I'll help them, boys.
All right.
Let's go.
Give you a hand.
No.
I'm all right.
Get me out of here.
You lie still or I'll hang one on you.
But you guys are going home.
We won't leave him out here.
Excuse me.
Hello, Lieutenant.
I hear the sergeant stopped some flak.
Yeah.
Last mission, too.
I don't believe he's badly hurt.
I am, too.
I need a nurse.
Mm -hmm.
Take good care of him, will you, Nurse? Have you heard what the man said? I'm not sure.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Dog.
She did this on purpose.
All right, soldier.
I'll look after him.
And if he doesn't behave, where'll I ship the body? Somewhere in Minnesota.
Minnesota? But there's no big party now.
That's up to you.
Oh, that's no time to tell wonderful.
How's it going, son? Just fine, Dad.
Thought you were out working on your car.
I started to.
I'm going to let it set.
I'm not going anyplace.
What's the trouble with the car? I don't know.
Maybe it's me.
Homecoming still seem a little strange to you? Well, I'm not sure.
No, it's swell.
Just a little different than I expected.
The gang split up, the match married.
Well, I didn't mind that.
It's just that I don't seem to be able to get back in the groove.
Who's the girl? Well, that's Connie.
Connie Albright.
She was my nurse.
She looks all right.
She's the best.
Where is she now? I don't know.
We saw her lost track.
The crew split up.
I think I know your trouble, son.
I felt the same way after the last war.
You're still restless.
You miss your buddies.
Yeah, I guess I do.
What a gang.
That was the skipper, Captain Ed Ross.
The hottest darn pilot in the whole Air Force.
Bing Miller, co -pilot.
Bill Cobol, bombardier.
He could drop those eggs in your hat from 30 ,000 feet.
And Red, what a guy.
Who's Red? He was the tail gunner.
The only one I ever heard of who shot down two planes with one bullet.
Two? How in the world'd he do that? You'd never believe me if I told you.
Boy, I'd like to see that gang again.
That would be the best thing for you.
Bing's in Detroit.
Red's in New England.
The skipper's out west.
They're scattered all over the place.
So what? You just got through traveling all over the world.
Why not taper off on a trip around your own country? I couldn't afford it.
The old jalopy'd never make it.
I think I know a way you could afford it.
It'd be wonderful fun and relaxation for you.
How? Come on, son, I'll show you.
Detroit, you say, is the first place? Detroit, yeah.
Well, that means you'll go by way of the Twin Cities in Chicago.
Chicago bus now loading.
Points east and south.
Chicago, all aboard.
Now take your time, relax, and enjoy the trip.
Come home when you get darn good and ready.
Maybe that'll be sooner than you think.
After all this kiting around in the air, I don't know if I'm going to like bus travel so much.
Well, you'll like it all right, won't you, driver? A lot of people do.
I'll put your bag away, sir.
Thanks.
People are traveling now who never traveled before the war.
But going to see their boys in camp got them started going places by bus.
Now they found how easy it is.
All aboard, sir.
Well, so long, Dad.
So long, son.
Have a good time.
Thanks.
Oh, that little lever.
Thanks.
You haven't been traveling much by bus lately, I take it.
No, ma 'am.
I come from Seattle.
Seattle, Washington, by bus? It hasn't seemed far.
I've been comfortable.
And there's so much to see along the way.
Look.
Indians gathering wild rice.
They knock the rice off stalks into the boat.
I guess they've been doing it that way for hundreds of years.
I like things like that.
To see different sights in different parts of the country.
Ever visit Mackinac Island up here at the end of Michigan? No.
It's not too far from here.
You take a boat over.
It's the place that spelled Mack -inac and pronounced Mack -in -or.
Why is that? I've wondered about that.
Next time I go over there, I'm going to find out.
The old fort still stands there.
Since way before the revolution.
Used to be called the stronghold of the Straits.
John Jacob Astor had one of his fur trading posts there.
You can still see some of his old buildings.
There are no automobiles allowed on the island.
But you can go any place by horse and buggy.
By highway is still the best way to see the country.
But fortunately both the roads and the carriers have been made a lot faster and smoother since then.
Or if you like to just sit on a porch and relax.
There's the longest porch in the world.
I've got the notion to stop over on my way back.
How far are you going? I'm not sure yet.
I'm going to look up some of my old bomber crew.
I don't know how many I'll get to.
Bing's in Detroit.
He was our copilot.
He's an engineer in one of the automobile factories there.
Thousands of cars every day.
Gosh Bing, some plant you've got here.
It's one of the General Motors plants.
You know, they make so many of those Greyhound buses.
Compared to this modern industrial city.
You'll find just at the edge of Detroit.
A reconstructed village of a hundred years or more ago.
Greenfield Village.
Oh yeah.
Henry Ford built it, didn't he? Yes.
To honor Thomas A.
Edison.
He's moved in some of the real homes and business places.
Of some of America's greatest names.
Places like the Stephen Foster House.
The McGuffey Log Cabin.
The man who wrote the McGuffey Readers.
Old Clinton Inn.
First overnight stop of the stagecoach out of Detroit a hundred years ago.
Like the Greyhound Post houses of today.
The Menlo Park is there.
Edison's old laboratory in which he invented the electric light.
The courthouse in which Lincoln practiced law for eight years.
I feel as if I was walking backwards through history.
What's that? That's Gog and Magog.
Who? The figures over the doorway of the old jewelry shop.
Gog and Magog.
Striking the hour.
Two giants Caesar is supposed to have captured and chained to the gates of London.
Well, I'll be darned.
Car for Cincinnati, Lexington, Chattanooga, Birmingham and Point South.
Now loading at gate four.
So long, Keed.
I wish I was going along with you.
But give my best to all the gang, huh? Sure.
So long.
So long.
Say.
You don't happen to know what became of Connie, do you? Connie? Oh, the nurse.
Yeah.
No, I don't.
Why don't you ask Tony? You'll be meeting him in Cincinnati, won't you? Yeah, I'm going down to Kentucky with him.
If you were looking for a horse, he'd know.
And you can tell him I said so.
Oh, Tony.
I can hear that horse laugh his yet.
So that's what he said, huh? Same old thing.
What do I know about you, nurse? Why are you all in the lather? I just wondered.
Cincinnati has quite a waterfront, hasn't it? Yeah, one of the longest.
Thirty miles.
Of course, it was the Ohio River that made the town.
There comes the overnight boat from Louisville.
Before the roads came, for a hundred years or more, the Ohio River was the only highway they had east and west.
I never thought of that.
Looks like it's still in use.
It's the busiest river for its size in America.
Just now it's at flood state, so there's not much moving.
This is almighty interesting.
Wait till you see Kentucky.
Why do they call it bluegrass? Under that turf out there for about 1200 square miles is a layer of peculiar limestone, mostly fish bones.
Fish bones? This part used to be under the ocean.
That was before my time.
Oh.
The old fish bones give the grass a lot of phosphorus and calcium.
This not only makes the grass blue -green, but it builds light, strong running legs for horses.
That's why we say good horses run anywhere, but they're raised in the bluegrass.
Is that why they call this section the horse capital of the United States? Well, it's not only called, it is.
Look at that.
It's a horse paradise on earth.
Luscious pastures, bonds like cathedrals, and their own exercise course.
There's a nice looking horse.
That's Whirlow.
Haven't company today.
These horses have their own private racetracks where they train.
And when they pass on, their own graveyard.
A horse cemetery.
Who'd I thought it? Just the droves of people who come here from all over the country every year to see it.
I know one horse has a guest book with more than 2 million names in it.
You know any human celebrities can top that? I wonder if Connie was one of them.
Ah, you and your Connie.
Come on.
That checks off Bing and Stoney.
Maybe Red will know.
I beg your pardon? I must have been thinking out loud.
Something Red Corpuscle might know.
Red Corpuscle? He was our tail gunner.
Redheaded.
His real name's Carpuscle, so of course everybody calls him Red Corpuscle.
No.
He lives in Revere Mills near Boston.
Oh.
And is that where you're going? Yes, I...
What's that? Oh, that's the entrance to the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
Haven't you ever been over it? No.
Oh, it's wonderful.
I'll show you.
Didn't I tell you? It's a dream highway.
A hundred and sixty miles without a stoplight.
Crossroads go either over or under.
There's one overhead now.
How do they get on it? Just at the end? There are nine or ten side entrances.
They call them interchanges.
We're coming to one of them now.
Oh, a cloverleaf.
Cars can enter or leave without interrupting the traffic.
I can't get over how level it is, even in rough country.
What are we going to do when we hit the real mountains? Oh, you'll see any minute now.
We tunnel right through.
Right.
This is a dream, Byron.
My father works for the Highway Commission.
And he tells me that there are going to be a lot of these express highways around the country soon.
This one follows the old shortcut between the Atlantic and the Ohio River.
First an Indian path and then a peddler's trail.
Only instead of winding up and over the mountains, we just tunnel straight through.
Miles and miles of them.
I wouldn't have missed this for a good deal.
And I'm glad I sat beside you.
Thank you kind sir, she said.
Now I've got something to tell Red.
He's just crazy about tunnels.
Oh.
Excuse me, Mr.
Mayor.
They told me I might find my friend Carpacil up here.
Red! Wiley! For big sake.
Welcome to Revere Mills.
I was just coming down to meet you.
Shucks, the clock must be late.
What the? You know for a minute I thought you were the mayor.
I am the mayor and don't laugh.
What? Go ahead, knock yourself out.
All I know is when I came home, they made me the mayor and I'm trying to give them a good deal.
And you will, Red.
I mean your honor.
Now get up, I found him in the closet.
I put him on for you for a gang.
Come on, I'll show you the municipality.
The what? Okay then, the town.
Remember the arguments we used to have? Bill Colville for California, Chick for Florida, and of course Tex was all for Texas.
Don't forget Minnesota.
Land of lakes.
You and your lakes.
A little mini soda water.
There's a real pond.
Those waves are coming in from 3 ,000 miles away, over where we were.
It's like I kept telling you guys.
Everything started here.
Remember what I showed you today? We're all part of New England.
Plymouth Rock.
Where our forefathers landed.
Feniel Hall, where the Boston Tea Party was planned.
And Boston Harbor, where it was pulled off.
Paul Revere's home.
The Old North Church.
And the very steeple where the signal lanterns were hung.
Lexington Village Green, where Paul Revere rode and the farmers gathered.
And stopped the Red Coast at the bridge over Concord River.
Where you saw the Minuteman statue.
No wonder they called it the land of the Pilgrims' pride.
And we're proud of today more than ever.
You know what I was homesick for most while I was overseas? That.
Boston Common, where the colonists used to pasture their cows, duck their witches and hang their pirates.
And the young men took their girls for a walk.
Looks to me like they still do it.
Yeah.
This is one place a fleet is permanently in.
Say, speaking of girls, do you know where Connie Albright is now? I believe she's stopping in Williamsburg.
Virginia? Yeah.
To restore a whole town is no small job.
The Rockefellers have given millions of dollars to rebuilding hundreds of buildings from cottages to state houses on the old foundations.
We've seen the Bruton Parish Church, the oldest church in America where services have been held continually.
You can sit in George Washington's own pew or Thomas Jefferson's or John Adams'.
You've seen the Governor's Palace, the We're putting a fellow and girl in.
Yes, they have a lot of fun with that sometimes.
But there was a time they fastened people in there for all day for minor crimes, like kissing your wife on Sunday.
Although I don't see why that was a crime.
Do you, Miss Albright? No, except with some of the whiskers the men wore in those days.
I'd say it was a crime any time.
So where are you going from here? Williamsburg, on the next bus.
Williamsburg? Yes.
I like restored Colonials, too.
Oh, sure.
I hope she's still there.
I'm sorry, I won't be here, Miss Lucy.
I'm leaving within a day or two for a trip through the Smokies, then on to Jacksonville.
Thirty minutes for lunch.
Excuse me, I'm sorry.
Hey! Hey! Driver! How can I catch that bus? Oh, I don't know, mister.
That's the southbound bus through the Great Smokies.
Oh.
The other section will be coming along in a few minutes.
It might catch up with them somewhere down the line.
I'll get my badge, huh? Yes, sir.
The second section is loaded with a bunch of high school students today.
I think they can squeeze you in.
Thank you.
Attention, everybody.
Riding through the Great Smokies, remember you're looking at some of the oldest mountains in the world.
Older than the Alps or the Andes or even our own Rockies.
There are also more different kinds of trees and plants here than any other spot in the world.
There are still great sections of it no white man has ever seen.
On the other hand, there are white people living back among those hills who have never been out of them.
They talk pure English, but you might have a hard time understanding some of them.
It's almost the English of Chaucer's time.
They grind their own grain in century -old water mills.
They spin their own thread and weave their own cloth.
A direct descendant of Daniel Boone lives down here.
Daniel Boone the Seventh.
He has a forage shop.
He hammers out things.
These people tinker and contrive all sorts of things for sale.
We're coming to a place where they sell such things.
We're going to stop so you'll all have a chance to look around.
Look everybody, we're coming to the Peady River.
This is the river that Stephen Foster wrote the song about.
Only later he changed the name to Swanee.
There really is a Swanee River, isn't there Miss Twitchell? Yes dear, farther south.
But this is the one he was writing about.
Way down upon the Peady River Far, far away That's where my heart is turning ever That's where the old folks stay On the world and sad and weary Everywhere I go I tried to phone you to find out if she was here.
No, she sure didn't come down here Wiley.
In Jacksonville they thought a girl of her description was...
No, she telephoned to say hello.
She's going down to Memphis next to see her married sister.
You know her name? No I don't.
Let's say Chick our navigator works him out of Memphis.
She'll look him up.
Well I was going to see Chick anyway.
Well she'll stay there a while.
Now that you're here in Florida you want to see the place.
Well I...
Not just a tourist spot like the Boxing Tower and Bird Sanctuary at Lake Wales.
Name for Wales in England? Well it's spelled that way now.
But it originally was a wading ground.
W -A -I -L.
Or Lake rather where the Indians gathered to wail in time of trouble.
Oh I see.
That's not the half of course.
I want to show you my Seminoles.
I'm deputy Indian agent down here now and...
No! No no no no no no! How? No that's not how.
That's why I want you to see them.
These Aboriginal Americans are a mysterious people.
Primitive but proud.
The name Seminoles means wanderer.
And they don't aim to own anything they can't pack up and move on a minute's notice.
They live off the land or perhaps I should say off the water.
Because fish is an important part of their diet.
And you never guess how they catch them.
They spear them.
They live along the streams hidden in the Everglades.
You can come upon a village with their fragile huts one day.
And maybe by the next day they are completely gone bag in baggage.
A month later they may have suddenly reappear.
Or a brand new bunch of them.
I have to go into the backcountry tomorrow and I'll take you along.
Thanks Bill I'd like to.
Maybe some other time.
I found my way down here but just now I...
I know kid.
Just now you've got them Memphis blues.
Of course Beale Street isn't all of Memphis any more than the Bowery is all of New York.
Why you've never seen anything more modern than downtown Memphis.
Or more restful than Forest Park.
Named for General Nathan Forest.
He's the man that said the way to win a war is to get the firstest with the mostest.
Alright, alright.
I like your town.
I'll even like General Forest.
But I want to know about Connie.
Where is she? That's what I'm telling you.
We took her around that night and the next day my wife and I were going down to New Orleans.
And Connie went along.
Have you ever been there? No but I want to know.
Oh you don't want to miss New Orleans.
It's like walking through one of their old wrought iron gates into another world.
A city that was more than a hundred years old before it became part of the United States.
The old square is still there.
Only now it's called Jackson Square.
In honor of Andy Jackson, the hero of New Orleans.
And there still stands one of the oldest churches in America.
The St.
Louis Cathedral.
You'll feel as though you've gone to sleep and woke up in the middle of the 18th century.
In the park in front of the church is where the Cassette Girls, the shipload of French girls, landed in 1730.
So the pioneer settlers could pick themselves wives.
The Cabildo, the old French capital building.
Now it's a fascinating museum.
And the Napoleon House, the house that was prepared for him in the New World, but he never got to come.
There's Pirates Alley, where Jean Lafitte used to hide out.
Oh, romance so thick you could grab it by the hands full.
Okay, it's romantic.
But where's Connie? Well, as a matter of fact, I don't exactly know.
What? Well, she didn't come back with us.
She was heading for California.
Although she did talk of stopping off to see Tex on the way.
Well, here you are, Miss Connie.
I never saw so many.
Will he come this way? Shucks, that little old maverick.
Curly will drown him.
He's good, isn't he? Curly? Oh, he's all right.
It's Pancho.
Pancho? He's the smart one.
Why, he's got to know more than the cows even.
I don't imagine that's very much.
Don't you fool yourself, ma 'am.
You'd be surprised how much us humans can learn from those critters.
Really? If you ever get lost, look for a cow trail.
It's the shortest way out of a canyon or the best way over a mountain.
You see, the greatest danger of getting lost in this country is thirst.
Find a cow trail.
It's a sure way to water.
Well, they can tell if it's rained miles away and light a shuck straight for it.
They can tell hours ahead when a bad westerner's blowing up and high -tail it for broken country where there's breaks for protection.
I had no idea.
Yes, and cows have a language of their own and a way to make each other savvy.
When their calves are too young to travel, one cow will stay with three or four calves while the mothers go to water.
When they come back, the other one will go.
I like your cows, Tex.
You'd love Texas.
I've got a nice little spread of my own, enough to get married.
I wonder, are they this nice in Minnesota? What? The cows.
Oh, you're thinking of Wisconsin.
What I'm thinking of is in Minnesota.
I don't get it.
Los Angeles City Limits.
What does that mean, driver? It means they're great boosters.
There's no place like L .A.
Of course, the tourists head straight for Hollywood.
Yonder's Grauman's Chinese Theater, where many of the movie premieres are held, and the stars leave their footprints in the cement.
This is the Radio City section of Hollywood.
You get free tickets to see and hear the stars broadcast.
This is NBC on the left.
A couple of blocks further is CBS.
Across the street is the Earl Carroll Theater restaurant, claiming to have the most beautiful girls in the world.
And it could be...
There's the Wilshire Brown Derby.
You'll want to eat in one of those spots before you leave Hollywood.
But I was sure she was coming here to Santa Monica.
What? Whereabouts in San Francisco? Wiley! Jose! What are you doing here? I look up and I say it is the Sergeant Wiley Pruitt, no? It's the civilian Wiley Pruitt, yes.
And you, you with that so hot fighter pilot from Brazil.
I remember your whole name.
Now don't stop me.
Jose Raimundo Vicente Luiz Gayosa.
Luiz de Sousa Gayosa.
I always remember your name.
I always forget the Sousa.
Why don't you sit down and join me? Thanks.
What are you doing in San Francisco? A little mission for my government, which I have almost finished.
And you, amigo? A little mission of my own that I haven't caught up with yet.
So? Well, it is what you say, a good place for it.
I love the view from the top of the mark.
The bay and the Bastille.
What you call Alcatraz.
The magnificent bridges.
Twin Peaks and Telegraph Hill.
Over that way is the university campus.
With its so beautiful campanile.
Down there is the Opera House where the peace conference was held.
Everything is so romantic here.
From the old missions to the colorful Chinatown.
I met a Chinese businessman.
He tell me Confucius said...
I don't care what Confucius say.
Can he help me find my girl? My poor old friend.
Wonderful.
Right on time too.
Every 65 minutes.
What makes geysers? Well, the center of the earth is a core of intense heat.
In an old volcanic region like this, holes let the water seep down into it.
Part of it turns to steam and blows the rest of the water out of the hole.
Which then gradually fills up again.
Hot water plays many strange tricks around here.
Like these colored hot springs.
Mud volcanoes.
Paint pots.
Hot streams and coal coming together all over the place.
One place there is a hot springs right in the middle of a cold lake.
The place is fantastic.
That's what I meant when I said you could take away the geysers and the hot springs.
All 3 ,000 of them and Yellowstone will still be an amazing place.
By Connie, we have everything here.
The biggest mountain lake in the country.
A grand canyon all our own.
Of Yellowstone.
That's where the place gets its name.
There's a waterfall three times higher than Niagara.
We have our own petrified forest.
This is the perfect place to study the history of the earth.
Geologists have found that 12 different forests have grown here.
One on top of the other.
One on top of another? Yes, you see, the first forest grew.
Then a volcano covered it with volcanic ash.
Then another started and grew on top of it.
And so on for at least 12 complete forests.
That must have taken millions of years.
That took a long time.
There are thousands of acres of forests out there that have never been touched by an axe.
A wildlife preserve and bird sanctuary.
It's also a fisherman's paradise and it doesn't take a license.
Wait till my dad hears that.
This is a great place for riding and hiking trips.
Why don't you let me take you on one tomorrow? Oh, I'm sorry.
My vacation's up.
I've got to get back to the hospital in Salt Lake.
That means leaving tomorrow.
Well, at least you'll be here for our regular campfire tonight.
Oh, yes.
Swell.
Do you always have this much fun here, Ed? Well, it's a lot more fun when you're here, Connie.
Thanks, Skipper.
It's part of your duties too.
Connie, you knew how I felt about you even in France.
And you never gave one of us a tumble.
No.
Or did you? Have you heard from Wiley Pruitt? A radio gunner? Don't tell me.
Maybe I've already told you too much.
Now, why couldn't I have been the one who was shot up in that last mission? But he's a grand guy, Connie.
And if there's anything that I can ever do...
Thanks.
My problem, Mr.
Anthony, is how with maidenly reserve, I can get that lug from Minnesota to Salt Lake City.
Next bus to Yellowstone? Three hours.
Three hours, huh? Give you a chance to see our city.
Mormon Temple, Seagull Monument, and other interesting spots.
When's the next bus east? You don't go east.
You go to Yellowstone.
You go north.
I know.
Maybe I've made a fool of myself long enough.
I beg your pardon.
When's the next bus to Sauk Center, Minnesota? Sauk Center? Oh, yes.
That goes through Omaha.
Next route here to Omaha is two hours and 20 minutes.
Thanks.
I'll plow around and think it over.
Where is that monument? Seagull? Just across the street in Temple Square.
Years ago, we had a plague of grasshoppers.
Right at their worst, the birds came in and ate them up.
So the monument was erected to the seagulls that saved Salt Lake City.
Heads I look for her once more.
Tails I go home.
That does it.
Sauk Center, here I come.
Let me through, please.
I'm a nurse.
Wiley! She knows him.
Good.
Somebody ought to take care of him.
You heard what the man said.
Sauk, I'll bet you did this on purpose.
What are you doing here? Looking for you.
All the way from Minnesota? Yeah.
My way of Boston, Florida, and California.
Take the long way around, don't you? Well, it's supposed to be the shortest way home, isn't it? Guess maybe it is.
And as you travel along those ribbons of gray Get on the gravel and pull you over to stay Because Wiley's a happy way When they lead the way to home
