| Two years later, in 1955, we made a similar trip across the US, but this time by car. My father drove his 1954 Chevy 210. The trip required us to cross the Mojave Desert in the summer with no air-conditioning. We stopped in Albuquerque, NM, to buy an air cooler at a Sears store on Central Avenue (Route 66). That it didn't really do anything except blow air was beside the point. At least it made us feel that we were cooler (along with my mother's cold wet towels that we put on our heads). Just outside of Albuquerque, in Tijeras Canyon, we stopped at a souvenir stand called "The Covered Wagon" which is shown in the first photo below. "The Covered Wagon" is now located in a central spot in the Old Town Plaza in Albuquerque. When this picture was taken with my Kodak Brownie Hawkeye, we had no way of knowing that in about 16 years, Albuquerque would become the home of my brother and his family, as well as my parents. Today, my brother and one nephew continue to reside in Albuquerque while my other nephews and niece, all raised in New Mexico, reside in or near Dallas, TX, Honolulu, HI, and Phoenix, AZ. As of May 2013, my wife and I reside in Corrales, NM, a suburb of Albuquerque, after living in Stamford, CT, for 31 years. One of the major highlights of that special summer of 1955, was attending the opening day of Disneyland. By good fortune, I was there and you can see what it looked like in the photos below and on the following pages. Years ago, I described these adventures to my friend, Rick O'Leary, and in doing so I dubbed my childhood self "Little Roy." And so here are some of the moments in the adventures of Little Roy captured for posterity. | |
