<Begin Segment 11>

RP: So you left, do you remember the day that you left camp with your truck loaded up? And what did it feel like to drive out of there?

TI: Well, when I, we loaded up with all our belongings and drove up to the first stop, that was a local in-camp police. He said, "Where did this come from?" And I was gonna explain to him that I noticed that the MPs out at the first gate were telling us to, "Hurry up, come on." So I said, "Hey, they want us to go." So the interior police looked and said, "Oh, yeah, go ahead." So I didn't have to tell any lies, and we drove on out. And the military police didn't say anything, they just said, "Go ahead," so we left. Of course, we had a fellow ahead of us leading the way.

RP: Who was that?

TI: Oh, I don't know what his name was.

RP: Was he an escort?

TI: Escort, yeah.

RP: In a separate vehicle?

TI: Yeah, oh, yeah. So they drove on ahead of us, we followed 'em.

RP: Went up Highway 395 all the way?

TI: Yeah, uh-huh. And from the border they said, "You know the way, go ahead." So we went on ahead, and they turned around and went back.

RP: Oh, how far up did they go with you?

TI: To the border.

RP: Oh, it's the border, okay. And then the rest of the drive to Reno...

TI: Yeah. Of course, I was a little bit afraid maybe I might get in trouble. But nothing happened. We drove all the way into Reno. We had plenty of gasoline because I had gasoline that I had borrowed from the motor pool. [Laughs] In chlorine cans, chlorine that we used in the water supply.

RP: So you had plenty of gas.

TI: Yeah, we had plenty of gas.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.