Man and I have been camping a long time. Since 1973. After his stint in the U.S. Navy, back home stateside, we had 2 weeks summer vaca from his job. His parents had camping equipment. We had very little money and two kids and a collie dog. We decided that camping may afford us 2 weeks away, frugal and doable. So, we borrowed a utility trailer from my dad, the camping gear from his parents, loaded up and we were off!
His parents joined us for some of the time. It rained. And, rained. And rained. It rained about 75 % of the 2 weeks.
The "Tent" was 9 foot by 20 foot. We called it a "army" tent. If it was, I really am not sure. It was heavy! It had 4 ridge poles. Lots of guide wires/ropes. Lots of stakes. Lots of work. Took us 45 minutes to put it up, on a good day.
The "Tent" was 9 foot by 20 foot. We called it a "army" tent. If it was, I really am not sure. It was heavy! It had 4 ridge poles. Lots of guide wires/ropes. Lots of stakes. Lots of work. Took us 45 minutes to put it up, on a good day.
Cut to 2016, I have a new slide scanner I am testing out this weekend. The first cube of slides contained 1973 camping photos. Oh, yea!! So, here are the first attempts with the new scanner and here we are camping in 1973. Here is the tent, Carol at the picnic table, Man dumping water from the cooler, his Mom and son # 1. The yellow things to the far right, are the boys Tonka truck collection.
We had campfires when the rain was not putting them out. This shot at night round the campfire. Son # 2 in his yellow rain coat. I am in a rain coat too, kinda an olive color. And, of course, Man, never chilly, just in the short sleeved shirt.
For years, I have had a memory of a photo from this vaca of me huddled by a campfire in that green rain coat, fire roaring, with the rain coming down. I have yet to find a photo just like my memory provides, but, this one is close. I am huddled, hoodie up. Man's mother has her hair covered with a rain cap. Man, no jacket, of course. The other gentleman, must have been a camper we met, do not recognize him. If you look close you can see the campfire, pretty good one going. Not sure you can see, but, on my computer with the ability to enlarge the photo a lot, there is rain dripping off of everything, the table, that bench on the right. (Hey, as a reminder, if you click on the photo, it will open to a larger view, and I think you will see the rain drops on the bench that way! LOL) I am amused by my smirk. I guess I was enjoying, even with the rain?
Our first camping trip. 1973. Mid Michigan. Rain. Rain. And, more rain. And wonderful memories.
And, I could not wait to go again in 1974.
And, I could not wait to go again in 1974.
* If you want to see our camping rigs, the full history via photos, you are invited to one of my other blogs/web sites, Reflections Goes RVing. This page has the images.
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