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The subject matter concerning the cross-country Packard trips of the early 20th Century reminds me of a mid 20th Century story told to me by my uncle, William O'Toole.

Uncle Bill lived in New Mexico and was a geologist spending much of his time searching, on contract, for corporations who was trying to find uranium fields oil deposits, or other minerals of interest. He made a comfortable living as an independent geologist.

I did not get to see much of him since he did not make his way East too often. In one of his rare visits in the early 60's, he told me about "the greatest adventure of his life." It seems like the government of Argentina had determined that they had some kind of valuable geological assets that were not being exploited. I don't recall what they were looking for now. Any rate, they thought that he could nose around the country and see what he could come up with. The reason the story has any interest to this group would be his choice of transportation.

Upon making the deal, Uncle Bill went down picked up a nice shiny Patrician with all the options, especially including air-conditioning. He and his wife then set sail from New Mexico to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In the middle 1950's, at least as Uncle Bill described it, the highway system between the United States and Argentina left something to be desired. He had a lengthy and exciting story about paying natives to lash rafts together so that the Packard could cross over raging torrents. He described driving on dirt roads surrounded by all manner of wildlife and venomous reptiles. Suspicious looking locals eyeballed the gringo pair in their elegant car with unspoken but all-too-evident interest. Uncle Bill laid a story on this set of ears which sounded like something worthy of a Hollywood movie.

Upon reaching the borders of Argentina, they found the nation in the grip of some kind of national frenzy. Since Uncle Bill spoke only about ten words of Spanish, so he pressed on to Buenos Aires. When he arrived in the capital, the city was in extreme agitation so he checked into a nice downtown hotel and he and his wife were informed that phone systems was not in reliable service for the moment. They would have to report to the government in person.

He drove his Patrician over to the appropriate government agency and announced his presence to some confused employees. Eventually, an English speaker was summoned up and Uncle Bill explained his mission to this gentleman.

Instead he received a very reserved smile and was informed that he had made his deal with the government of Juan Peron and that government was no longer in existence. The excitement and agitation was occasioned by the overthrow of Peron.

He sat around in Buenos Aires for about a week calling on the ministry daily. After about a week or so, he was finally informed that the new government would have no dealings with him. He was welcome to go back to New Mexico.

So Uncle Bill explained that he and my aunt piled back into the car and proceeded to drive all the way back to New Mexico. The excitements and thrills of the trip (perhaps a little colored for the entertainment and amusement of his young nephew) were pretty much repeated.

My father listening to this story asked "Bill, why didn't you just come back by boat and ship the car back home?"

Uncle Bill leaned back with a beatific vision of happiness on his face and stated "Because it was the greatest adventure of my entire life."

He also allowed that his Packard Patrician never let him down once on the road. Yes, Packard could have asked this man who owned one.