Someone wise recently told me that truth is a relative thing colored by our memories and experiences. This is a true story, or at least some of it is true and some of it has been retold so many times with a little color, that I'm not sure any longer what is truth and what is color.
When I was about a real youngster, my cousins and I wanted to go to the mountains to camp out. Mother had a lot going on and so did Aunt Laura Mitchell, but they put their heads together and came up with a scheme that would allow them to accomplish the things they needed to do and would also offer us the opportunity for a little mountain adventure with a minimum amount of risk. Mom was to take us to the mountains and leave us with camping gear and enough food for two weeks. Aunt Laura was to come and pick us up at the end of the adventure and take us home.
Mom took us to Aspen Glade which was a free camping ground at that time. We found a good camping site near the Conejos River in a small grove of trees and Mom left us with a hug and a kiss. I don't think she even looked back as she disappeared in a cloud of dust as she drove away and left us for our boyish conquest.
The freedom was wonderful. With no parents to tell us what to do and what not to do, we proceeded to do some things that would have gotten us a good licking had Dad known what we were doing. Mitch and Mike and Donnie and I took the air mattresses from the sleeping bags and headed for the top end of the campground. We swam and played and floated down the river on our air mattresses.
The meals for the first part of the week were not memorable. They were the ordinary hamburgers and hot dogs and potato chips and the such. Later in the week, however, the meals were a little more unforgetabble. As our larder diminished, we began suplementing it with what we could "borrow" from other campers who were not careful with their supplies. I remember one day wanting something more exciting to drink that river water. About all we had left was orange kool aid and Karo Syrup. They make a horrible combination. We searched for wild strawberries. I found one or two, but they were so small they were hardly worth the bother! We were able to find quite lots of wild onions. They were small but really packed a wallop and left a horrible odor behind.
Mitch, Mike and Donnie were all older than I. They were having a ball. It wasn't so fun for me after a while. I was hungry. I was tired. I was homesick. One day, while the three of them were of doing boy things, I went for a walk downriver to the ranger station. I tried to be brave and was going to tell the ranger that I wanted to call my Mom to come get us. A huge lump formed in my throat, and the tears began to flow.
The ranger was kind and reassured me that all would be OK. There wasn't a way to call home, but he took me back to the campground in his really official looking truck and wearing his official looking uniform. Somehow, that was reassuring to me.
The Parker family was having a reunion that day. The Ranger talked Bud Parker into giving me a ride home and letting my family know that they needed to come and retrieve their abandoned kids.
7 comments:
I do not remember when you went camping to Aspen Glade with Donnie and the Greys. I do remember fondly going to Aspen Glade as a youth for father and son outings and going there with the family. It was nice to be able to drive for about 30 minutes and be up in the forest. I do miss the days when the forest was available for the people and not a business run by a bunch of bureaucrats.
I remember the cable car that went over the river. I suppose in some ways I miss those days.
That story gets changed with the telling. I haven't heard Donnie's version of it. Aunt Lory and I Planned food for 2 weeks and it must have been gone in that many days. We didn't realize that boys can eat a ton. I felt very bad for the thing that happened there. Jake Parker gave me a talking to. I can't imagine us letting you go for that long without checking to see how you were. Sorry Mom
I think you were just trying to get rid of me!!!
I remember a time when the family went to LaJara reservior. When the family all came home, I was left there alone. It was dark before someone realized that I was missing and came back for me. I wonder if we can get you to post about that event. I might even consider leaving the other story alone for a while!
We used to have a number system to ensure that nobody was left behind. I would yell out 1, Jeanette would yell out 2, Arlo would yell out 3, and so forth through the family to make sure everybody was there.
Good system Uncle Larry!! My parents would just hide behind clothes racks and pretend they weren't there to get a reaction out of us! lol ;-D
I don't remember hiding from our children, but I have scared all of them at one time or another.
I would look them in the eye or talk softly to them and say' "I am going to scare you." After they were informed of the scare that I would impose on them I would then grab a leg and yell, or hit the brakes and yell. It was fun to see their eyes get big and jump up out of their seats.
One time we were going to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in our old 111 passenger Ford van. Donnie was sitting about half asleep in the middle seat. I was watching him the in the rear view mirror. I hit the brakes suddenly and released them and yelled. His eyes were the size of silver dollars. I am glad he did not have a coronary arrest.
Andi and Robert were hard to keep track of and weren't afraid of anyone. We thought that if they thought we had left them, they would stay closer to us. There was never a time that we didn't know where they were. It took the two of them quite a while to figure out that we were hiding from them. It must have left a lasting impression if Andi still writes about it today.
The question is whether she learned anything worth while, or if we were just playing a child's game.
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