TRIPS – BUT NOT ON THE TILE                            MARCH 14, 2016

It seemed like I was “on the go” a lot. Aunt Mae was always figuring on some trip to take. She (and I also) loved those cross country train rides on the Santa Fe Super Chief, but today I have motor trips we would take up and down the Coast in one of her Cadillac’s.

Many, many, many trips for only as far as San Francisco, or Reno, or Virginia City. In particular, I want to share about a few details about other trips when we drove to Seattle and Vancouver. These started when I was eight to ten years old, and when they ended, I was doing the chauffeuring. In the early days, Titán (my uncle) would drive a little, but Aunt Mae would usually take over the wheel. When we stopped for lunch, Titán would have a couple of straight-up Manhattans. (Maybe he was a little nervous with Aunt Mae’s driving.)

As you know, the scenery through Northern California, Oregon, and Washington is spectacular! — except for me during the early trips, I would be in the back seat with Aunt Mae, and my brother Buddy (ten years older than I) would be at the wheel and Titán was in the passenger seat. As I mentioned, I was in the back seat — not on it though but on the floor with a blanket for my tent, playing my own games. Somehow I missed the scenery on that jaunt.

We always stayed at the nicest hotels, and in those early days I entertained myself. Later, when a few brain cells were starting to grow, the entertainment changed. It used to be that we would have an early dinner, I would go to bed early, and the folks would go out to the ball room in the hotel where there was dancing and entertainment. Aunt Mae had one entertainer whom she would go on these trips just to “catch”. The singer was Sophie Tucker, and she was billed as the “Last of the Red Hot Mamas,” She was a real character and had a big following. She was not a young chick, she had grey hair, upper part quite buxom (plenty of room for lungs), lower parts trim and thin so she could really belt out those naughty tunes loud and clear. Maybe a little on the order of an elderly Dolly Parton.

So that is one little trip we took. They would be pretty much the same except we might have to go to Portland or San Francisco when Aunt Mae would find out that Sophie would be playing in these cities.

I am tired with all this driving up and down the Coast so I am going to bring this to a fast ending.

MELITAS FORSTER                                     MONDAYS WITH MELITAS