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'Only fools' would travel in this weather
Topics: dust storm of 1977, local history, weather
Posted by citizenjournalist Tue Dec 11, 2007 12:52:15 PST
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0 responses 0 comments December 20, 1977, I was working in Wasco, California for an attorney, awaiting to be sworn in to the California Bar the following day in Los Angeles.

When the dust store hit and did not subside I knew I would have problems making it to the swearing in ceremony the next day. “Only Fools” would travel in this weather was the phrase I remember, and with that in mind I promptly set out in my 1972 Vega to find a way to Los Angeles and the ceremony.

I couldn’t say the roads were bad because I couldn’t see the roads, and there cerainly was not much traffic. Taking an “alternate route” I chose to travel to the coast highway via the back raods and then to Los Angeles.

Going to the coast highway via Wasco I remember flashing lights in the road, but little else because the dust obscured my vision. Once I passed the flashing lights I did not see a single vehicle until I stopped to get “my bearings.” Upon stopping, the gas station attendant look surprised to see me because the roads had been closed and unknowingly the “flashing lights” were roadblocks that I didn’t see due to the dust.

Several hours later I made it to the swearing in ceremony in a sandblasted Vega thinking someday I will have a real story to tell about the day I was sworn in for the California Bar.

William R. Go
Attorney at Law

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