Granny's Letters:
December 11th---Had new spindle, 2 ball races and new hub cap put on the machine and got started back at 2:15 after eating our dinner at Melbourne, came back over the same road, they were bad for 17 miles then we had 11 miles of cement and then 10 miles of bad road again. We will now have good roads to Tampa. In all the 40 miles that we traveled we saw about half a dozen houses just out of Melbourne, one turpentine camp and a couple of tents where some darkies were watching a camp, for 23 miles we saw nothing but pine forest and before that prairie swamp, lots of range cattle up to their bodies in water, they looked tough. Camped at Alligator Lake, 6 miles from St. Cloud, there was 1 Indiana and 1 Toledo Ohio car in the camp. We all stayed over Sunday. We were tired. December 13th---Washed this morning and ironed what few pieces that had to be ironed., had our dinner and went on. Stopped at Kissimmee and got gas. Made Haines City in about 40 miles and camped. Fine little town, 221 ft. above the sea level, rather hilly which is really a change. Hills and lakes and great groves of oranges. December 14th---Left camp early, got caught in the rain and stopped in a long shelter shed, started on as soon as the rain slacked and stopped at Lakeland, Carrie got some boxes and we came on to Tampa and here we got our mail, we had a letter from Eva. We went to the camp grounds but it was so crowded that we pulled out and started for St. Petersburg. Reached Clear Water and have supper to cook. The men have gone back to a town we just came through called Dunedin. December 15th---Frank and I got up and went to the gulf to get shells, got about a peck and decided to stay a few days. Carrie went out in the bay and got oysters, they were small. We all got up and went to the beach but it was so cold that we did not stay long. It is too cold here to be comfortable, Frank and I are ready to move on. He put his heavy underwear on again this morning. We are too near the gulf, when a person comes south to be warm I don't know what they want to stay here for. This is the place that the people in the interior come to spend summer, to get the cool gulf breeze. This evening some people came to camp, a women, little girl and 2 men. Both men have their legs off, one uses short crutches and the other walks with his hands. They have performing dogs. December 18th. There was 9 cars on the grounds last night. I will finish this and send it, there is nothing to tell any more, the country is the same. Everyone is disappointed in Florida that you talk to. It is nothing but a skin game from beginning to end. A man that is honest wants to have money to last while he is here and then get back where he came from. We have seen cars from almost every state in the union and some from Canada. An old lady in here is 73 years old, she is from Indiana. She don't like it. I pity her, she said she had plenty of coal and wood at home and she dreaded the trip back so bad, but the old man likes it. He is busy cutting wood. We have to have a fire all the time. Are you going to have a big Christmas? We wont know when it is Christmas here. We heard it frosted at Haines city the other night. We have seen no frost in Florida, we heard it was awful cold up north. Pop and I are going fishing. Love to all. Hello Juanita From Mom and Pop, to Roy, Blanche, Amos and Juanita. This is a magnolia leaf. December 18th--- Well Daddy and I went fishing but we didn't get any fish, Carry got oysters but we did not like them. December 19th--- Got up this morning and drove to St. Pete it is a nice town but has no nice beach, just the bay, it is several miles to the gulf. We saw 2 airplanes on the ground, we looked in them and at them. They did not fly while they were there. We came back and stopped 4 miles west of Tampa at a country store and stayed all night, cooked and ate in an old house, spent the evening in the house with the people. They built a fire in the fireplace to make it cheerful for us, they were very nice. She was from Iowa and he was from Kentucky. Most everyone we meet are northern people. December 20th--- Came on to Tampa this morning, got a letter from Mother Robbins. We are now at Plant City. The men are buying a tent for Carries, we are thinking of settling down. Well, they finally bought a tent. Got a small one 7 by 9 for six dollars. Came up to Lakeland and had to wait about 2 hrs. for Carrie to get his oil cleaned out of his machine, we got about 1 mile out of Lakeland and camped, the ground is nice but no water, no toilets and no fishing but we have to wait here till Carrie sends home for money. December 21st.---Frank and Carrie went to Lakeland this morning and got tent poles. Got nice lettuce for dinner and some good old native steak for supper. They got the tent fixed up. They are still fixing Christmas presents, they are not new ones, just the same old presents. I have a few for the home folks but I have got so tired of hearing about sending things home that I don't think I will send them. Got the tent up. December 22nd.---Frank got tired staying around camp so he and I came over to Sarasota, it is about 50 miles from Tampa, it makes us about a 160 or 70 miles more drive and I don't think we are getting very much nicer shells and they are not very plentiful. We went back to Sarasota from the beach to camp and got our supper we had bacon and lettuce. Cooked our supper on some Columbus Ohio peoples stove so did not put our stove up, we did not bring the tent or the table over. We spent the evening with Charley Snyders, the people who bought Parent's truck, they are spending the winter in Sarasota. He is working every day. Frank would like to stay here, there seems to be plenty of work for carpenters but it will be so far for us to come back and there is this dampness about the place too close to the water, we did not feel good this morning. It rained last night. They have a fine camp grounds here, toilets with running water and shower baths, they have no lights. We saw the nicest field of celery and lettuce as we came down, no wonder we get them up north in the winter, they keep planting all of the time and have big and little in the same patch. I am in the machine while Pop hunts for shells, the sand flees bite me so and then I have walked a good bit for me so thought I would rest a while. I am facing the water, it roars all the time like a great wind through the trees. We have to come out 8 miles to the beach, 3 miles on cement and the rest through the woods on shells, not made roads but just natural, the whole island seems to be shell. A car from Michigan just drove up, they have sacks with them to get shells but I am afraid they will be disappointed unless this is their first trip and then they will pick up what other people have thrown away and think they have found something. Mrs Snyder had beads made of black eyed susans, a berry that grows here, we want to try and get some, they are red with a black spot on them. Six more people to get shells, they are some foxy, they have their field glasses with them. The other people are coming back, they have not been very successful, their bags hang very limp. I see 21 big sea gulls they look like they are as big as a turkey. Everyone is coming in but Father. You know what a sticker he is. He will have a whole bag of shells. I wish he would come, we have had no breakfast. The field glass people are from Indiana, they have all gone back. The birds I saw were pelicans instead of sea gulls. I have been talking to a man from New York for about an hour, he is a cripple, stays out here and tends the bath house and soft drink place. Dad is back he has about a peck of shells. We have a mill sack 1/3 full, a sugar sack 1/2 full, an overall leg full, some under the seat some in the potatoes, so we have a few. We will divide up. We got our dinner and went back to the beach and got more shells. We are getting ready to go back to Lakeland so I will close my bunch of junk. Tomorrow is Christmas, here they shoot firecrackers, it is like the fourth of July. The weather is not very nice it has been cloudy for three days, the first we have had in Florida, I will be glad when the sun shines. We are well. From Mom and Dad. December 24th---Left Sarasota about 1 O'clock. Went up town and bought 2 handkerchiefs for 25 cents. Went on out of town about 1 mile and stopped in the woods and got some black eyed susies, started on and it began to rain, still raining when we got to Bradenton, crossed the Manatee river at Bradenton and over into Palmetto, the bridge is 1 1/2 miles long, came to the Alafira river ten miles south of Tampa, came across Dave Wright's party and camped all night with them and spent Christmas eve listening to fishermen tell sea tales. December 25th---Got up and had breakfast and Frank and Dave went out and got about 1 bushel of oysters, then they went fishing. Frank caught a drum fish that weighed 5 or 6 lbs. and one cat fish. Dave caught 2 cat fish and he gave them to us. We then had our dinner, Frank had some bread and raw oysters and I had some bread. We were in too big a hurry to cook. Then we started on our 40 mile drive home, we had the stove full of oysters. When we got near Lakeland we saw airplanes taking people for a ride, they paid $10.00 for a ride of 7 minutes, we saw them go up and we saw them come down but we stayed on the ground, got back to camp, cleaned our fish, had fish for supper and sat around the campfire awhile and so ended Christmas Day. December 26th---We spent the forenoon cleaning oysters, and the after noon sorting shells, spent the evening at the camp file. Frank and Carrie treated the crowd to cocoanut. December 27th---Went to Haines City to get the mail, got a letter from mother, it is 24 miles to Haines City but we will still get our mail there. We came back by Winter Haven a very nice place. We came through a trucking country where they had pipes up on posts for irrigation, we saw them spraying at one place. Had lettuce for supper. It rained in the evening we sat in the tent and had a candle for light. December 28th---Frank went to Lakeland this morning and bought a lamp, he gave 25 cents for it, it is a brass one and was in the ark. We all went up town this afternoon just to pass the time, sat in the tent this evening by the light of the new lamp. I finished my beads. Frank wrote cards. Carrys came over and spent the evening, I gave Ocie a string of beads. There are twin girls in this camp they are 7 years old, they are Dorotha and Juanita Bailey. December 29th---Washed this morning, Frank got a candy bucket and I had that and a foot tub, got along fine. The men went up town and took the camera along, they got a pack of film and left the others to be finished. The men went back to town in the afternoon, Frank sent for his automobile license, the neighbors all came and sat in our tent in the evening, there was Mr. and Mrs. Bailey and 2 girls, Mr. and Mrs. Ed Hurts. Mr. and Mrs. Bill Griffin, Mr. and Mrs. Sam Hula and Mr. and Mrs. Burns. We had quite a time. Frank played the fiddle. December 30th---The men went to town as usual. We bought fish from an old fisher, 3 fish for a quarter, had them for supper, the ladies came over and sat awhile, they had their work, they were making baskets of pine needles. I learned to make a lace of Mrs. Hurts and made half enough for a pillowslip today. Frank was busy getting wood, it was colder today, I ironed, Carry and Frank went to the campfire. Ocie and I sat in our tent we had good lights to work by. December 31st---Got up and had our breakfast, our neighbors Mr. Griffins and Mr. Hurts left us this morning. They went to Sarasota. We went to Tampa today to get a box Carrys had been looking for that was sent to them but it was not there, we went from there out to wrights and spent the afternoon. It was a very long day and we were very tired. We had steak and corn grits for supper, sat around the tent a while and went to bed, so ended the year of 1920. January 1st. 1921---We got up and had breakfast at half past eight this morning, Frank bought the old fisherman's catch this morning for 25 cents, he had 5 fish, they were all cat fish. Carry, Frank and I went to Lakeland this morning. Mrs. Burns ironed so I went to get us some thread. We got a beef heart for dinner. Frank is fixing some turtle hooks. I am going to try to make a pine needle basket this afternoon. The men sat their hooks and drew them in this evening and had a big snapping turtle and one fish. I sewed on my basket and got the bottom about done, some Kansas women came in to learn how to sew baskets, they have rooms up in Lakeland. The campers came and sat in our tent this evening and we had no fire, we did not need much, this has been a very warm day. Frank sweat until he was wet while he ate dinner, it was so hot in the tent, I went out and raised the wall a little, that helped some. Frank drove 4 sticks in the ground and nailed boards on the top, put a shelf in it and that is my cupboard, we have that, the table and our camp stools and stove in the tent, that is all the furniture we have and we are fixed about the best of anyone that I have seen. January 2nd---Cleaned the turtle this morning. The men did not get anything on the hooks but one small fish. We read and laid around camp, nothing doing all day. Had fried turtle for supper. January 3rd---Washed today, had 18 pieces. Frank was up town 3 or 4 times, got the pictures and 7 were good. Charged us 80 cents. We go up town expecting to get skinned and are not disappointed. Carry and Mr. Bailey worked on Carry's machine all day, I sewed on my basket, Ocie made lace, Mr. Hula washed and Mrs. Bailey worked on her basket. We had potatoes, boiled and fried and lettuce for supper. I cooked my dried apples and made butter out of them, it is swell. Isn't this interesting? Will send this to you so you will have something to read. It is very warm today, but some windy. We are as well as usual, none of us have had colds. We haven't been in a house since we started. The gnats are bad tonight and a few mosquitoes. January 4th---We drove over to Haines City and got 8 letters and one card. Some of the letters were a month old, one from Blanche was first sent to Jacksonville then to Miami, then to Tampa and to Haines City. We stopped at Lake Alfred and looked at the camp it looked fine for fishing but the gnats were very bad. They have a house built out over the water with seats built out along the sides where you could sit and sew baskets and hook while the men fished. We may stop there for a few days. I will get this ready to mail. We would like to see Juanita with all of her play things. Will send you some leaves, but not today as I have none. We got your letter wrote the 27th, we got three from you. Frank is writing to his mother. I have one about ready for Mother, her birthday letter. Well children you did have some Christmas. We didn't know the day was here. It is so warm today the day is unpleasant. We are in the machine under the trees writing. The tourists are all going east today, they go in droves. I expect Frank and I will go tomorrow. Burnes have their tent loaded up and they hate to move but Frank is tired of this place, there is nothing here but the corner of a woods (more tourists going by). We will go and they can come when they get ready. Send the mail to Haines City until further notice. We will be there until we get our license. Dad and Mom. Frank and Marty went to the campfire so I did not sit up and write so late.