EDWARDS AFB
AFFTC

Ellen Buchanan and I were married February 9, 1957. My last day at Lowry AFB was the 12th of February . I took what is called a "delay in route" to drive to Florida so Ellen could meet my family. We only lost the wheel bearing once, someplace in Texas on the way to California! Let me say, it is a long way across Texas and a great deal of the country is prairie. I should have suspected then what awaited us. I don't recall where we stayed on the way but it was 4 days of driving. Then, when arriving, it is desolate country where nothing grows except Joshua trees. No self respecting cactus can live on the Mojave desert.

We arrived at Edwards AFB expecting to find housing on base. That was a joke unless you happened to be a senior officer. We are 50 miles from any town with no place to live! As it turned out I wasn't even to work at the base but 30 miles toward Barstow California at a destination called Leuhman Ridge where missiles were statically tested. How we found a place I don't recall again but we did find a small house in Lake Hughes, CA, about 90 miles from where I worked. Best part was that it was in the Tehachapi mountains. We were there about 45 days when we found out Ellen was pregnant. Here we are, two 20 year olds, broke, expecting a child. To say I was unprepared is a vast understatement. The commute to work was a long drive especially as it got close to summer. Most autos the age of mine had NO air conditioning. With the temperature close to 125 degrees F it doesn't take much imagination to realize the Ford was like an oven.

An interesting side note is that at that time California had no posted speed limit. As I was driving to work one morning (daydreaming I suppose) I came up in back of a highway patrolman. I thought, oh no, now I'm in trouble. To my surprise he pulled over and waved me ahead! I think I was going close to 90mph in my straight line 6 cylinder Ford!

Not long after we found out about the pregnancy, I was put in touch with a lady called Lucille Riccomini who had some apartments in Mojave, only 30 miles from work. Ellen had been working very hard at cleaning the place in Lake Hughes but this would be so much easier especially for doctor visits. Of course we had no money for extra rent and we needed $95 to move (we had no furniture). We tried almost all our relatives and my brother Warren came through for us. Warren and I had a good relationship for most of our lives together, but this was above and beyond. He never asked for the money to be paid back. 

Riccominis had a garage apartment, lots of stairs but beautiful compared to the Lake Hughes shack. We hit it off with our landlord right away and they more than spoiled us. It turns out that they also owned an Italian restaurant in downtown Mojave, Renos, but there is more on that later. Ellen had found a job at Edwards and was able to carpool to work (she didn't have a driver license at that time plus we didn't have but 1 auto). Pregnancy wasn't easy as Ellen was sick to her stomach a lot. She went from 125 pounds to 105 when time to deliver! I was stupid and worthless to her and I'm sure I spent a lot of time depressed and angry!. This is not what I thought my life would be.

To make matters worse I was caught in a scam to relieve me of my Ford. A fellow came to me with a swap to improve my auto position. My Ford still had wheel bearing issues which seemed insolvable. He had a "friend" who he said owned a 1954 Ford V8. I would trade my Ford for $200 and he would sell me the 54 for $400 on time payments. So, we made a deal (or so I thought) and I drove the 54 Ford home. The first night there someone stole 2 tires and the battery out of the car. How I got the money to replace them I don't know. Almost the next day I was called into the commander's office for driving on base illegally. I explained my situation to very unsympathetic ears and was informed the airman who "sold"me the car didn't own it. It was his uncle's vehicle. I had to return the car or face court martial, so I no longer had any vehicle and the guy never paid the $200 for my Ford. AND, Ellen is pregnant! I am infamous for my lousy luck with automobiles. More on that at a later post. It is depressing. In my next post I will try to describe my position at the missile test site.


ATLAS F at static site


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