Cedric Duryee Guion
Thursday
(August 2, 1934)
Dear Dad,
I am staying with Uncle Kenneth, Aunt Nora, and their three children; Allan, Joyce and seven weeks old Muriel, at Star Prairie, Wisconsin. I arrived in New Richmond Tuesday night and Uncle Douglas met me there.
I believe I left off on the “letter diary” at my arrival in Cleveland, therefore I will begin there. The first day at the Fair I started at the 12th St. Gate and then went through the park parallel with the islands, very thoroughly during the day, and also through the island. I looked at everything and went inside everything that looked interesting. There were many interesting things but nothing outstanding.
The second day I went into Old England where I met a friend of the Draz’s which they had told me about there. That evening I saw the Chrysler track where Barry Oldfield and his “hell drivers” put on a demonstration with Plymouths. They took two Plymouths and ran them through some sandpits where they certainly did some wonderful tricks. I saw the Ford building that afternoon and in it were some wonderful old carriages and autos, some of the most interesting I put on the inside cover of the diary from the railway booklet which I sent you with the other junk.
Of Interest at the Ford exhibit
I took another big section that day and the next day finished up with the trip through the Fairgrounds. I saw the Drama of Transportation which was quite a lot like the Fair of the Iron Horse, which we saw in Baltimore. I was supposed to start Monday morning of this week but I dropped Alfred’s watch on the tile floor in the shower and broke the balance wheel staff, and had to wait to have this fixed. I got started about noon and walked almost out of Chicago before getting a ride. This man carried me about 2 miles and then I walked a mile or so and was carried another 2 miles. I walked about half a mile and was carried about a mile, than I walked another half-mile and road a mile and then got a ride for two blocks, then I got a 5 mile ride and walked about a mile on a wrong road, but I got a ride to the right one very quickly. Next I walked 2 miles rode two, walked one, rode two, walked one, rode one, walked one and got a ride in a Ford V-8 truck for almost 100 miles, about that time it got dark and I walked along a little traveled road for about 5 miles when a model T picked me up and took me into Madison, Wisconsin where I was going to look up Rudolph, but at a drugstore they told me that he was not in the same house and they called Harold’s home and found that Rudolf was in Chicago studying for a higher position and Harold was in Wabeno, Wisconsin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabeno,_Wisconsin) for his hay fever but a cousin of theirs was at Harold’s place, and they invited me out for the night. Fred Shaken (the cousin) was there with two classmates and they are all going to the University of Wisconsin. I left early the next morning with Star Prairie as my goal. I walked about 2 miles and discovered I had left my bathing suit but decided not to go back as the house would probably be locked anyway and then the first crack off the bat a 1934 Chevrolet came along and picked me up, the driver decided not to be the driver and so I took his place. We stopped and he got a glass of beer and gave me a bottle of root beer, then we arrived at the Dells, Wisconsin (a state scenic place in case you don’t know), (https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/parks/mirrorlake/recreation/camping he had me drive in and he showed me all one could see from a car and then we went on to his destination. Then I walked about a quarter of a mile and was picked up and carried about 6 miles. I walked another mile and a 1934 Studebaker picked me up. I walked through a small town and was carried about a quarter of a mile and then walked another quarter of a mile when a Packard picked me up and carried me about 3 miles. That I walked about 2 miles and a Ford picked me up. I was going all the way but suddenly the fan pulley broke off, the generator stopped working and the broken piece broke one of the fan blades and caused a big hole in the radiator (the motor had only been driven 1200 miles since repairs and there was no cooling system) so we limped into a garage with a very hot motor and I went on alone again.
I got a ride in another 1934 Buick and for the first time in my life, much to my sorrow and discomfort, we came upon a very horrible accident, a boy on a bike had been struck and apparently very badly hurt. The one hitting him had apparently evacuated and left the boy to die. The new Buick I was in went on to the next town for a doctor and we did 85 and 90 all the way (about 4 miles).
Next Saturday I will finish this long letter to Grandpa telling of Ced’s walk/ride from Chicago to Star Prairie, Wisconsin.
Tomorrow I will begin posting letters written in 1945. Both Lad and Dick have returned to civilian life and it is December 23rd, but Grandpa is very worried about Ced, son # 3, who left the Monroe (Connecticut) Airport in his newly acquired airplane on December 10th, planning to fly back to Anchorage, Alaska.
Judy Guion
"Greatest Generation" Life Lessons 