The author, Alfred Marion Chard, is a long time devotee to the black arts of genealogy but even he was surprised to discover a tiny journal of his mother buried in the boxes of family records.



The journal documented her trip as a young woman in her twenties from the rustic and spartan farms of Missouri to the sophisticated of San Francisco, recently recovering from a devastating earthquake. On her trip through the West, Myrtle Wade Chard, the author's mother took advantage of all the new technologies recently introduced to the market: automobiles, movies, Pullman trains, and box cameras.