Thursday – November 2^nd
Have a very good night’s rest. Leave Deming about 8:30 a.m. Get to El Paso Texas about 1:00 p.m. Went to P.O. for first thing after arriving. Got four letters so you can imagine how good I felt. The other boys didn’t get any. Went out to the zoo looked around for a few hours and left on our Eastward journey. Had supper on the roadside and drove till about 11:00 p.m. where we camped at Kent.

Approximate mileage 259 miles.

They continued on the Old Spanish Trail, the Bankhead Highway, the Lee Highway and the Dixie Overland Highway. In El Paso, the Dixie Overland and Lee highways headed northeast. The Bankhead Highway and the Old Spanish Trail headed southeast. I’m not sure where the zoo was.

The only El Paso Zoo that I can find anything about was established in 1940. There might have been a zoo in Juarez but they did not mention going into Mexico.

The maximum population for Kent over the years has been 65 or less.

Kent Texas Courtesy of TXGenWeb Project Texas Postcards

El Paso Post Office (1905) Courtesy of TXGenWeb Project Texas Postcards

El Paso Texas Courtesy of TXGenWeb Project Texas Postcards

Friday – November 3^rd
Leave Kent on very good roads but hit the Old Spanish Trail just a few miles out which was not good at all. Drove about 92 miles to Ft. Stockton and had lunch. Saw some quail on the roadside so we stopped and Mitch proceeded to kill one-three ducks and a rabbit, while Tuttle ended the peaceful life of a jack rabbit. Fresh meat for the crew. Again we have supper on the road and travel at night. Camp at Ozona where they have a nice free campground. Very nice little place.

Approximate mileage 202 miles.

Actually they had been on the Old Spanish Trail for most of the route along with other highways. On this day they started out on the Old Spanish Trail and Bankhead Highway, but shortly after leaving Kent, the Bankhead Highway split off and headed northeast.

I’m betting they camped at Live Oak Creek where Ft Lancaster used to be since in this Ozona data I found in some 1920’s guide book says the campsite was free.

Glacier to Gulf sign on the side of a building in Montana

Glacier To Gulf Road Marker

Saturday – November 4^th
Have some of our fresh meat for breakfast. Get some provisions and leave out. About noon we come to a small river which we follow for about 30 miles. Looks the best of anything I’ve seen lately. Hit a natural growth and leave the “bumper gates” behind. Have better roads. Drive some at night. Looked very much like rain as we camp in an old deserted house by the road side.

Approximate mileage 185 miles(part 1, part 2)  (as they were just minutes outside of San Antonio).

Just north out of San Antonio they merged with the Glacier to Gulf Motorway. It went from Calgary to Galveston and then on to Tampico Mexico.   I’m not sure if this road was actually in existence at the time, but it is on the map I have. An article from the Tulia Herald states that the road was 3000 miles long and that there were so many markers for the highway that it would be hard to get lost.   Additionally, the article shows that this highway was the connecting link between all of the great east and west highways.  Another article about the highway is here.
Funny that the articles state there were so many markers yet finding a picture of a marker has been very difficult.   The only signs I’ve found are on an old map and from the side of a building

Sunday – November 5^th

Leave our shack about 9:30 a.m. Find the country more thickly populated. Lots of cattle and sheep raising in this section. Got to San Antonio, Tex about 10 o’clock. Drive out to Camp Travis to see some of Tuttle’s friends. Met lots of the boys. Had supper with them in the “mess hall” in regular army fashion. Got a car and drove over the town some.  Saw the “Sunken City” “Lone Star” etc. Get in about 10:30 and retire. Sleep in the barracks.

Approximate mileage 36.6 miles.

Camp Travis started out as Camp Wilson. In July 1917, Camp Wilson was renamed Camp Travis and was used for training during the World War. In 1922 it was absorbed into Fort Sam Houston.

I think the Sunken City Lloyd mentions is the Sunken Gardens. About 1917, City Parks Commissioner Ray Lambert visualized an oriental-style garden in the pit of the quarry.

Luckily someone from Texas told me about the “Lone Star”.  It is the Old Lone Star Brewery building which is now the San Antonio Museum of Art.  During probation it housed the Lone Star Cotton Mill.   The building was a local and state landmark.   Wikipedia has some great information  http://en.wikipedia.rg/wiki/Old_Lone_Star_Brewery and you can see a great period picture here.  (scroll back just a bit to see the picture)

 

Monday – November 6^th
Have a fine night’s sleep in the old army quarters-also good breakfast. Look around over the camp til after dinner when we pulled out for Houston. Had good roads most all the afternoon. Passed thru several nice towns. Come to a halt and spend the night in a school house 5 miles west of Luling.

Approximate mileage 52.8 miles.

They started out on the Old Spanish Highway but left it for a while near Seguin. Luling is not on the OST but seems to be on a short cut to Waelder.

Lloyd arrived in Luling right after one of the most significant oil fields in the Southwest was discovered there in August of 1922. The population exploded right after that because it became an oil town.

Tuesday – November 7^th
Got up early and have breakfast so the pupil’s won’t come in on us. Cloudy and misting rain when we leave. Have good roads for about 30 miles and then we hit roads that bad is no name for. Have a blow-out about 2:30 and then another about 4 o’clock. Got stuck and the wheel threw mud and water all over me. Drive on in Rosenberg and get casing and tube. We are putting up tonight in the old negro’s shanty.

Approximate mileage 119 miles.

They rejoined the Old Spanish Highway shortly after Luling and stayed on the highway all day.

The probably got the tube at Jurica’s OST garage in Rosenberg.  I found mention of this garage in a period article.

Wednesday – November 8^th

Have a fine night’s rest in the shanty. Get up, have breakfast and pull out on the bad roads. Get to Sugarland where we stop and apply for work in the refining factory. Pass thru Houston about 11:30 o’clock. Very nice place about 165,000 population. Find the roads better. Hit Beaumont about 2:30 o’clock which is the most like our Eastern towns we have seen for a long time. The country is very low-water most everywhere. The trees are loaded with moss which adds to the beauty of old nature very much. Camp in a barn near Orange Tx.

Approximate mileage 148 miles.

They continued on the Old Spanish Trail all day.

The Imperial Sugar Company in SugarLand was established in 1907 after undergoing an ownership change from the original company established in 1843.