Stories from my mother #5 - Memories of camping

Our first experience of camping was in 1960, when we flew to AZ to visit Alie and Joe. We left Edd home with Aunt Babs as he was only 2 ½. They borrowed  a car for us and also sleeping bags. Alie and Jo had their 2 younger boys. So between  us there were 6 children between 3 and 12. Alie had stocked up  on canned foods and prepared the first 2 days meals. We had a 6 sq. foot tent  to change clothes in and a  big tarp to spread on the ground to put our sleeping bags on. We were assured that it  didn’t rain at that time of year. One concession we made was to put Dawn to sleep in the car.

The first day we started in the late afternoon so it wouldn’t be too hot traveling across the desert. We didn’t have air conditioning in either car. We drove into a campsite in San Diego at midnight and just spread the sleeping bags on the ground  and went right to sleep. The next day we went to the San Diego zoo. After that we met up with some of Joe’s relatives and went to the Pacific beach. It was a lot colder and had bigger waves than we were used to in the Atlantic.

After that we headed up the coast, stopping at Disney Land and Knott’s Berry Farm, staying at different campgrounds. We had no reservations anywhere, but had no trouble getting space. We went as far north as Big Basin Park. There we slept under the magnificent redwood trees. The wild animals were quite friendly and we hand fed a raccoon green grapes.

Then we headed inland and camped at Yosemite National Park. It had been a hot drive and we couldn’t wait to go in the river to get cooled off. The Merced River is a runoff of mountain snow  and we got cooled off fast. I could only get in up to my knees; it was so cold! At that time the bears fed on the garbage  and we could go watch them. Also, at night they built a big fire at the top of Halfdome, then pushed it over the edge, making a big firefall. After seeing the sights in the valley, we drove up to the top, stopping so the kids could play in the snow.

Next we headed for Nevada. We couldn’t find a campground and it was getting late so we took a side road in the desert and just put our tarp down and went to sleep. In the morning we stopped at a gas station to freshen up, then went into Las Vegas where we ate the  only meal out on our whole trip. It was part of our plan to go to The Silver Slipper for a 99cent English Hunt Breakfast. The only gambling we did was Joe put a quarter in a slot machine and made a few dollars.

We camped that night at Lake Mead. We went in the lake to cool off , but the water was  like bath water .After that we went to Hoover Dam, then down to The Grand Canyon. As  we headed  south we stopped at a few Indian Ruins and Sunset Crater.

The trip was altogether 2 weeks. Camping made it an inexpensive way to travel and see the natural wonders of our country.

After that experience we decided that camping was a very inexpensive way to travel so decided to get a tent. We bought a 9 ft. tent with an extension that fit onto the back of the station wagon. For our first trip we went to Cape Cod and did primitive camping, [I.e. digging our own latrine] in the woods of Ranft’s camp. We stayed there a few days, then went to N.H. and found a nice family campground where we stayed for the week. There were plenty of kids to play with and we all had a great time. We also camped in the tent at Kettletown State Park and upper NY state. Of course everything had to be packed on the roof rack, but even though we covered it with a tarp, we found that the water bounced up from underneath and got things wet when we drove through a heavy storm.

There  must be a better way; so we bought a Nimrod popup trailer. On one side there were bunk beds, so the youngest ones slept there, we slept on the other side and  Alan slept on the floor in the middle. It was just an empty box, so Vernon made a kitchen that fit into the back of the wagon, and we put the cooler and water jug in the trailer. We had to take out the third seat, so when we traveled we had to keep room for one child to sit on the floor in the rear.[ Noone ever heard of seatbelts.] Our shakedown trip was down the Skyline Drive and Blueridge Parkway. Everything went very smoothly.

1965 - Now for the real test; a month long trip across the U.S. We took  a  map and put in all of the places we’d like to visit, then planned a route that covered as many of them as we could in a logical way. We started going south, stopping  to camp at Endless Caverns, then Cloudland State Park GA and down to New Orleans to visit Friends, the Lovetts. From there we went west across Texas, camping twice in Texas, that’s a big state. At one of the camps there was a family traveling in a converted bus. Under the bed in the back they had a little car that the kids rode around in chasing armadillos. Our routine was to get up at about 6. Vernon would supervise breakfast while I packed the trailer. The kids were responsible for rolling up their sleeping bags. Then I would eat breakfast and prepare things for lunch and close up the kitchen while the rest closed up the camper. Each one would take a corner and take it down. Our meals were very simple; cereal and Tang for breakfast, sandwiches and fruit for lunch. I kept a gallon of drink always made with a concentrated mix. For dinner- one pot meals.

We never made reservations, just checked a campground guide and headed for the most convenient one. If possible we stayed in National or State  parks which are less expensive but also  have wonderful campfire programs where you learn about the area and  also have fun. We were never turned away. Of course we tried to stop at around 4 o’clock.

One of the advantages of camping is meeting interesting people from all walks of life. Often someone would have a campfire and invite  other campers to join them.

We camped at Carlsbad Caverns, where we watched the bats come  out at night, Yosemite, where we  took several walks to see the beautiful sights; Yellowstone  where there was a bear in the campground they were trying to capture. He was enjoying the garbage in the cans, Devil’s tower where we watched people climbing, Mt. Rushmore and other natural wonders.

Camping made it possible to see some of our magnificent country. I always said that if we could travel for a month in close contact with riding and camping in close quarters and still be talking to each other, we had a good family.

  

One of the most memorable camping experiences was at Prince Edward Island. It was like going back in time. We watched  a woolen mill, from the raw wool, through washing, dying, made into yarn and the yarn woven into blankets. We watched the people gathering algae by lowering a contraption made with the hood of a car and chicken wire over the cliff into the water. After that it was brought to a huge drier.. We learned that we could make pudding by adding it to milk . We watched the local blacksmith making parts to repair machinery,  and  a man making candlesticks on a lathe. We were welcomed into any place to see the work being done and the workers would stop to talk to us about their work. The campground was on the water and we caught some small crabs. One of the maintenance men was a teacher and he showed us that any crabs we caught had a missing leg- as they came into shallow water while a new appendage would be grown.  We also happened to be when there was solar eclipse and one of the campers had a telescope that he shared with us.