Help Wanted by Grandpa Jim

In 1985-86, Jean and I traveled the "lower 48," at least 12 to 15 of them, pulling a 40' fifth-wheel trailer. I was 58, Jean 55, both recently retired from teaching. We met some very nice folks by staying in camps provided by a camping club we belonged to. (Two dollars per night, one week per visit, two weeks per year.) The camps were all quite nice. Power, water, sewage always included. Some had "pull-through" parking which was always welcome, and some even had concrete parking pads, a phone line, TV cable, etc. The lifestyle was quite pleasant, "laid-back," and economical.

When we started, in May of '85, we more or less believed that we would "camp" for maybe five years or so, but we didn't really commit to any specific term.

The only real disadvantage we discovered was a bias against TEACHERS!

Now, here's the crux. We were about 7 to 10 years younger than average, I suspect. Let's say, then, that our acquaintances (mainly at some great "pot luck" meals) were 65 to 72 or so. That puts their births at 1913 to 1920 or so. This would put their children in school from 1938 to maybe 1968 or so. (We soon started avoiding any mention of our professions.)

Would Viet Nam have accounted for the bias? (The political split, draft, "hippies," or civil rights, for example?)

We eventually quit "camping" at end of a year. (Miraculously found a buyer willing to purchase our rig for what we had paid!) Jean was not comfortable with the stress of finding our destinations, hooking and unhooking, etc. I was unhappy with mail and phone problems even though Charlie was of great help in forwarding our mail, bless his heart. One other problem helped us to decide. We had spent almost entire summer in one camp because it was only a few miles from daughter Donna in PA. When we left to start our journey, we found that they had promised our spot to someone else without telling us. We had been under impression that that was the proper thing for both sides. This left us without a sure place at start of following summer.

We had some great times, too. (For one, we discovered that campers are not all that large a "community." We reunited with some at strangest locations!) (It was a tad embarrassing to call ourselves "campers," too, with two TVs, VCR, washer, dryer, queen bed, 6' ceiling in bedroom, microwave, and a beautiful bath-dressing room!) We'd recommend it, today, as we doubt that the bias still exists. Oh, one of our favorite spots was where the rear of our trailer almost hung over a cliff beside the Pacific Ocean at Baja, CA. Super sunsets!