Camping

Does your family enjoy camping? Ours does and our camping history goes way back to when Michael and I were first dating. About a month into our dating relationship we decided to drive up to the north Georgia mountains for a camping trip - totally on a whim! We used a small pup tent he had, grabbed a sleeping bag and some blankets, a small, single burner cookstove and drove his dad's Mazda 626. We parked somewhere along a road, hiked into the dusk and fog, picked a spot at the top of a mountain and set up our tent. It was dark by this point and foggy so we couldn't see where we were, exactly. He heated water on the single burner to make soup but spilled it on my foot. It was really hot at first but quickly turned cold. We hadn't packed for cold weather, really, coming from Florida and it was really cold that night. REALLY cold! Ice had formed on the inside of the tent. He got up in the middle of the night and called to me to poke my head out. The clouds had cleared and the stars were out and the view was AMAZING! I think I knew that night that this was the man I wanted to marry. He told me later that he was impressed that would want to go camping, that I was tough and didn't complain. {Phew! I passed the test!} I loved that he had a spirit of adventure and that he loved the outdoors and was strong, tough and manly. And that he could play the guitar. We sang songs all the way back to Florida; I drove while he strummed the guitar.

After we were married, we camped with friends in St. Petersburg (fondly calling it the DHK camping trip) even while I was pregnant. (It was at that point that I insisted on sleeping on an air mattress rather than the Ridge Rest.) We took Tommy camping when he was 6 weeks old in Michael's parents' RV. Again, it was really cold but this time we had heat! We have taken all of our kids camping, beginning when they were very young. I have a vivid memory of giving Annie a bath in a dishpan perched on a picnic table on one camping trip. She must have been about 6 months old.

Later, when we joined Redeemer, some friends of ours began a kids' camping trip to Fort Clinch. At first it was just dads and kids but since I liked camping I wheedled my way into the group. Oh the memories we made on those weekends! Tours of Ft. Clinch at night, hikes to the BFT (big fat tree), shared meals (we all loved Tracy's smoked brisket and pulled pork), swims at the beach, runs through the park. We've done this pretty regularly in fall and spring.

This past week we went again. The group has changed and evolved over time. This time we had a small group. I got up there late on the second day. I almost didn't go because it was so late. I was tired since I hadn't slept a lot the night before and I had cooked for a women's retreat at Redeemer all.day.long. But Michael and Annie were there and they were expecting me and I wanted to go. So I drove the hour to Amelia Island and I am so glad I did. Sitting around the campfire, talking to friends, sleeping cuddled up in a tent is so relaxing, so rewarding. I can't wait to go again in March! If you want to join in on the fun, shoot me an email or tell me in the comments. I can get you a spot!

The kitchen crew hard at work

Our brand new stove and coffee pot

Hanging by the fire is the BEST!

This is the BFT

The BFT is good for all ages

It really is BIG!

Learning to drive

Now that I have one child driving and another one about to start, I've had several occasions to think back to how I learned to drive. It's a bit different than most of my friends, because you see, I learned to drive in Italy!

My dad had a teeny tiny car, a 1979 Fiat 126, black. It was stick shift. It had no power steering, no power windows. In fact, in order to crank it, you had to pull a little lever, the choke, down on the floor board, near the hand brake! Sicily is quite mountainous, especially where we lived, on the side of Mt. Etna. Before we were allowed to drive alone, we had to demonstrate to dad that we were capable of starting and stopping on the steep incline that was our driveway, without rolling back at ALL! Ahhh, the memories!

Dad just bought my mom that same car, a 1988 model, white! Here are a few pictures in case you've never seen one (they don't have them in the US).

Oh,you don't get a sense of how small it is?

How about with another car in the background? (That's a SEAT station wagon, pronounced Say-aht)

Here's one with mom standing next to it.

And one with dad, so you get the scale.

 This is the back seat. Can you believe we used to drive an hour to the beach with me and my brother in this back seat AND all our beach stuff packed up? Where, you say? In the trunk!

But wait! That's the hood! That's right folks! The hood was the trunk. We also had a luggage rack on top where we'd pile our beach stuff. And I mean PILE! (No photo of that unfortunately). 

So what's in the back you ask?

Why, the engine of course!

And here's a shot of the hand brake and choke lever. You had to raise the choke before you turned the key. Then you'd put the lever down. Kinda like starting a lawn mower. That's nothing. The old 500s had two levers: one was the choke, the other was the starter! 

Dad bought this car for mom to use around town, kinda like a scooter with walls and a roof! She says she feels like she's driving a Flintstones' car! I know what she means!

Memory Lane

My husband had business to do in Puerto Rico and as I try to do as often as possible, I tagged along. This trip was different than the ones I usually tag along on because I had a reason for wanting to go other than hanging out with my darling hubby. I lived in Puerto Rico, Roosevelt Roads Naval Air Station to be exact, from 1974-1977 and I wanted to visit the places I remembered. My dad agreed to go along with me so on Tuesday, January 26 we got our little rental car and headed east towards Fajardo and Ceiba.

The roads have changed considerably since my dad made the frequent trips to San Juan (a highway now where it used to be a two-lane road) and so we were uncertain as to which exit to take. The base closed in 2004 and we were not quite sure what to expect as far as entrances go. We decided to exit at the first Ceiba exit and after driving around the town a bit we got on a road headed south. We passed by a church that dad thought was our old church, Grace Bible Church, so we turned around and went back. Sure enough! That was the church I was saved at in second grade! It is now a Spanish speaking Baptist church but a young man told us that it indeed used to be Grace Bible Church. We explained to him that we used to live here 33 years ago and we were here to visit the base. He told us that parts of the base were closed off but that he had visited a few years ago and he had simply gone around the blockades. He permitted us to take a few pictures and then explained how to find the front gate.

The gate was just like any other military gate and after dad flashed his military ID we were on base! Oh, it was so exciting! The road ahead of us was blockaded (later we figured out it led to the hospital and golf club house) so we made a left hand turn. Nothing was looking familiar until we climbed a hill and rounded the bend and passed by the water treatment plant! That stirred some vague memories. Another bend and a road to the right, also blockaded, and we almost missed it but then I saw the sign...Roosevelt Roads Elementary School! I backed the car up, went around the blockade and entered the parking lot and stopped the car right in front. I had attended second and third grade here, Miss Feely and Mrs. Minor's class. We walked down the covered walkways to both classrooms. Miss Feely, my second grade teacher, had died in a car crash the year I was in third grade and Mrs. Minor was my favorite teacher of all time and the reason I wanted to become a teacher! I had some strong emotions walking into that class. The tables and chairs were all still there. It was so strange to be there...such a ghost town.

After walking around and peeking in classrooms and restrooms we got back in the car and continued our exploration. We drove past the middle and high school, planning on exploring them later, because I was antsy to find our house! We turned on Coral Sea and then found Ranger Road!

At this point my heart was racing and I was really getting emotional! We drove up the hill that seemed so enormous in my memory. I had learned to ride a bike down that hill and my knees still carried the scars. I also remembered when Hurricane David came through and the bottom of the hill flooded and all the kids in the neighborhood played in the puddle like it was a huge swimming pool. And before I knew it, I had pulled up alongside the house: 60 Ranger Road.

It was exactly as I had remembered it and then again not. The yard was all overgrown, the hibiscus hedges that lined the left-hand side of our yard were gone as was the tree I used to climb there. Of the three coconut trees in the front yard only one was still there. We quickly moved to the back of the house.

We both really wanted to see the beach! When we first moved into this house, the beach was overgrown and full of seaweed. Dad had chopped all the bushy trees and cleared the beach and even had cut steps into the hillside and cemeted them with cinder blocks. He used to mow the hill by letting a lawnmower down with a rope and pulling it back up. On the beach my parents had planted a garden right in the pile of seaweed we had raked from the beach to fill in a low area and we had planed coconut trees all along the beach. I was curious to see how tall they had gotten in 33 years. Imagine our dismay to find that the beach was GONE! It must have eroded away over the years with summer storms, maybe even during the hurricanes of 2005!

My brother and I used to play on these rocks, looking for crabs and little fish but where the water is now, lapping up by those trees, it used to be white beach! We were absolutely stunned! I did find a hermit crab crawling among the seaweed on the beach, just like I used to.

We climbed back up the hill and we marveled at the size of the trees in the backyard. I had spent so much of my time in Puerto Rico up in those trees!

We walked all around the house, peering in windows. When we got to my old room, dad was able to swing the window open so I climbed in and unlocked the door for dad. We walked all around the house, remembering and reliving our time there.

After a while we continued driving. We drove all through officer's housing trying to remember where some friends used to live but couldn't. We saw the CO and XO's houses (boy did they have a sweet deal!) and stopped by the Officer's Beach. We passed by some guys mowing but just acted like we were supposed to be there and no one said anything. We explored the middle/high school. I found my 4th grade classroom (Mrs. Wilson), the art room, the library. Termites had gotten in and eaten away at cabinetry. They had 6 uniterrupted years of feasting!

We then went to the "new" housing, following Patty's directions of going past the pool (where I took Red Cross swimming lessons). After driving all around, wondering at all the families who had lived in these houses (more than 500 units!) we decided to move on. We drove past the bowling alley (don't remember it), the NEX and commissary stores (dad said they were new) and we came to the marina. I remember my mom had sewn some cushions and curtains for a couple who lived aboard. After pulling out of the parking lot, I got pulled over by security! The reason? I didn't come to a complete stop! For crying out loud, there was NO ONE on the base!!!!! We must have seen 5 cars the entire time we were there! After apologizing, dad asked him a few questions about the base. We found out there was ONE person stationed there, the Officer In Charge (OIC). Everyone else was civilian. He told us that most of the base was closed off and not accessible. We were allowed to go down the road to two beaches and visit the marina and the "ball field" (overgrown field of weeds). We didn't tell him we had already visited the housing area! Sometimes it's easier to ask forgiveness than ask permission!

We did drive down and see the beaches (I even went for a dip), passing the land fill (which I remember going to to dump stuff). We finally saw all there was to see. We never did find the old pier we remember swimming at or the old abandoned housing I remembered visiting. But that was about all we didn't see. (Well, we also didn't get to see the airfield or the hangers where dad used to work as that was part of the PR side.) Leaving RR we visited El Yunque which I also remembered. It was amazing to see the rainforest again. We went for a nice hike to see La Mina falls and saw La Coca falls (which were the ones I remembered). I took lots of pictures to show the kids. It was an absolutely amazing day. I'm so glad dad and I got to relive that period in our lives. We had a great time remembering and telling stories.