Joop and Toos Wouters, The Dutch Hitchhikers

When I was first assigned the job of being the first full time patrolman in the Arizona Strip, (everything north of the Colorado river in Arizona). I had no radio contact with anyone. I could go to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and talk to the Flagstaff dispatcher. I could also go south of the Colorado river to Cedar Ridge Trading Post and talk to Flagstaff. It was about 40 miles south of the river. I was told to go to one of these places most every day and report in.

One day in the summer of 1955 I was at Jacob Lake contemplating going to the North Rim to call in when I noticed a strange looking couple standing down the North Rim road a ways trying to hitch a ride. Both people had on short shorts which let me know they were Europeans, Americans never wore shorts that short! He was a tall slim fellow about 6' and she was probably not ever 5' tall.

I pulled up beside them and asked if I could help them. He told me in English with a very strong dutch accent that they were from Holland and that they wer3 traveling around the U.S. on their "thumb". He said they were planning to write a book about their experiences.

He said that they had come into the United States from Canada up in Washington sta

te. They had traveled across the north to Maine, down the east coast to Florida. Then they had came across the south and were going to settle in the Los Angeles area. They were both engineers and had jobs waiting for them in Los Angeles. He was a cartographer, a map maker.

They had visited the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and now they wanted to visit the North Rim. I invite them to get in and told them I would take them to the North Rim.

His name was Joop and hers was Toos. Their last name was Wouters. When we headed for the North Rim Toos exclaimed, "we will have to write a paragraph about you in our book."

When we got to the North Rim I introduced them to my friend who managed it. After telling him about their situation he gave them their supper, a room, and breakfast free.

I told them I would come to get them after breakfast and drive them to the different view points so they could really see the North Rim. After they were settled in I was preparing to leave and Tos remarked, " we will have to write a whole page about you in our book."

I called to check in that evening as I was told to do. The next day I called to check in while I was showing Joop and Toos the beautiful views of the North Rim.

On our way back to Jacob Lake I took them to a point on the east side of the Kaibab Mountain where we could look down into House Rock Valley and see the herd of buffalo that the Arizona game and fish department had maintained on a ranch for years. We also got a beautiful view of the vermilion cliffs across the House Rock Valley from us.

I had made plans with Wanda, my wife, to have a good home cooked meal for us that evening. She had a fine meal for them. We provided a place for them to sleep in our home.

The Wouters carried all their possessions in two small backpacks. They were probably about 40 or so years old.

After the big meal that night Toos said, "we will have to write a couple of pages about you in our book."

We fixed a real good breakfast the next morning and they bid their good byes to Wanda and the kids.

I took them west of Fredonia to the Pipe Springs National Monument. The early settlers had built a castle around this large spring I guess it was more like a fort. They had stores cached inside so they could fihgt off indian raids from the Navajos from the south. It has been restored and is under the care of the National Park Service. The Wouters really enjoyed seeing it and hearing the Park Ranger.
From there I drove on west a few more miles to Cane Beds and hen to Short Creek. I told them about the raid by Arizona Officers. We didn't have a following this time.

From Short Creek we returned to Fredonia with a side trip up to the village of Moccasin. Two villagers side by side Mormon pioneers had some neat farms and about a dozen homes next to a Ute village that were mostly shacks and no farms. Springs furnished the water farmers with plenty of water.

Then I took them back thru Fredonia and North of Kanab. I left them at the North edge of Knab.

Toos said, "we will write a whole chapter about you in our book." They did write a whole chapter about their time with me.

The second Christmas later we took the kids to Disneyland , Knotts Berry Farm and other places we stayed with my brother, Gene, and his family in El Monte.

We had kept in touch with the Wouters, so we visited them in Los Angeles. They were very happy in our country.

They told us Joop had been invited to be on the Groucho Marx Show because of their book. It was to be shown soon.

We watch for the show. Joop was one contestant and the other was Anita Eckberg, a beauty queen from Sweden. Toos said Joop was so distracted by the buxomy Anita Elkberg that he couldn't compete well. The contest "you bet your life" segment. He did seem a bit rattled.

Groucho in his interview asked who was the most impressive person they had met going around our country. Joops response was, "An Arizona Highway Patrolman named Lavar Johnston was by far the most helpful person." I was hoping superiors were not watching the show. Joop briefly told Groucho about most of the things I had done to help them see my part of Arizona. We continued to exchange Christmas Cards for years.

related article: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1367&dat=19791007&id=CdoVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PhMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7077,137932
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