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16 April 2006 -
Sunday
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Soon after we awoke
this morning Chance knocked on the door of the van to invite us into the
house for coffee. We immediately
dressed and headed for the house. Subsequently
Chance returned from the store and started in on making and serving us a
tasty breakfast of scrambled egg omelets with bacon, mushrooms, and green
onions along with toast, and fried potatoes.
Before we departed Cameo played us a solo on the piano and Chance
showed us his fine collection of 9 guitars several of which he had earned the
money to purchase them. Around 9:30
am with hugs all around we departed the Rhodes family home. We had now completed
the first half of our trip, and as we headed out through the hills toward Tulare County and the great San
Joaquin Valley, our compass surely registered east. Upon arrival in the vast Valley we were
immediately impressed with the impact agri-business had on the local
economy. After passing mile upon mile
of almond groves we stopped and purchased some to bring back home. At the store we read newspaper clippings
about the automobile accident that killed actor James Dean in 1955. Apparently he perished near here on
California Route 46. Just before we arrived
in Porterville we called our cousin Bill Scruggs to let him know that we
would be arriving at their home around 4:00 pm. We actually hit town around 2:30 pm so we thought it a good
idea to go in search of the local cemeteries where we could take pictures of
our ancestor’s headstones. After some
difficulty we found the cemeteries with the aid of a local police
officer. At the Old Porterville
Cemetery we were able to find the Albea Scruggs family plot. Albea, our great great-grandfather was a
native of Virginia who came to California around 1867 after serving in the
Confederate Cavalry during the War |
Between the States.
Eventually he located in Tulare County around 1875 where he married
Julia Rhodes and together they raised their family of nine children.
Scruggs family plot, Old Porterville Cemetery After taking several
photographs we found Bill and Delores’s beautiful home perched on a hillside
overlooking the town of Porterville.
Upon arrival we were introduced to their daughter-in-law Vicki and
granddaughter Chelsea. Chelsea, age
22, had just finished her undergraduate studies at UCLA and was beginning to
work on a certificate to teach English.
Shortly thereafter we all went out for dinner at a local Chinese
restaurant. That evening we were
treated to several photo albums that had been put together over the years by
Bill’s mother, our Aunt Audrey. It
was fun to see some pictures of Fred during his visit in 1951 and Tom when he
visited in 1967. Bill and Delores
would be our closest relatives that we would visit on the trip, as Bill is
our first cousin once removed. It
didn’t take us long to see that we were in the home of very gracious
people. Delores set up separate
bedrooms for us with a bathroom to share.
We were certainly ready for a night of sleeping between sheets and not
out in the van in sleeping bags. As
neither of us had been able to take a shower the day before we committed
ourselves to this luxury prior to retiring for the evening. |
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