore, I was absolutely in awe ... actually looking upon all those things in Uncle "Wib's" barn! At the time of our visit Uncle "Wib" had just finished writing a little book entitled "What the Sam Hill", in which he told all about the experiences he and his nephew had had together in Colorado Territory. I remember having seen the copy of that book, which he gave Grandpa, at Grandpa's home in Las Cruces years later. Gee I wish I knew whatever became of it ... wish I had it now!

 

While we were at Aunt Ella and Uncle Jake's home I became very chummy with Uncle Jake. Many afternoons I would sit with him on his front porch listening to the broadcast of the Chicago Cub's ball game. He would sit in his rocking chair with a great big pipe full of Granger tobacco in his mouth and explain every play in great detail to the little boy who sat fascinated at his side. I would become just as excited as Uncle Jake when "the Babe" came to bat. The two of us would laugh and scream with delight; and, after the game, as we sat down to a wonderful evening meal prepared by Aunt Ella, Alice and my grandmother, comprised mostly of fresh vegetables right out of Aunt Ella's garden, Uncle Jake and I would recount all the highlights of the baseball game we had just listened to over the radio.

 

One day, on a visit to some of the Fair family relatives, their kids and I found some old coins that had been stashed in what those children told me was a secret hiding place there on the farm. They gave me a nickel and a dime that had been minted in the early 1800s and for years I kept them with other treasured belongings acquired over a long period of time. Unfortunately those coins and some of the arrowheads from Uncle "Wib's" barn along with many other mementos have been lost.

 

Grandmother and Grandpa took me to the Chicago World Fair after the visit there in Ottumwa. We stayed with Grandpa's niece, Cora Connley, and her husband, Frank. Cora was Aunt "Cordy's" daughter. Aunt "Cordy" was Grandpa's baby sister who died before I ever got to meet her. While we were in Chicago the Connleys took us to Lincoln Park, the famous Zoo there and to a number of other places of interest. It was at the Fair itself, though, that my young mind, as the kids say today, was "blown".

 

It's not difficult to imagine the excitement and thrill all those grand and amazing sights contributed to the mind of a little country boy who had never been away from his or his