CHAPTER 11
Travel and Transportation
Anastacia
recalled
traveling only to San Diego and Falfurrias. Lupe,
the oldest sister, was the one who made trips into town to buy the groceries
or to shop for fabric, thread, and other articles for sewing. In the early
1920s, the family used the carretela to visit stores in Benavides and
Premont. They were the first of the ranches to have a mule-drawn wagon,
the first to have a carretela with two seats, the first to have a bogue,
or a one-seat one-horse buggy. They traveled to San Diego each year to
attend the masses for Papá Andrésin
the one-seat buggy, which sat three people. In 1917 they bought the two-seat
carretela for six persons. This had a roof and was pulled by two animals.
It was used for hauling groceries and for family trips.
In 1918 Praxedisbought
a Model T Ford for the family. This car had no glass on the sides. Instead,
it had something like rubberized curtains which could be rolled up to
the top of the car in good weather and rolled down when it was cold or
raining. Yellow celluloid windows could be rolled down to allow the passengers
to see outside. These curtains were secured to rods on the roof. The accelerator
was a lever attached to the steering post. Natalia
learned to drive this car. The family used it for trips or to attend mass.
On one occasion,
the family made an emergency trip in the car to Guardado de Abajo, Tamaulipas,
when they received notice that Eugenio
was very sick. Eugenio and Eleuteriolived
there in a large cabin called a jacal.
Mamá María,
Natalia, and Anastacia stayed in the jacal with them when they found
out that Eugenio was seriously ill.
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Family jacal in South Texas
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Eleuterio owned only a small herd of goats and a few hens. With no grocery stores nearby, it was very difficult to provide food for the three additional family members. They went to the neighbors and exchanged eggs for spoonfuls of lard for cooking. The goats provided plenty of milk so the women could make puddings and cornbread, but they had only two small pans, and the food was not enough for all of them. Eugenio's health continued to deteriorate. His feet were swollen so badly that he could not walk. He continued to lose weight and grow weaker. They decided to take him back to the ranch.
The family crossed the Rio Grande in a small boat about midnight. It was crowded with nine persons, and the river was at half crest. Almost at the end of the crossing, the boat got caught in a whirlpool. They were fortunate because, after a few turns, it began to move to the outer bank and made shore on the American side. As soon as they disembarked, they traveled toward Escobares to Severo Martínez's house. Their travel was difficult. Eugenio was carried sitting on a wood post with his arms on the shoulders of the front person holding the post. They had to travel very quietly to escape detection by the U.S. Border Patrol7. It was a long and difficult journey, but by morning they arrived at Mr. Martínez's.
Praxedis was
waiting for them when they arrived, and he brought them home to the ranch.
Eugenio was sick for about two years. He was so weak they fixed a special
bed for him. The bed had a belt and rope with a pulley to allow them to
attend him and clean and bathe him. The bed was in a room at Tío Anacleto'shouse
across from Mamá María's.
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Anacleto
Sáenz
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Doctor Andrés Tamez of San Diego was the attending physician. Eugenio had bed sores on his body and hips from being in bed so long. He finally got well after trying home remedies. He also had the help of a lady named Cristina Canales, who cured him of the folk disease called ojo. This long sickness left Eugenio in delicate health. He remained very thin physically, but he was a hard worker. He was very active, very simple in manners, and always in a joyful mood.
7. The Border Patrol was created in 1924. Prior to the creation of the Border Patrol and the passage of the 1917 Immigration Act, migration across the U.S.-Mexico border was virtually unrestricted. Border residents crossed from one side of the border to the other with little difficulty.
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