In the fall of 1929 Nininger began planning a trip to Mexico where he hoped to trade for meteorites that were in some institutions he heard of down there, as well as find a number of meteorites in a certain area he heard so much about. He made arrangements to take an extended leave from his classes in the fall semester that year. He approached one of his students, Alex Richards to accompany him on this trip, as Alex spoke spanish fluently, was mechanically incline, and resourceful sort of fellow. He asked Alex to construct out of various car parts a rugged vehicle that could undertake the journey they would make. He also asked that it be made to look ugly so it would not as likely be stolen. All of Nininger’s wishes were met and a vehicle was made to undertake the journey. Nininger stated that Alex had succeeded in making the vehicle look much uglier than he had imagined.
The beginning of the trip started after reaching the boarder town of Laredo, Texas in September of that year. To get information about traveling in Mexico they stopped at the Chamber of Commerce and talked to a man inside. They were given very strong warnings about travel in that county and advised of banditry and possible murder to cover up the crime. They were also advised not to camp, to watch the local food, water and disease. Also inspection of a rifle they had was made and they were told they would need it. The Chamber of Commerce man did what he could to discourage their trip but after talking it over Nininger and Alex decided to undertake the trip. Much preparation had been made in advance for the trip as well as much to be gained by making it. At the Mexican boarder all of the supplies were laid out and inspected that delayed their travel but finally they were permitted to continue on the way.
The first 150 miles of their journey was on a graveled road heading to Monterey. After that point travel became more difficult and often only an average of forty miles a day was achieved with some days travel being only ten miles while other days one hundred miles might be achieved. They spent three days trying to find the road to Mexico City from Saltillo by the San Luis Potosi. Nights were often spent just outside various villages on route and as they would prepare their evening meals it was not uncommon for them to be surrounded by curious onlookers of their camp. Nininger stated it was also more common than they liked to be out in the middle of isolated locations with no one in sight and after setting up camp, suddenly see several men standing among the desert shrubs sometimes just a few steps away. Also a number of times the appearance of tough looking individuals made the Nininger party nervous as their travels continued on to Mexico City.
Source: Find A Falling Star by H.H. Nininger
The Nininger Moments are articles or books written originally by Harvey Nininger and put into a consolidated form by Al Mitterling. Some of the items written in the moments might be old out, dated material and the reader is advised to keep this in mind.
–AL Mitterling
