Tucson, October 4, 1966

Dear Family,

If you do not have a letter in the mail, don’t write to this address. We contemplate leaving Tucson Friday the 7^th. Of course these plans are subject to change. It is raining hard here to-day and the weather prognosis is not good. We may have to wait until it clears up. Cuidad Oregon and vicinity was struck by a Typhoon. It will probably take a week to clear up that mess.

We plan to go to Guadalajara or some small town in the vicinity, where we can attend church. There are two branches in Guadalajara. If we can find a place that suits us we will stay there until the first of December, when we will return to Tucson. Mother talked to David the other evening while I was at General Priesthood meeting. He says he is doing fine and plans to come to Tucson for a few days about the middle of December. We will go back to California with him and spend Christmas with our California Kin.

We had hoped to hear from all of you, especially the McKays, with reports on Lloyd and Brian Jon. I am sure you are not all that busy. Bill could write in School and Lloyd could pretend he is writing a report while sitting at his desk.

Speaking of Conference, I hope all of you saw the Sunday Broadcast session. How about you Marion? Did you watch it? I hope you let Mimi watch it at least.

The Stobbes and Wilsons are the only ones who have written us since we returned to Tucson- a month ago. Frank is now President of Mutual and Rina President of Primary. Their phone is as probably never on the hook until midnight. Frank, while playing basketball with his Mutual Kids, had a finger stuck in his eye, his contact lens cutting his eyeball. I keep telling you, you are getting too old for that sort of thing Frank. Oh! Yes! You can quit worrying about our Mail going to your address. It is all squared away. I am sorry it bugged you.

I expected some answers to my “Junior Decker” but it looks as though our Grandchildren were as bad as their parents. This is about all of the news. Mother has been quilting with Sister Jesperson. They have made 4quilts during the past month.

Hasta Mexico

Vaya Con Dios,

DAD

October 22, 1966 Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico

Dear Family,

We are camped in a little Trailer Court on the beach. As we sat watching the sun drop into the Ocean last night, we thought; “Just a little way across that water are our loved ones in Hawaii”.

We were unsuccessful in getting an apartment in Guadalajara, so we decided to look Manzanillo over for a few days then go back there to spend the rest of our time. Our insurance, (which is the most costly thing about this trip) runs out on the 5^th of November so we, con favor de Dios, will be in the States by then. The thing Mother has disliked about this trip is not hearing from any of you. I am sending these letters Air Mail and if you write immediately and send your letters Air Mail to the Yuca Trailer Park, Apartado Postal 1320, Guadalajara Jalisco Mexico, we will get it before we take off north. We intend to go back by way of Chihuahua because it is shorter.

Manzanillo is on a beautiful bay, but the town does not show as much. We are camped out of town about the center of the bay on a beautiful beach. We went to the market yesterday, spent 20.00P, ($1.60) and came back with a whole basket of food as well as a cantara, (water bottle for those of you who don’t remember). This included the basket.

We are early for the tourist season here. Most of the Gringos come about the middle of November. We can understand why this is. When the wind drops we have many flying visators- the biting type. Last night we left something open and our tent was full. Mother turned on the lights at midnight and had a slaughtering Bee with the fly swatter.

The road from Guadalajara to Manzanillo, the way we came, is quite rugged. It is a good road but with many ups and downs. It has been raining a lot in the mountains in fact it rained hard in Guadalajara for two days before we left. The mountain Folk are trying to harvest their corn, which seems to be a bumper crop, but if the unseasonable rains do not let up they are apt to lose it. We stopped in a good sized town coming down called Autlan and had lunch in a little place off the Plaza. We ate the “Comida Corrida”. This the first time we have eaten in a truly Mexican manner. –Mother just came from a walk on the beach, dumped a handful of shells on the table and sang “Pretty Shells---.

We had lunch in the fanciest place in Guadalajara one day, it is called “The Copa De Leche”. There were so many courses that we were stuffed. Of course this place caters to Americans and the better class Mexicans as the price indicated. Our Lunch cost P50.00, almost five dollars. I, for one, enjoyed the comido corredo more and it cost 15.00P.

We have heard there is a new branch of our church in this town and will try to find it, although this town, perched, as it is, on a mountain side, is a mess and I am afraid it will be hard to find.

Most of the Apartments we looked at in Guadalajara were quite expensive we did not feel that we could afford to rent one and maintain the one in Tucson also. Mother had determined that we will come back after Christmas. We will give up our Tucson place and just come here to live- going back every six months.

Bueno, Queridos Mios, Our thoughts and our prayers are with you daily.

Vaya Con Dios,

DAD

At Marion’s, Saturday, Aug. 27th, 1966

Dear Family,

We arrived here last evening, having driven 12 hours. Most of it was across the Nevada desert- very boring. We stayed in a Motel at Elko Nevada on Thursday. This time I let Mother pick the Motel and we were gyped again. We were limited to a place that would give us both car parking and trailer space. The better Motels, not soliciting the Hobo trade, do not have this facility.

We arrived in Reno about noon. Mother was a bit “desgustado” because I would not stop at one of the Casinos. I did stop for lunch on the outskirts of town at a place that was equipped with “stoic stealers”. When we finished lunch, we played out change and won the cost of our dinner. I think this was the first time Mother ever walked out of a Joint, a winner.

We enjoyed our stay at Bill and Fran’s very much. Lloyd Edward, in spite of the fact that he looks like a McKay, closed his chubby little fingers around our hearts. His fingers are not so chubby at that. He has hands and feet that indicate a big frame and he is very strong for a one month old.

We went to the top of the mountain, where Bill works, for a couple of days. We nearly froze. In spite of the fact that fish were supposed to jump out on the bank to take the worm, we did not catch any. I guess I am not much of a lake fisherman. It was at this camp that we had our first loss- by theft. Some slick fingered “Raffles” gum shoed into our camp and stole a pound of butter. We heard a vehicle in the distance that sounded a lot like Bill’s old heap. We left the next morning and could not confront him with our evidence- anyway it was his butter.

……………..(indicates a lapse of two days)…………..

David was on duty last week-end and could not come to see us. We are going to see him today (Monday) after he is through work. According to the Meekers he is complaining about having to burn the mid-nite oil because the course is getting harder and harder.

We will leave here to-marrow, 30th of August. We will spend one night with the Jenkins on their Ranch. They have sold their business, as well as their home in Pinole. I understand however, that John and Jake, (his pardner) have bought two more run-down Taverns in this area, so it does not look as though he is going to retire.

We will leave the Jenkins’s on Wednesday morning, but due to the fact that we can only travel 50 MPH in California with our little Trailer, we will probably take two days getting there. We will drive to Marta’s and Bob’s. I hope they can go to Lloyd and Carol’s with us when we go to assist in blessing the Baby next Sunday- anyway you Stobbes might write us at Marta’s. We would like to know some of the details of your trip back to the Islands.

Speaking of the “Smog Smellers”, I suppose you have all received cards by this time, letting you know that we goofed in the spelling of the newcomer’s name—it is Brian Jon, (must be some Swedes somewhere in Carol’s background), anyway, I am sure we will love him just as much if they called him Snickledefritz”.

The Meeker family are fine. Marion works from 4 to 10 A.M. The children are shuddering at the thought of going back to school and Bob is working on a new Stadium in Oakland and will be kept busy probably all winter.

We attended the Services here yesterday. The only people we knew were the Lotts. I don’t know what sort of influence was brought to bear on Bob, but he went to church with us.

Vaya Con Dios,

Dad

Tuscon September 9, 1966

Dear Family,

We arrived here yesterday and have been busy to-day, erasing the ravages of the highway. It is not as hot here as we expected, in fact it is not much warmer than at Marta’s.

Well, #20 is up for grabs. Who? We thoroughly enjoyed knowing #19. He looks very much like his father and to add insult to injury, he has curly hair. Bob Wilson, one of Carol’s Uncles and I, assisted at the blessing. I will admit that Lloyd did very well, you would not have thought that it was his first.

David, Madaline, (the other Grandmother) was there and ask to be remembered to you. She was very appreciative of the help you gave them at several weddings.

We did not get to see as much of the new baby as we would have liked, but Lloyd, Carol and Mark came over to El Monte on Monday, Labor day and spent most of the day with us. Lloyd is now a swivel chair detective, has all holidays off as well as Saturday and Sunday and is just beginning to develop a pot to go with his job. That, I don’t believe Carol will let him keep.

Bob was very busy with final exams. The day we arrived there he sat up all night studying. I don’t think he quite realized we were there. He should have finished his exams yesterday and can breathe freely until Sept 26, when he will matriculate at the University of California, (I don’t remember which one), anyway, he has a hard way to go, as he is taking a full college course as well as working at nights. Your prayers will not be amiss.

We have not made any plans for the immediate future. If it continues hot we will head for the hills, or the beach, (Mexican). We drove that ugly American 5,000 miles, so we should let him cool off a bit before we start again. For those of you who did not see our little “Casa Iona”, (the Stobbes) we want to tell you that we enjoyed it very much. It is hard to become accustomed to sleep on a house again.

Don’t think from the above that we are going to rush right off somewhere. We will wait until we hear from you, at least.

Bill, we would like to know how many gallons of choke cherries you picked.

We seemed to have misplaced some of our clothing –as usual. So please have a shakedown at the places we stayed and see if you can find anything belonging to us.

You Three Rs at the Rice’s be sure and write all about school. Julie, we hope your foot is well and that Lane is better.

Vaya Con Dios,

Dad

Paradise Camp on the McKenzie River August 14, 1966

Dear Family,

Mother almost homesteaded on the Umpqua River, where I last wrote. It was so beautiful that she did not want to leave. We did break away last Monday and went on into Sutherlin, where we stayed with Ona June and Ed until Friday.

Mother had wanted to pick up Ed and Ona and go fishing, however Ed is not much of a camper and we were reluctant to insist. We enjoyed the stay with them though. Mother got to know more about my family and we took rides around the countryside to visit the sites of Grandfather Davis’s home, (which is still standing but in a tumbled down state of repair) and other places on interest, family wise.

We were in accord, (after much pro and con arguing), that we would not go to Bill’s at this time, but would follow the Coast to San Francisco, but on the morning of departure we picked up the paper and saw that the weather at Bill’s was cooling off and that great fires were raging along the Oregon coast, so in a moment we changed our plans and we are now in route to Utah.

As we came up the beautiful McKenzie River country toward Bend Oregon, Mother suggested that we camp one night and try our luck fishing, as my seven day license still had a day to run. We found a camp almost as pretty as the one on the Umpqua, in the midst of skyscraping Douglas Fir trees, the music of the river lulls us to a deep dreamless sleep every night. We have been here three days and may leave to-morrow if the spirit moves Mother. We caught some fish, but this big, rough, water is not what I am accustomed to. It is just too much river for a man used to fishing in Blue River and similar streams.

The last evening we were at June’s she invited the relatives and we had a pot luck supper on her back lawn. My Cousin Cliff, who is a least 10 years older than I, looks 10 years younger. His wife however, has been and still is very ill. I doubt that we will see her again. Virgil, Ruth’s husband had another stroke and I doubt that he will be here when and if we return. Mother is talking now, about coming here for the months of July and August. I believe she would be perfectly content to camp out on one of these beautiful rivers for that time.

As I write Mother has been planning our Itinerary. She just took us through Pocatello to the Flaming Gorge and to Roosevelt by the back way. She has it planned that we will go to Marion’s when we leave Bill’s by Reno of course, (I think she still has designs on the one armed Bandits), then to L.A. and home. I only hope the car and I hold out.

Mother joins me in sending all our love. Carol we pray that everything will be fine. Mother says the next change of the moon, to-morrow or next day, will be the day. We will try to call about the 16^th or 17^th to see if there is news.

Vaya Con Dios,

Dad

August 20, 1966 Roosevelt

Dear Family,

Welcome aboard Bryan Jon McKay! We called Lloyd this morning and he tells us that the above Senor was born 3 am on the 17^th, weight 7lbs. Carol is due home from the hospital to-day. Both are fine. We are not quite sure we got the name right as it is easy to misunderstand over the phone, but we believe we have. Congratulations Carol and Lloyd.

We left our beautiful camp on the McKenzie River on Monday last. Mother hated to leave. After Bend, we drove through some very desolate country, almost all day long. We stopped at a little town called Vale in Oregon near the Idaho border and as there were no camping places for miles in either direction we were forced to stay in a Motel, I think it was called the Williams; anyway, we sure got gyped. We thought we were going to fall through the floor; the bed was sway backed, the shower was as tall as my navel and we could not sleep because it was so hot.

The next night we stayed in a forest camp, in the Caribeau Forest near Pocatello Idaho. It was a nice little camp and we were relieved to get back in our own beds, (which have foam rubber mattresses, by- the way and are very comfortable.

Along the Snake River in Idaho we began to see evidence of Mormon settlement. Many places now abandoned indicated that Mormons had been there by the groves of poplar trees that are still standing. The small towns too showed the Brigham Young influence by Main Streets wide enough to turn a six horse team around.

As we would go through a town, approaching a church, Mother would say, I’ll bet that is a Mormon church. She was usually right, but she pointed out one building in Twin Falls, that didn’t seem right to me. It was a beautiful building, but it had a clock in the steeple. When we were close enough to read the plaque, we saw that it read UNION PACIFIC.

We went a long way around to reach the Flaming Gorge area, but I for one enjoyed the trip through Eastern Idaho more than I did the Flaming Gorge itself. The towns around Bear Lake (whose turquoise waters are beautiful), were predominately Mormon. When we turned on the radio in this area, we heard about the activity of the Relief Society, speakers scheduled for a coming conference etc.

We were disappointed when we reached the Flaming Gorge area. We had stretched our day. Tired and ready to camp, we could not find one. Beautiful camps along Sheep’s Creek were closed because of flood danger, (even though it had not rained in months). We heard that several campers had been drowned in this canyon several years ago, so they close the camps now every time they see a cloud. The road through this canyon is rough and unpaved. We were lucky to get through it without breaking our car or trailer. When we finally climbed out to the rim of the Gorge and found a camping place, we were too tired to enjoy the scenery.

We stayed a day here – resting. There are fish in the lake, but you need a boat to get them. Three Mormon brothers with a boat, (who had left their wives home for the first time in their lives), gave us a couple of Rainbow trout that were much too long to get in our 12” frying pan. We had to cut off the heads and tails to get them in the pan. One of them was a meal!

We arrived here last night, to find the McKays on a jaunt to Salt Lake, Fran’s brother graduated last night from BYU. It was probably a good thing they were not home. It gave us a chance to clean up before they saw us and did we need it!

Our plans are fluid! We believe we will go to Marion’s when we leave here, then on to L.A. to get acquainted with Bryan Jon.

Vayo Con Dios,

Dad

Tucson, July 20, 1966

Dear Family,

This is just a short note to welcome aboard Lloyd Edward McKay, born 10:50 P.M. , 19^th of July. He was one day late, but we will have to forgive him, because his father is a little slow also. He weighted 7lbs 14oz. (Mother thinks, she was about half asleep while she was talking to Bill), both Mother and son are fine.

We are quite busy, trying to get away tomorrow. We want to be in Yosemite before the week-end.

The Stobbes had quite a time getting here. When they arrived in L.A. their plane reservations were not good. They hired a car, drove all night arriving here about 8 A.M. on the 16^th. They go on to Milwaukee tomorrow. We are enjoying their visit, however the people from church have invited them out so much we have not seen as much of them as we would like. I played golf with Frank a couple of times at Randolf Park. Watch out Bob. Frank is laying for you. He shot 34 for nine holes one morning.

We got our first big rain last night. A woman in a VW was washed off Grant Road at Tucson Medical Center and drowned. It is a least a little cooler this morning.

We have a lot to do so I will close this, hoping to see you all soon.

Vaya Con Dios

Dad

(near Lake Tahoe) July 27, 1966

Dear Family,

Mother and the Rice girls have gone fishing, leaving me alone in camp, so I will take advantage of the quiet hour to give you a report on our doings.

We left Tucson on the 21^st , pulling our little tent trailer without a bit of trouble. In fact we got better gas mileage with the trailer than we did without it, while crossing the desert, due probably, to the fact that we had to slow down to 50 miles an hour. As we climbed into the high country, so did our gas consumption. We arrived in Yosemite the second day, having stayed in a motel in Indo the first night. We climbed to 10,000 feet and I thought for awhile we wouldn’t make it as the road to the park was under repair and badly torn up. We stayed in Yosemite Saturday and Sunday. It is beautiful there, but what a jam of people! We arrived early enough Friday to get a fairly decent camping spot – not too crowded by neighbors, but Friday and Saturday night they poured in and it was a good thing we had arrived early.

We tried out our little tent trailer for the first time. It opens into quite a respectable tent with two comfortable beds. It was cold there though. We had to crawl in our beds sacks and put blankets on besides. There was snow almost at highway level. Of course I had a hard time breathing in that high altitude and was rather relieved when we left.

Mother had been hoarding a sweet roll to have with her morning postum, when an animal, (the Rangers thought he was a bear), raided our camp, turned over the chuck box, but took nothing but Mothers sweet roll. She was fit to be tied!

We had a short run to Betty’s on Monday and found everyone fine. I had promised the girls a year ago that I would take them camping, so Tuesday we found this nice camp on the Upper Truckee and the girls are having a ball. They all three sleep in one of the trailer beds, while Mother and I sleep in the other.

This camp reminds me very much of camps in Mexico, where we took all of you when you were small. It is low enough so that I do not have much trouble breathing, but still high enough to be quite cool, especially at night.

Vaya Con Dios,

Dad

Lake Tahoe 1, August 1966

Dear Family,

We are still at Betty’s, but if all goes well we expect to leave here tomarrow, enroute to Crater Lake Oregon. We will probably stay here a couple of days, if it is nice. We will then go on to Sutherlin by easy stages, probably camp out on the Umpqua River en route. I intend to do some fishing here, in case of emergency you can contact us through Ed Edwards, P.O. Box 785, Sutherlin Oregon.

We stayed in camp with the girls all last week. They had a very good time and did not want to come home. We even had Home Evening in camp, (probably their first). We went to church here yesterday. They have a little Branch, but it was very enjoyable as everyone was so very friendly.

Betty was quite ill Saturday. We took her to the Hospital for shots and she seems to be O.K. now. That rat race in the Hospital puts constant pressure on her, as something extraordinary happens on almost every shift.

As I write, a long telephone conversation is going on between Mother and Rina, Betty and Marta so I suppose I should close this letter as far as you are concerned. The Stobbes are worn out with their vacation and are trying to get reservations back home.

We still have not made up our mind about how we are returning home. It all depends on what we find in Oregon. From what we read in the papers you “Rootin-Tootin” McKays are having some miserable weather. A 100 degrees in Salt Lake must make it 110 at least in Roosevelt. No thank you! It is cooler in Tucson.

The weather here has been just right. Warm during the days and cool at night. They have had no rain though and are jittery about fires.

Robin has graduated to Mutual. Renee, all of sudden has reached for altitude. She looks a lot like Betty at the same age. Roberta, well Roberta is Roberta. She has changed a lot though and is nobody’s pet now. During Home Evening she gave us the complete story of Joseph. Form the time of his many colored coat until the famine and reconciliation with his brothers.

You “smog smelling” McKays be sure to keep us posted regarding any new developments in your family. If I remember correctly, you are expecting developments about the 15^th of this month. Hope you do as well as Fran. She was not a day late after all. Mother just looked at the calendar wrong.

Vaya Con Dios,

Dad.