From Watervliet To California

The journey from Watervliet to California began in Troy, New York on Sunday, January 8, 1933. That was where I was born at 4:30. I’m a little hazy as to whether it was morning or afternoon, but I suspect it was afternoon since I have never liked being an early riser.

Watervliet is a small city of approximately 16,000 souls, located on the western shore of the Hudson River in upstate New York. It is located in an area called the Capital District which is made up of Albany, Troy, and Schenectady. Watervliet is one mile across the river from Troy, three miles north of Albany, the state Capital and ten miles east of Schenectady. Some people pronounce the city’s name a s “Water vleet”. Other pronounce it”Water va liet”. I prefer the latter pronunciation. Watervliet is a Dutch name meaning “flowing water” and as far as I know there are only two other Watervliets; one in Michigan and one in Belgium.

Fast forward to 1970. The job I took in Ithaca N. Y. did not turn out as I had expected. due primarily to the recession of 1968-1969. Since the prospect of getting a job in my field in Ithaca were less than slim or none, a decision had to be made as to where my prospects were the best. Having my fill of snow and cold weather, I set my sights on a warmer clime. Two of the possible attractions were Florida and California. Since my wife had been to California before I knew her and because I always wanted to live in a warm clime as California, the decision was made to go there.

Westward Planning

As the California trek planning began, we made a list of the things we had to do. We contacted our Realtor and asked him to continue his efforts to sell the house. We also asked him to continent renting the terrace apartment whenever it became vacant. Since we had two cars, we decided to drive the Catalina and tow the Nova. We planned to stay in a motel in California until we had a definite job prospect in a certain area. Then we would get an apartment near work. We made a list of the clothes and household items we would need in California while waiting for our house to sell. I filled the wells between the height of the back seat and the back of the front seat of the Catalina. With this level area, the girls could rest or sleep as we motored west. The girls had a pet turtle, so Yertle, the turtle came along with us.

Westward Ho.

We began our trip west on January 23, 1970. Because we lived on the West section of Ithaca, we drove both cars to a level service station on the west side of Cayuga Lake. Here I hooked up the towing rig and the four of us, plus Yertle, headed west. The service station was about twenty miles from our house so when I stopped to install the towing rig, the girls asked, “Are we in California yet” We had stopped in Rochester to see family the previous couple of weeks, so we did not stop this time. As we passed Rochester on the Thruway, it began to snow. Just a reminder of what we were going to miss.

As we continued to motor west via route 66, we left the high elevation of Kingman, Arizona and dropped down to the lower elevation of Needles and California. As we entered Needles, we immediately noticed a change in the temperature. At this point in our journey, we began to remove our warm jackets and sweaters, and knew we had, indeed, arrived in California. It was February 1, 1970.

My journey from Watervliet up to our arrival in California, is covered in the first part of my book. And my experiences after arriving in California, up to the present, are covered in the second half of my book.