In 1955, my parents bought a sturdy little trailer. In those days, South Florida pretty well closed up in the summer so my father turned over his business to a friend and off we went to See America – we three plus my brother, grandmother and our parakeet. We went all the way to Washington and Oregon and just about every place in between for several months and had glorious adventures. We took a dusty unpaved road through Monument Valley and had to stop at the other end to thoroughly clean the trailer and most of our clothes!
At that time, my grandmother was a petite, lively 70 year old. It took several days to get ready to go again and all that time an elderly, regal Indian gentleman frequently stopped by. He finally offered my father his best sheep in exchange for my grandmother and kept raising the bid as he was declined. Finally Daddy said, “oh, we can’t let her go, our daughter is so close to her and would miss her very much”. The gentleman pondered this for awhile and I was fearful he’d make an offer for me too! Then he agreed – a 14 year old teenage girl was too much trouble for anyone to take on and wished us well on our journey.
My grandmother traveled with us every summer until she died. My parents RV’d in Europe and everywhere in the US, Canada, and Mexico until Daddy died at 87. Mama is now 93 and remembers those days so clearly and with so much fondness. My husband and I are on the road during much of the year but none have matched that first trip to See America.
Submitted by Suzanne Tripp as a part of the RV Centennial Celebration “Share Your Favorite RV Memory” contest.
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