Oregon Traveler

This will be an ongoing project to document my travels as I camp, visit friends & relatives and just generally wander around sight seeing. Photos of most of my early trips were mostly on film or slides, some lost, mostly unconverted to digital.

I wasn't much of a photographer growing up, so most of those adventures are lost. Many of my early photos were lost in the frequent Navy moves or just buried under 35 years of accumulated junk. I'll try to recount some of the older trips, with generic photos if possible.

I've been camping since a trip over the Alaska Highway when I was three. It was 1949 and a carload of family was going up to join my Father, who was in Anchorage working construction.
I grew up in the Anchorage area, staying there until I joined the Navy sixteen years later. My earliest camping memories are of Mom, Dad & friends around a campfire, sleeping under tarps pitched off the side of an old company pickup. I would sleep in the truck bed under another tarp.
I don't think the folks ever owned a tent, but they had plenty of tarps. In those days, Alaska was the Holy Grail of camping. You could drive to secluded sites on one of the many rivers and fish for salmon or trout, in season. I remember Caribou hunting trips up near Fairbanks, many Moose hunting trips, clam digging around Homer and fishing trips beyond number. In addition to that, there were the “get out of town and enjoy nature” trips.
One trip that sticks in my mind was when I was six or seven, driving up towards Seward we came upon several couples dancing in the middle of the road. Actually, they were dancing on a bridge, had a car radio turned up for music. The folks stopped and danced with them for an hour or so before moving on. Seems like there were a dozen or so people, all dancing, drinking beer and having fun. Sounds crazy now but that was Alaska.
In my teens, some friends and I would camp on the Russian River, snag a trunk full of Salmon, then drive to Seward and trade for crabs or halibut. Even drank a little beer, but don't tell Mom.
During my Navy years (23 years) I traveled the country, camping mostly in tents when I got a chance, sometime renting a trailer from the Navy. At different times I was stationed in seven states & Gaeta, Italy. Of course I did a lot of camping and traveling, spending time in every state except North Dakota.
Once I settled down in Oregon, my wife (Barbara) and I bought a travel trailer and did a little exploring. We had a 30' Coachmen that Barbara loved, but we seldom used. It had all the comforts of home but took an hour to get ready and was much like maneuvering an 18-wheeler through town. Anyone who has hauled 30' of trailer with an extended cab, long bed truck knows what I'm talking about. It's hard to find parking for over 50' of rig! The first year, on a trip to Bend, we passed through Sisters (mountain tourist town), and thought about stopping for lunch and a "look see." Problem was, there was no place to park a large rig or even get off the roadway so we just drove on. Had the same experience the year before on a trip to Leavenworth, Washington. Then Barbara dropped the bomb on me and said she really didn't want to camp anymore. Had enough of that as a girl in Alabama and now prefers a nice hotel when she travels. So she stays home, working in her garden, while I travel.
Once I decided Barbara had no interest what-so-ever in camping, I bought a small trailer just for me, a 16' T@B. OK, just for me and Barbara when ever the hell she feels like going along. I can live with that. Actually, she's just not into "let's go out in the woods and camp" but she is into "Destination" travel. So, I figure that she'll go with me when I retire and take the Alaska trip but on trips to the coast or mountains, I'm on my own. That works because, as an intrepid adventurer, I don't always want a woman around. Manly adventures, like beating back savages and trailblazing, are no place for the gentler sex.