By Velma M. Rose Smith
We had huckleberries for supper, which Jeannette brought us. Huckleberries reminded me of my first camping trip. It was in July of 1930, Arnold said to me, let’s go huckleberrying. I said, “Go on the mountain with four little kids? One a baby, 3 months old?”. So we talked it over, at last we decided to go out and borrow Papa’s school bus, take out the seats, and we had a camper. He brought it home, we set up a bed across the front, took an extra mattress, our 3 burner oil stove, our gasoline lantern, several boxes of groceries, lots of evaporated milk, which we used at that time. Arnold brought Aunt Jen March to go with us. She was lame, probably in her fifties. We took lots of clothes, especially diapers (cloth).
We left on a Friday afternoon, late. We went through Fall Brook on that side of the Armenia Mountain. We reached the berry fields at dusk, found a level spot and here we were. We cleaned a floor spot and put down the mattress. Aunt Jen and I and baby Eileen took the bed and Arnold and 3 kids had the mattress. We were off to sleep.
Bang, Boom, Crack!!! Our first experience of a lightening storm on top of the world. That wasn’t all, Aunt Jen said “The roof is leaking, right over me”. Arnold got the wash basin, and Aunt Jen caught the water. The old truck stayed in one place, on four rubber tires, so we were safe.
The next morning everything was okay. We had a breakfast of pancakes and eggs, and when it dried off, Arnold and I and the little ones were picking low berry bushes. We came back at noon and Aunt Jen had a good cooked dinner. I nursed Eileen and we rested for a while. Then we took Wayne and Wanda and picked berries until supper time. Then we sat around and visited, Arnold played his mouth organ. It was a fun time.
This Saturday night we had a soft rain fall. We had chewed a package of gum, which partly patched the hole in the roof, so towels took care of the water. The next morning was beautiful. We had breakfast, picked berries for a while, had dinner, then we packed up our camping equipment. Putting our berries where they would carry good. We returned home, with happy memories of our first camping experience.
About 30 years later, probably around 1960, Arnold suggested we go camping, and pick huckleberries. Lucille and Donna were here and Lucille loves camping. We borrowed Jay’s truck, which he had made a camper to fit. The bunk beds were over the cab, and a table folded out to made a bed. We went to the same fields on the Mountain, but at night we drove to a camping grounds further on.
We parked here, cooked our supper at the pavilion, and sat around the fireplace and talked. It looked like rain so we returned to the camper. It started to rain, so we quickly gathered up the things we had outside, and our pails of berries, got inside and closed the door. Just in time!! The heavens opened up, must have been a cloud burst, right over us. And the thunder just rolled steady, and I think the lightening was striking the rocks around us. Here were 3 adults and two girls, Denise was with us, packed in a small space, and all the equipment and berries had been put in helter skelter in haste. We couldn’t move, gradually we packed things so we could sit down. Then we all sang songs, loud and lusty, if only we had had a tape, it would have sounded like a drunken brawl. The thunder rolled, the lightening cracked, and we sang on and on. I don’t really know how long it lasted, but it was long enough. We finally got things cleared out and Lucille, Donna, and Denise slept on the bunks and Arnold and I made us a bed of the table and we got some sleep.
The next morning was beautiful. We went to the pavilion and had pancakes and sausage. Lucille’s favorite breakfast and ours too. We sat around and watched a family of ants with their young and their families move to a new home, one by one they marched past our seats.
We picked berries for a time and then started home.