July 30, 2009. Chevy Chase, Md. Camping.

Ken and I camped all over North America, driving in an un airconditioned 1952 volkswagen bug and staying in a tent that Ken had used for years. Every summer Ken would pitch his tent up behind the house on top of the hill where he slept every night until the frost arrived, which in Parry Sound comes much earlier than here in Washington. His tent was of the wall type, with one center pole holding the tent up, and metal poles keeping the top of the tent stretched out. The location behind the house, way up at the top of the hill, was never level, so over time, the metal poles refused to join together, so by the time I came along, the tent hung dejectedly from the center pole and kind of draped down to the ground, pegged outside the ground cover. The tent was old, so had no sewn-in ground cover. The tent worked well for us, but we certainly were not trendy campers. The tent was the only piece of camping equipment we owned. No sleeping bags, no air mattresses, no camp stove, no cooler. Just one dish pan and two sets of cutlery and two plastic cups and plates. Clothes we kept in the back seat in cardboard boxes. We thought that we were in hog heaven, travelling all over the country in our little bug and not spending much money.

We made several rules during this time of travel, some of which have stayed with us all through the years. Rule number one was that we never paid for a fee for admission. Even if I had read all about the building or the museum or the tourist spot, we refused to go in if there was any charge. We would just look at the spot from outside and then tell ourselves that we would come back later when we had more money. It was a good rule. Many times recently we have paid our money and gone inside only to discover that this place is over-rated and boring, so we have left fairly quickly. We have a hard time overcoming this prohibition against paying admission. In Toronto last weekend, the Royal Ontario Museum was charging twenty-five dollars admission. We of course, did not enter the Museum. Way too expensive for us. These camping experiences taught us a lot, mostly how to survive with limited resources. And when our funds increased, we knew how much we appreciated that extra cash. The most important thing about our journeys is that we saw many parts of the country that we still picture in our mind's eye but never have been able to see again. It was worth every mile.