Show A Trip 1 To Florida With The Legion De Delegation ega tion B By Ernest W. W Crocker American Legion District Director Horace Greely to whom is attributed attributed attributed at at- those famous words Go West Vest young man go West must have hav received his inspiration ion from the imposing gr grandeur of snow snowcapped snowcapped snowcapped capped rising abruptly from the western plains In all this broad land of ours there is no scenic panorama comparable comparable comparable com com- parable to the one which greets the eye of the traveler going east eastover eastover eastover over the famous Moffat Route As the train emerges from the bowels of the earth at the East Portal the colossal grandeur and rugged beauty of the eastern slope unrolls in ever changing vistas The train creeps slowly downward over a tortuous roadbed that drops from craig to craig through In Innumerable innumerable innumerable in- in numerable tunnels until it reaches the western plains where Denver reigns as queen To the jaded traveler headed west the towering crests of the Continental Divide is an ever welcome welcome welcome wel wel- come sight and d especially to the wanderer returning home to the shelter of its hills The Moffat Road is a masterpiece masterpiece master master- piece of engineering and bespeaks the vision and indomitable courage courage courage cour cour- age of pf the man whose brain conceived conceived conceived con con- it It was over this road that the American Legion Delegation Delegation Delegation Dele Dele- gation to the Convention at Miami was routed thence over the Missouri Missouri Missouri Mis Mis- Pacific to Kansas City and St. St Louis through the fertile valleys valleys valleys val val- leys of the Missouri mind and nd the Mis Mis- A beautiful and a prosperous prosperous prosperous pros pros- land well named The Garden Spot of America I Crossing the Father of Waters Vaters we swung up into Kentucky and Tennessee stopping for a brief vis vis- vis-I vis it in the early dawn at Chattanooga Chattanooga Chattanooga Chattan Chattan- where the cloud wrapped granite face of Lookout Mountain Mount Mount- Mountain Mountain ain welcomed us to the Southland and the battle fields of the sixties From Tennessee south into Georgia Georgia Georgia Geor Geor- gia is like stepping from a verdant verdant verdant ver ver- dant well kept garden to the back pard of a neighboring house whose tenants have moved away All day long we drove southward through Atlanta Macon to Jack Jacl- sonville All day long through i forests of scrubby pines scarred by the knives of turpentine gleaners glean glean- cot I ers ors through fields of stunted cotton cotton cot cot- ton drab villages and run down farms ramshackle buildings unpainted unpainted unpainted un- un painted and unkempt and negroes i everywhere It seems like Jike a country that has gone to seed yet reflecting the glory of a bygone age Old and battered and weatherworn weatherworn weatherworn it sits down there in the southeast corner of our land like an old crone whose days of usefulness usefulness usefulness use use- gone she sits and mumbles mumbles mumbles mum mum- bles to herself and dreams of the glories of a youth long past Only occasionally does one see a beauty spot where enterprise and thrift are apparent There the good homes and well kept fields standout stand standout standout out like an oasis in the desert However in spite of its apparent poverty it is a beautiful state and must have been a paradise in that bygone century when Oglethorpe Oglethorpe Ogle- Ogle thorpe first settled on its shores And so over the line into Florida Florida Florida Flor Flor- ida where a new world unfolds In an hours hour's time we were transplanted transplanted transplanted trans trans- planted from a temperate to a tropic clime Palm trees and flowers flowers flowers flow flow- ers everywhere Vast stretches of swamps and trees foreign to our Northern eyes It must have been a beautiful place before the influx of profiteers racketeers and idle rich cluttered up the landscape landscape landscape land land- with grotesque geometrical monstrosities of stucco and lath which they call homes No two dwellings are alike yet all are the same I I I Finally Miami playground of the Ule rich with its great hotels its I I parks and boulevards and royal palms alms its blue waters of Bay and its bluer skies A delight delightful ful place a colorful place to visit to o see and then to leave for one soon becomes satiated with the sameness of it all It Is difficult to get a proper impression of a town when a convention convention convention con con- is In full swing s The natives natives nat- nat ives ves to whom one talks are en- en boosters but after four hectic days of bugles and drums of bands and roistering merrymakers merrymakers merry- merry makers of surging throngs of carnival minded people the writer writ- writ er r was glad to leave Back thru Georgia and Tennes- Tennes Isee uee to the fertile valleys of the Ohio thru Indiana and Illinois thru a countryside so lovely that than words are inadequate to express 11 A familiar route traveled many times imes with increasing delight and I appreciation On west thru Iowa I 1 and eastern Nebraska land of fine homes splendid farms and great industrial centers But in spite of all its pleasing panorama its rolling hills and verdant vales no sight was more welcome than I the serrated summits of the distant distant dis dis- I tant in the early dawn dawn I approaching Denver After all J to the mountaineer be he lie native or an adopted son there is something something something some some- thing about these rugged hills the clear air and the tang of sage and pine that bites deep to to the very marrow of ones one's bones and implants the virus of nostalgia that calls one back with an in- in that even Miami siren of the seas cannot assuage |