What does this photo do for me? It rushes back a million memories. This is our family in the 70s. Driving from Ohio to Colorado...twice....and everywhere in between. We tested every campsite from up-state NY to Florida to Wyoming. We were not rich in money, but we were rich in making memories and dad knew how to pull it off the 70s American way. My dad would come home on Friday at 5:15 from his sign painting job at Willet signs and mom would have the station wagon all packed up with camping gear and a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken for the road. The camper would be hitched on the back with a bumper sticker that read We Are A Camping Family! that my dad made in our garage when he was doing silkscreen signs. Dad drove hours without stopping for us to live like camping kings. Oh no, not a motor home....but that old pop-up camper with a tiny refrigerator and camp fires that us kids collected the wood for to cook the fish we caught in the rivers. I remember stepping up to a 2 burner Coleman camping stove and thinking how cool that mom could make coffee and fry bacon on that thing. Yes, we lived like kings of the forrest, even though we had to walk quite a distance to the bathrooms because dad didnt want to be too close to smell of them. He thought of everything to make it as primitive experience as possible but not be uncomfortable. To this day my favorite sound is the rain beating on the canvas ceiling of that tent and hearing my dad repeat over and over...I LOVE THAT SOUND! He taught us to watch for the mountains around the next bend and he would reward the first kid that spotted them with a good job! Im sure we coined the term are we there yet? :) All this while my little brother, Paul, suffered with the worst motion sickness this side of the Mississippi....and that side too. We always had that military looking bucket handy just for him. Poor kid....and poor us as me and Carl would stick our heads out the windows and sing lalalala so we didnt have to hear him, yet again, bringing up that KFC. lol There were no cell phones, no Ipods, no video games. We were forced to spend time together. I often feel guilty for the upbringing I had....dysfunctional as it was...but that was the normal part of it. My dad didnt allow anything to stop him from reaching his goals and mom was always there supporting him...she was the spine of the family, keeping us in line with her gentle spirit that had an edge that scared me to death when the sound of that drawer looking for that wooden spoon would fly open. LOL We had Camping friends, like the Hadick family. We would collect pop-tops and kick rocks as we walked and get so excited if our parents allowed us to have sleepovers. We played with a deck of cards. Spoons was the best camping game ever. Look it up. :) Those trips to Colorado are what inspired my parents to start a new business back at home that dad is still plugging away at in his 70s. It was in Colorado that he and mom discovered Turquoise Jewelry that looked allot like what Cher was wearing on her Saturday night TV show. They never saw it in Ohio, so they brought some home and sold it in a weekend at a flea market. They looked at eachother and thought SCORE! That all led to 3 retail stores filled with Turquoise jewelry and a wholesale business that sold displays to even Disney world. All that is gone now...nothing stays the same...us kids went on to do different things....but dad is still plugging away in a small but still successful way and he taught me to work for myself...even though its tough...he is the reason why I am always coming up with something new to do. His actions are who I watched growing up. And my mom...I wanted to be just like her. We were explorers...not whiners. We traveled on foot and wheels. No fancy cruises with tons to do, but a canoe drifting down rivers everywhere, taking in what God created. We were never really bored. How could we be. Camp fires and ghost stories. Sticks, worm hunting and fishing. Kissing frogs. Tree climbing. Horseback riding. Fairs. Popsicles. Canteens. Popcorn. Hotdogs. Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. The smell of panfried fish over a campfire. Crickets. Wide open drives through the deserts and finding sand dunes. Buffalo and Elk. Black and Brown Bears walking up to our car and feeding them Oreos. Deer spotting. Spiders and snakes. My dad loved that stuff. And so did we. I always kept mountains in my heart and I believe its one of the reasons why God led me to where I am now. So even though today isnt Fathers Day...I want to take this opportunity to thank my dad for all he did for us growing up...for doing the things he wished he had with his dad, but couldnt because he lost him so young. I still dream of going camping with my family.....its really one of the very few dreams I really ever have. Camping with my family. So simple. Yet, so powerful. So when people ask what is my favorite vacation spot...it will always be....Camping Anywhere, USA. Thanks for letting me share. Feel free to use this to share your favorite childhood camping memories!
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 15:48:06 +0000
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