First years of camping

[loulou57]

What do you remember about your first experiences camping?

My dad driving 5 hours to a campsite, 3 kids in the back asking the age old question. My mother cooking supper on an open fire, only to hear my father in his broad Yorkshire accent, cursing about forgetting the tent poles in the driveway. The tent, hot pans, likely some supper and kids tossed back in the car and driving 5 hours home.

I never camped again until I was invited to go along with boyfriends family. Four boys and myself, the mom and dad, all squeezed into a small tent trailer. 2 beds and a fold down table. There was an add a room that served as kitchen. I remember it being full of boxes of food. No worries about, fridges, air conditioning, bathroom or tv. The only worry you had was if you were going to get a mattress to sleep on.

[Gale_Hawkins]

My Sunday School teacher would take us to Blood River boat dock on KY Lake in his old TC and he rented a $3 boat to mount the 3 HP outboard.

It was so cool since our family never got father than the county fair but hey it was a cool annual event to us kids as well. 🙂

[DutchmenSport]

My parents owned a TT and had it parked all summer at a private campground for several years. They'd pull the trailer and we went on many, many road trips. They were square dancers and the "big" trip of the year was going to the annual national square dance conventions. I remember several long-haul trips.

But what I remember most about my early camping experiences (1965 through 1970) was that campground and the other campers there that had boys about my same age. We'd take our lawn chairs and sleep out at night on our own campsite. This campground was primitive camping 100%, and the owner's son would often join our overnights too. We'd build a fire, roast hotdogs and marshmallows, fish in the river, and skinny dip after dark in the old river than ran the length of the campground. We'd pay football, hike in the woods, and explore cornfields. Lots and lots of good memories. These were the days when kids could run free without any fear or dangers, and parents sat around their own campfires and guzzled their fermented brew (if you know what I mean). The times were much more simple then, much more "safe", and much more free. That's what I remember the most.