Mt. Whitney, July 23, 1967

Dear Family,

There has been a change of plans. We stayed for an entire week at Loon Lake in

Oregon and even then the girls did not want to leave. They had made friends with other girls

their age and were having a lot of fun. We finally broke away last Monday and drove down the

Oregon coast. The girls kept pestering to let them wade in the surf so I stopped at a place

called Gold Beach and the girls ran along the beach and gathered shells. We stopped that night

in a State Park at Crescent City (Jedekiah Red Woods). This is the only place we have been

gypped. They charged us three dollars to stay the night and the camp was no nicer than Loon

Lake.

We had planned to go on down the coast to San Francisco, but it was here that Roberta

started to get ill. Probably due to playing in the cold sea water she came down with a sore

throat and fever. We decided to get her home by the shortest route. We drove south on 101 to

Arcata and turned toward Redding on 299. What a road! Mountainous, narrow and twisty. We

stopped at the first place we found to camp. Here we were adopted by a couple puppies

someone had abandoned. The girls fed them and they slept under our trailer, growling and

barking at everything that moved-mostly chipmunks. The next day we drove on to Tahoe. This

long drive almost killed Mother. We stayed one day to wash a few clothes, but she still was not

rested when we hit the road Friday. She was in a lot of pain and I had to stop frequently to let

her exercise her leg. We barely reached Bishop Friday night and camped in a State Park off

395. This place was jumping all night. We did not get much sleep and found the next morning

that two people were bedded down in our camp site. They had not awakened before we left so

we don’t know what they looked like.

It was hot in the valley. We decided yesterday that we would find some camp and if it

was nice, lay over the week end. We only drove about 60 miles and turned off 395 at Lone Pine

and climbed to a camp at the foot of Mt. Whitney. It is a very pretty camp alongside a swift

running stream in which you can see the trout, but who refuse all offerings. I have not talked to

anyone yet who has caught one. It is here that climbers jump off to climb Mt. Whitney. We saw

a team of Mexican climbers as we drove in yesterday. We also saw a few Hippies, but they

were leaving. We are just resting, trying to store up enough energy for the drive across the

desert. I don’t think we will even go to see Bob and Marta, even though we have a package of

clothes for them from the Rices. It is according to how Mother feels when we reach San

Bernadino.

Rina, we found your letter waiting at Betty’s. We were very sorry to hear that Julie is ill

and wish there was something we could do. Congratulations Scot on your ninth birthday. We

will save our present until we see you again.

We have heard nothing about David since we left Tucson. Betty said that she had not

heard from him either so it may be that he has been transferred. We should find a letter waiting

at home.

Marion we were indeed sorry that we did not get to see you. But it was just too much

extra driving for Mother to take. We may see you next year if the treatment the Doctor is going

to give her is effective, otherwise you will just have to come see us.

Vaya Con Dios,

Dad