Okay, gals, I warned you I was going through old photos! Doing so as part of my Blogging from A to Z project.
This is the first trailer I remember, although my inaugural RV trip as a babe in arms was in something much smaller, so I was told. This is in the backyard of the first home I remember. Painted on the front was the name of the trailer - "Draggin' 1" -- silly me, as a kid I always thought of it as "Dragon 1" - only as a full-timer have I realized what the name really meant! The trailer was silver; the station wagon was a red-and-white 1956 Plymouth. Gotta love those screens in the station wagon windows!
Next up for your viewing pleasure is me in the Holiday Rambler I remember best. We are at a Gulf Coast Chapter Christmas Rally. Yep, we had name badges. Funny . . . I still remember vividly the radio on the dinette table and that owl hanging up. My Mom liked Owls.
Now we have my dad with the first International Harvester Travelall towing the Holiday Rambler en route to a national rally. This one was in 1967 in Bowling Green, KY. We must have been just about there; notice the cowboy hat and Texas flag - obviously indicating that we're from Texas when we arrive at the rally. Get the HR registration number? 1252 - that tells you how long ago it was. I had that ingrained in me as a kid, just like an address and phone number. That was my address on the road in case I got lost at rallies. I pretty much could wander all over - much to the consternation of my mom. Dad, though, was letting me practice being a free spirit.
Just so you believe that I was actually there . . . OMG! Just noticed the racks along the window in the cargo area of the Travelall. Those were fishing poles, rods-and-reels! Flashback! Flashback!
No photos from the national rally held in Cody, WY in 1969, although it was cool because that was the year we landed on the Moon. Dad brought along a little TV, much to the amusement of neighbors at the rally. We were in a valley and in a literal sea of rigs. You know what? When that Moon landing happened, we watched it on that little black-and-watch TV, with folks wanting to gather round . . . Way to go, Dad!
Flash forward to 1988 - I had been gone from home since 1977, but the tradition continued with my folks. Different HR model and now a Chevy Suburban . . . color-coordinated, of course!
During the intervening years, I had various tents of varying sizes and enjoyed camping with friends and with just my dog.
Dave had only tent camped in Scotland, but we got a pop-up in 2007. Married in 2006, it didn't take me long to convince/brainwash/have him buy into the RV life. Our first "real" outing was to San Antonio, not counting our maiden one-night stand. The PUP had a slide for the dinette and a BATHROOM! Whoohoo!
The PUP was great for what it was, but we soon decided we were too old for that much work! We traded for "The Duck," a Fleetwood Mallard bumper pull, and ended up going out at least once a month on our "weekends" - which were two weekdays off. Bittersweet camping in Garrison, TX over a long Easter weekend in 2009 with cousins (one terminally ill . . . that's why we were gathered together one last time). Cuz Kenny's tent is there and that's him with his dog, Baby. Cuz Karen (who was ill with cancer) came out and joined us for several hours one day. It was the second time we three cousins had been together as adults. An amazing, beautiful, fun and bittersweet time. We laughed, we cried, we talked Truth, we partied, we sat into the late hours quietly talking around campfires.
Last (and I hear you saying, "YAY! Thank God!") we have "The Duck" and our 2009 Montana buddy parked at the KOA in Rusk, TX during moving weekend in December 2009. We now have the same model Montana, only a 2010. The '09 had . . . umm . . . "issues."
And the adventure continues . . .