Adventure of the Fireman's Ball 1942

 It was 1942, I think, cause I was gone the next year. Our hired hand, Bob, was going to the dance and he asked me to go along.  He was meeting Katie there  (at the dance) and we were both lookin g forward to a good time.  It was to be at the Waukon Opera House.  Come evening it was snowing and my ,other asked if we thought we should go.  We did.

I was wearing the flared shirt with bobby sox and saddle shoes---pull on boots---no gloves---just a winter coat( knee length.) We headed off toward Waukon via Gruber Ridge Road and taking Spruce Line Rd to Four Mile Drive.  We took a right as a shortcut to Mays Prairie Rd and that was a bad decision.  It was a dark narrow dirt road that was mucky with new snow.  We got stuck---we pushed and we turned around( the little coupe could barely make it as one side was a hill and the other a drop off.  We revised our plan--headed downhill now to #9..  You can see this area on google and take the trip with me.  #9 was a paved road and well traveled but we it at the bottom of a steep in cline.  It was called Stern's Hill and it rises and twists and turns all the way to Waukon. 

Our tires were bad and we put lots of stress on them already--we felt we just couldn't get any traction in the new snow.  The windshield wiper wasn't working--my job was to keep the windshield clean.  No mitts--remember--so I'd scrape the windshield and then warm my hands only bare legs in the boots.   Then Bob got the idea that I would ride on the rear bumper--hanging onto the spare to add weight---maybe we could make it.  I did and we'd slip and slide and come to a halt.  This went on till 9:30--10:00PM and finally Bob decided to chuck it and go home.  Katie had had her fun without him already.  So we turned around and followed #9 back to Gruber Ridge and headed home.

We blew a tire!  Absolutely shot it to pieces.  Well Bob wasn't going to muck around in that snow so we decided to walk home.  It wasn't bad for the first 2 or 3 miles---but just beyond Whitetail Drive the road rises sharply.  There was an abandoned car alongside the road and we purloined a blanket which we tried using as a sort of giant poncho.  We got up the incline and onto the ridge and the wind was slapping at us and we were sinking into the snow--Finally I said I can't do this and let him have the blanket---The house was located about 1/4 mile past the intersection with Spruce Line Rd.  where Roy Moore lived in your times ---down in Iowa.

We made it home.  It Wass eleven something.  My pile of curls had a crust of snow on them and it would melt and drip down one my scalp and run down my face.  My complexion was deep red.

My mother sleeping with one eye open ran out in the dark--and said "Did you walk?"

We were so glad to be in..we sat up warming by the kitchen range and we had fried egg sandwiches for a late night snack.  All's well that ends well--but its a night I'll not forget.