Monday Memory: Aunt Flossie

March 5, 2007

I've had my Great Aunt Flossie on my mind this weekend because she was part of a report that Laurel was doing for her American Girl class at our co-op. In this photo Aunt Flossie is celebrating her 99th birthday; she ended up living another 5 years after this. But nearly 70 years before this, Aunt Flossie, her husband Mood, and 2 other couples made an amazing journey along what was not-yet Route 66 from Mt. Vernon, Illinois to Downey, California. They drove in two 1921 Dodge Touring Cars, camping along the way. The trip took them a little over a month, and they stayed out in California for six months. In my mind, I always pictured them when they arrived at the ocean, raising their glasses in a toast to the coast and tossing their crystal against the rocks in some wildy un-Midwestern gesture.

Laurel's speech was about the early automobile. My Uncle Max found photos from Aunt Flossie's journey and sent them to Laurel, and she included this story in her report. Of course I only knew Aunt Flossie as a lady in her senior years, but she was spunky even then. I think I would have loved traveling to the coast with her in 1921.