By motor to the Golden Gate

by Emily Post

DAILY EXPENSE ACCOUNT

PREPARATORY EXPENSES
6 Repub. staggered tires, 6 tubes, and put on	$347.04
Warner speedometer	51.00

First Day’s Run, New York to Albany (Map No. 1)
PERSONAL		MOTOR
New York.		New York. 49th Street Garage.
Lunched at home.		15 gals. gas	$2.70
		160 miles (should have been 150).
Albany. Ten Eyck Hotel.		Albany. Albany Garage Co.
2 hallboys carrying up luggage	$ .50	18 gals. gas	$2.70
Dinner, for three	4.60	Storage	1.00
Tip	.50	Washing	1.50
“Movies”	.30	1 gal. oil	.80
Postcards	.10
Stamps	.10
Soda water	.30
Telephone home	.90
Double room and bath (hotel full, couldn’t get three singles)	5.00
Single room (no bath)	2.00
Coffee and toast for two (in room)	.80
Tip	.20
Breakfast (E. M.)	.70
Tip	.25
Luggage carried down	.50
Tip, chambermaid	.75
Second Day’s Run, Albany to Fort Plain (Map No. 2)
Fort Plain, N. Y.		Fort Plain.
Lunch, for three	$1.50	Broke bearing; towed to Hoffman & Adams’ garage	$3.00
Tip	.30	Hoffman & Adams’ garage at Fort Plain.
Chocolate, postcards, etc.	.40	New bearing valves	$9.09
		Time labor	12.30
		9 gals. oil	1.15
		Gaskets, telephone, etc.	3.00
		(A remarkably good garage; intelligent, efficient and good-natured men.)
Utica. Hotel Utica.		Utica. Hotel Utica garage.
3 fares Utica Hotel omnibus	$.45	10 gals. gas	$1.20
Telephone home	1.20	2 qts. oil	.40
Dinner (delicious) for three	3.50	Washing	1.50
Tip	.40	Storage	1.00
Tip, 1 hallboy (most of luggage left in the car)	.25	(Wind shield broken in garage.)
“Movies”	.30
Soda water	.30
Double room (very big, and lovely; did not wire ahead and could not get three singles and baths)	$6.00
Single and bath (small but attractive)	2.50
Coffee for two (in room)	.90
Tip	.20
Breakfast (E. M.)	.90
Tip	.25
Telephone home	1.20
Lunch (for two)	1.60
Tip	.30
Valet, pressing one suit, E. M.	1.00
Hired motor	3.00
Tip	.50
Second night and morning Utica about same as above.
Third Day’s Run, Utica to Buffalo (Maps Nos. 2 and 3)
Lunched Geneva. Hotel Seneca.		Geneva.
Lunch for 3 (very good and beautifully served)	$3.00	2 gals. oil	$1.20
Tip	.35	(218 miles.)
Buffalo. Hotel Statler.		Buffalo. Hotel Statler garage.
2 hallboys carrying up luggage	.50	New glass in windshield	$4.00
Dinner (for three)	$3.95	Storage	1.00
Tip	.40	2 gals. gas	2.60
3 single rooms (very nice and each with bath)	7.50
Tip, chambermaid	.75
Telegram to Erie	.26
Sundries	.80
Fourth Day. Buffalo to Cleveland. Broken by Stopover in Erie (Map No. 4)
Lunch at Niagara Falls.		Drove out to Niagara Falls, back after lunch, and to Erie, Pa., 93 miles.
(At R. R. lunch counter to save time)	$.50
Tip	.20
Erie, Pa. Hotel Lawrence.		Erie. Star Garage.
Hallboys up and down	1.00	Storage	$1.00
Chambermaid	.75	10 gals. gas	1.30
Dinner	4.95	2 gals. oil	1.20
Tip	.50	(Very nice garage.)
3 single rooms with baths	9.00
Coffee and toast (in room) for one	.65
Breakfast, C. and E. M.	1.60
Tip	.25
Telegrams and sundries	1.00
Lunch (for three)	3.15
Tip	.35
Cleveland. Hotel Statler.		Cleveland, 102 miles.
Dinner (three)	4.80
Tip	$.50	Hotel’s Garage.
Theater (three)	6.00	Storage	$1.00
Ice-cream sodas	.30	10 gals. gas	1.30
3 rooms with baths (lovely)	13.50	1 qt. oil	.20
Coffee in room (2)	.80	Toledo, 120 miles.
Tip	.20
“Club” breakfast, E. M.	.75
Tip	.25
Valet, press two suits (E. M.)	2.00
All tips—2 boys up	.50
Down	.50
Chambermaid	.75
Fifth Day’s Run, Cleveland to Toledo (Map No. 5)
Cleveland
Lunched Statler	$3.75
Very reasonable! Most delicious food.
Toledo. Hotel Secor.		Toledo. United Garage.
Dinner	3.40	Storage	$.75
Tip	.40	12 gals. gas. (15c.)	1.80
“Movies”	.30	Wash and polish	1.50
Ice-cream soda	.30	Fill grease cups	.75
Telegrams, newspapers, etc.	.80	Pair of pliers	.50
3 rooms, 2 baths	10.50
Coffee and toast (for two)	.70
Tip	.20
Usual tips, hallboys	1.00
Chambermaid	.75
Telegram to South Bend	.26
Sixth Day’s Run, Toledo to South Bend (Map No. 6)
Lunch Bryan
Christman Hotel (3)	$2.25
Tip	.25
South Bend. Hotel Oliver.		South Bend. Lincoln Garage.
Dinner	$4.10	Storage	$.75
Tip	.40	1 gal. oil	.80
3 rooms, 3 baths	9.00	17 gals. gas	2.38
Coffee and toast (2), breakfast (1)	1.90
Usual tips	1.75
Sundries	.80
Seventh Day’s Run, South Bend to Chicago (Map No. 7)
Chicken dinners and tip	$1.75
Chicago. The Blackstone.		Chicago. “Down Town” Garage.
4 bellboys (or porters) luggage up	$1.00	Storage, three days	$2.25
[6]Dinner for two (E. M. out) and tip	4.00	Ground valves	6.75
Theater (2)	5.00	2 spark plugs	2.00
Telegram	.52	Wash and polish (3 days)	6.00
Coffee (2) and tip	1.10	17 gals. gas (13c.)	2.21
Breakfast, E. M	.90	2 qts. oil	.40
Tip	.25	20 gals. gas	2.60
[6]Lunch	.80
Tip	.30
Beautiful big double twin beds and dressing room	7.00
Lovely small, single room and bath (E. M.)	3.50
Laundry	4.75
Valet	2.00
Tailor, pressing two dresses	2.00
Average one day’s expenses, less extras than above.
Extras bought in Chicago:
Supply of potted meats, etc.	9.35
At Woolworth’s:
Kettle	.10
4 doz. plates	.20
Oiled paper	.10
2 doz. spoons	.10
Solid alcohol, lamp, saucepan (complete)	1.25
Bread box	3.45
Padlock	.30
Eighth Day’s Run, Chicago to Rochelle (Map No. 8)
		Stopped by mud at Rochelle, Ill., 77 miles, May 6-7.
Rochelle, Ill. Collier Inn.		Rochelle. Garage next door to Inn.
(Typical day.)		Storage, two days	$1.00
(No bellboys.)		Wash car	1.50
3 telegrams	$1.48	Chains (2)	3.60
3 rooms with bath, one at $3, two at $2.50, including board	$8.00	8 gals. gas	1.20
Tips to waitress	.75
Tip to chambermaid	.50
“Movies,” etc.	.80
Left Rochelle, May 8
Eighth Day’s Run, Continued. Rochelle to Davenport (Map No. 8)
Lunched Rochelle.
Davenport, Iowa. Black Hawk Hotel.		Davenport. Black Hawk Hotel’s garage.
Dinner (3)	$3.40	10 gals. gas	$2.20
Tip	.40	1 gal. oil	.75
Hallboys, luggage up and down	1.00	Storage (night charge)	.50
(Went down to river bank and spent nothing.)		Wash car	1.50
Enormous twin-bed room and bath, very attractive furnishing	4.50	Started on road of mud to Des Moines. We went to Cedar Rapids, but as it is out of the course between Davenport and does not belong on this route, it is omitted. There was an A1 garage there, but our experience in mud cost:
Single room and bath	1.50	Vulcanizing 3 tires	$2.25
(Best rooms for least price of any hotel we encountered.)		Take off radiator, repair gear case	5.60
Breakfast	.60	Car in shop (no storage), wash	2.00
Tip	.25	20 gals. gas	4.40
Coffee and toast (2)	.80	1 gal. oil	.75
Tip	.20
Ninth Day’s Run, Davenport to Des Moines via Cedar Rapids (Map No. 9)
Des Moines. Chamberlain Hotel.		Des Moines. Bernhard & Turner Auto Co.
Tips, bellboys, etc., as usual	$1.75	Vulcanizing tire	$.75
Drive in the converted jitney	5.00	Storage	.50
Dinner (3)	3.75	20 gals. gas. (22c.)	4.40
Tip	.35	2 qts. oil	.30
Breakfast, E. M.	.75
Tip	.25
Sundries	.80
Coffee and toast (in room) (2)	1.10
2 single rooms (bath between)	5.50
1 single room and bath	2.50
Lunch to take with us	2.25
Ice cream	.30
Tenth Day’s Run, Des Moines to Omaha (Map No. 10)
Omaha. Hotel Fontanelle.		Omaha. Guy L. Smith Garage.
(Typical day.)		Storage (2 days)	$1.50
Hallboys, porters, chambermaid	$1.75	20 gals. gas	4.40
Dinner (3)	3.80	1 gal. oil	.80
Tip	.40
3 single rooms and baths (at $3.50) (lovely)	10.50
Coffee (1)	.30
Tip	.15
Breakfast (E. M.)	.50
Tip	.20
Lunch, ladies’ dining room (2)	2.70
Lunch (E. M.), club lunch, men’s café	.60
Tip	.25
“Movies,” magazines, soda water, etc.	1.30
Lunch to take with us	1.80
Ice cream	.40
Eleventh and Twelfth Days’ Run, Omaha to North Platte (Maps Nos. 11 and 12)
Lunch in car.		Independent Garage, Grand Island.
		15 gals. gas	$3.30
North Platte. Union Pacific Hotel.		North Platte. J. S. Davis Auto Co.
3 rooms (no baths), supper and breakfast for three	$7.50	Storage	.50
Tips, postcards, etc.	1.35	17 gals. gas. (22c.)	3.74
Lunch to take with us	1.60	1 gal. oil	.60
Thirteenth Day’s Run, North Platte to Cheyenne (Map No. 13)
Cheyenne, Wyo. Plains Hotel (brand new).		Cheyenne. Plains Hotel garage.
Tips, as usual	$1.75	Storage	$.50
Dinner and tip	3.85	20 gals. gas	4.40
3 single rooms and bath	9.00	2 gals. oil	1.20
Coffee and toast (in room, for two)	.90
Breakfast (E. M.)	1.00
Fourteenth Day’s Run, Cheyenne to Colorado Springs (Map No. 14)
Lunch Denver. Brown’s Palace Hotel	$3.60
Colorado Springs. Antlers Hotel.		Colorado Springs. Mark Sheffel Motor Co. (highest class garage).
Usual tips	$1.75	Take off pan, stop leak, crank case and gaskets	$8.80
An average dinner (3)	4.80	Vulc. case	4.50
Drive over “high drive” (motors not allowed) (for 3)	6.00	Greasing and tightening bolts. 7 cups grease	1.40
Tip to driver	.50	1 pt. kerosene	.05
Enormous double room with dressing room, bath	6.00	1 pt. cylinder oil	.05
Single room and bath	3.50	3 days’ storage	1.50
Coffee and toast (in room)	.70	35 × 4 B. L. Republic red tube	7.35
Tip	.25	4½ B. O. patch	.90
(Especially attractively served.)		22 gals. gas	3.30
Breakfast (E. M.) (averaged)	.95	3 gals. oil	2.40
Tip	.25
Valet (pressing all our clothes)	8.00
Laundry	6.20
Fifteenth Day’s Run, Colorado Springs to Trinidad (Map No. 15)
Lunched, Pueblo. Vail Hotel	$3.00
Trinidad. Hotel Cardenas (our first of the Harvard chain of hotels).		Trinidad Novelty Works Co.
Am. plan, 3 good rooms with 3 baths and good “American cooking” meals ($4.50)	$13.50	Storage	$.50
$1.50 deducted for lunch we were not to have.		14 gals. gas. (15c.)	2.10
Tips	1.75	2 qts. oil	.40
Incidentals, movies, etc.	1.30	Las Vegas, 145 miles.
Lunch to take with us	1.60
Las Vegas. The Castaneda. (Did not telegraph ahead, so could not get baths).		Las Vegas Auto Co.
3 rooms ($3.25)	$9.75	Storage	$.50
American plan (lunch deducted).		15 gals. gas.	2.50
Lunch to take with us	1.50
Tips	1.75
Telegrams, sundries	2.50
Seventeenth Day’s Run, Las Vegas to Albuquerque (Map No. 17)
Lunched Santa Fé.
(Own lunch.)
Albuquerque. Hotel Alvarado.		Santa Fé Transcontinental Garage.
Usual tips	$1.75	2 men, 1½ hours, patching muffler and exhaust and tightening bolts, etc.	$2.25
Telegrams and sundries	2.80
3 delightful rooms, 3 baths, supper and breakfast ($4.25 each)	12.75
Extra amount of food to take:
Eggs	.60
Cake	.80
Sandwiches	2.10
Cocoa	.20
Ice cream	.30
Eighteenth Day’s Run, Albuquerque to Winslow (Map No. 18)
Leave Albuquerque. Out in desert.		Albuquerque. Coleman Blank Garage (A 1 garage).
		2 men, 4 hours each (night labor, double rate), mending leak in radiator, taking off exhaust, filling grease cups, etc.	$6.00
		1 front spring shackle bolt	.80
		18 gals. gas in tank	5.40
		10 gals. in cans	3.00
		4 gals. oil	2.80
		(First-class garage.)
Winslow, Ariz. Harvey Hotel.		Winslow.
Rooms, including meals	$10.50	Car shipped, via A. T. & S. F. R. R. Freight to Los Angeles. Perfect system for motor shipment, no crating and no delay.
Tips (most of luggage shipped with car)	1.25
3 tickets Winslow to Los Angeles	65.85	Freight charge	$151.20
Extra tickets Williams to Grand Canyon	22.50
By Train, Winslow to Grand Canyon (Map No. 19)
Lunch, Williams	$3.30	Car on freight.
Grand Canyon, Ariz. El Tovar Hotel.
2 rooms, bath between	$10.00
1 room and bath	5.00
Including meals.
Mule down Angel Trail (E. M.)	4.00
Moving pictures exhibited at studios of trip through Colorado river	3.00
Tips, per day, about	$1.25
Sundries, etc.	1.80
By Train, Grand Canyon to Los Angeles
Drawing room, Pullman	$14.00	Car on freight.
Lower berth, E. M.	4.00
3 breakfasts	2.60
Tip	.30
3 lunches	3.15
Tip	.35
Los Angeles. Alexandria Hotel.		Los Angeles. Smith Bros.’ Garage (highest class garage).
1 hallboy (most luggage in car)	.25	Result of desert:
Dinner (very simple; for three)	7.80	1 front spring	$11.00
Theater	6.00	Tire and tube vulcanized	2.50
1 room and bath, inside and dark	7.00	Exhaust pipe brazed	6.10
1 very small outside room and bath, but perfectly good room	4.50	Exhaust pipe welded and repaired; install new gaskets and assemble; dismantle muffler, repair and assemble; paint muffler	21.50
Breakfasts and tips and luggage down	2.70
Hiring a motor to move to Pasadena (while ours being repaired)	10.00	2 gaskets	.90
Stopped with friends, but beautiful hotels in Pasadena.		Wash and polish	2.50
		21 gals. gas. (8c.!!)	1.68
		1 gal. oil	1.00
		To charge battery	.50
Resumed Motoring. Short Run Late in Afternoon, Pasadena To Riverside
Riverside. Mission Inn. (The most enchanting hotel!)
3 rooms, baths, and food	$18.00
Tips and sundries	3.60
Twenty-third Day’s Run, Riverside to San Diego (Map No. 23)
San Diego. U. S. Grant Hotel.		White Star Motor Co.
Dinner	$3.00	Storage, 3 days	$1.50
Tip	.35	20 gals. gas	3.20
(Average day.)		1 gal. oil	.80
Hallboys, luggage up and down	1.75	Wash car	1.50
Chambermaid	.75
3 rooms and baths	14.00
3 entrances exposition (night)	1.50
Electric chair	2.00
Breakfast (3)	2.95
Exposition, 3 entrances (morning)	1.50
Electric chair (whole day and held all 3 of us)	4.00
Lunch at Exposition restaurant (3)	1.50
Tip	.30
Indian Village	.75
Panama Canal (3)	.75
Various side-shows, etc.	6.30
Twenty-fourth Day’s Run, San Diego to Santa Barbara (Maps Nos. 23 and 24)
Lunched in car on road.
Santa Barbara. Hotel Potter.		Santa Barbara. El Camino Real Motor Co.
3 rooms and baths, a day, including meals (none of which we took; lunched and dined out every day)	$21.00	25 gals. gas	$2.50
Bringing coffee to room and tip	.45	Storage, 3 days	1.50
Lunch to take with us the day we left	1.50	Oil (1 gal.)	.80
Ice-cream at druggist’s in thermos jar	.30
Sundries and telegrams	3.10
Twenty-fifth Day’s Run, Paso Robles to Monterey (Map No. 26)
Paso Robles, Cal. Paso Robles Springs Hotel.		Paso Robles. Pioneer Garage.
Rooms with baths and two meals; no luncheon charged for	$12.75	15 gals. gas	$3.30
		Storage	.50
Lunched at the R’s on our way. Much farther out of our way than we thought, and had supper at Salinas; had cocoa, toast and omelette, plenty of it and very good for 75c. for three.
Twenty-sixth Day’s Run, Monterey to San Francisco
Monterey. Hotel Del Monte.		Monterey. Hotel Del Monte Garage.
Rooms (perfectly vast) and baths, American plan	$18.00	14 gals. gas	$3.08
Tips and breakfast tray	2.50	Storage	.50
Lunch to take with us	1.60	Oil	.90
Sundries	2.00

CHAPTER XXXIII
HOW FAR CAN YOU GO IN COMFORT?

This was the original query that we started out to answer, and second “How long did it take you?” is the question that has been asked us more often than any other.

Interpreting “comfort” as really meaning “luxury,” you can go, so far as roads are concerned, only to Pueblo. So far as high-class hotels are concerned, there are two inhospitable distances. The first from Omaha, Nebraska, to Cheyenne, Wyoming; the second between Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Winslow, Arizona, over three hundred miles.[7] Between Ash Fork, Arizona, and Needles, California, the distance is one hundred and ninety-one miles, which over those roads is a long distance, but perfectly possible to make in a day. Also it is by no means necessary to motor across any of these sections, unless you choose to. Putting a machine on a freight train is a very different matter from putting it on a boat and shipping it to Europe. In the latter case, you have to have a crate made as big and clumsy as a small house; then there are always delays and complications about catching boats, and altogether it is something of an ordeal. But to send a motor across our own country, for as short or as long a distance as you please, is very simple. You have only to drive it to the railroad station, roll it on an automobile freight car with a door at the end, as in a small garage, take the next passenger train yourself and skip as many or as few miles as you choose. In America, automobile freight is wonderfully efficient, and is about as fast as ordinary express. (At least the Santa Fé service is.)

We spent only two days at the Grand Canyon and the car arrived in Los Angeles at the same time we did. There is only one deterrent to frequent freight shipments: the cost. Automobiles weigh a good deal and the freight charges are by the pound. From Winslow, Arizona, to Los Angeles—a distance of 613 miles—costs $151.20 for a car weighing 4,000 pounds. A 2,000-pound car would cost, of course, exactly half that amount. If you don’t want to go into the desert where hotels are great distances apart and roads are not the smoothest in the world, a 3,000-pound car costs $133.20 from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Barstow, California, after which there are plenty of good hotels and beautiful California roads. The above freight rates will be of interest to very few, as except in case of accident or some unseen conditions no one who can help it, will want to see their car, housed like a lonesome and abandoned dog, on a freight. If it is a very crippled car, that is different; it is more like leaving it in a nice cot in a hospital, where it can’t get hurt any more.