The Southern Mexico Hulett

This painting is pretty much what it looks like: Southern, tropical Mexico...

In 1952, Ralph, his wife and his mother-in-law loaded up the family's wood-panelled station wagon and drove from Los Angeles...all the way down the west coast of Mexico...to Guatemala. With Mr. Hulett, of course, painting all the way.

The trip ended in Guatamala, where a traffic mishap led to Mrs. Hulett and her mother being thrown in the clink for an afternoon. (Mr. Hulett was off on a painting assignment for Ford Times -- you think he ever did anything else? -- and so didn't get carted off to jail.)

The woody station wagon got impounded, never to be seen again. The three travelers boarded a plane back to L.A. (The car was never returned, ending up a business write-off.)