Betty’s Column

LOCAL HISTORY Camping trips bring back plenty of fond memories

BY BETTY OBENDORF Curator, Polo Historical Society

I have enjoyed all your comments and reflections on camping days with your families. Many had two wheeled trailers “packed to the brim” as Alice Cassens stated.

Rich Coffman even built his trailer himself just like my father did so the innovativeness filtered down to different generations.

Even if we have new RV equipment as years go by, there is something about making your own that is very satisfying. My father eventually came to the time when he even built his own house trailer.

That trailer traveled east when I was in high school and suited our family of five at that time. Boston, New York, and Quebec, Canada.

We did not hesitate to go anywhere and that trailer went through all the big cities. I was tired of living out of a suitcase. When I married we were not a traveling family let alone sleep in a tent. If we went anywhere we stayed in a motel.

Alice Cassens stated when they went to Devil’s Lake, her family had two tents. One for her parents

and Alice, and one for her brothers. I just remember as a kid, we were wall-to- wall with cots in our big tent.

Also by the time Alice and her family went to Devil’s Lake, there was a slide and I do not remember any slide. We had to settle for a big row boat to fiddle around with for something to do.

We did a lot of hiking since the lake water was very cold. Alice said Devil’s Lake was spring fed and I had not realized that as a child. Probably why we did little swimming.

Alice said her family attended the chateau at night for whatever was on the agenda. We did not do that and we were not old enough to go on our own.

My father was not a campfire builder and instead, we sat around and read books. We were a family that did much reading together or listening to the radio.

When we had the new house trailer that my father had built, we went east for several weeks. As children, we were older and could go out on our own and explore. In Quebec, Canada, as kids, we ran around on our own.

I remember the pastry shops and the Chateau Frontenac which was a very elegant hotel. As my brothers and sister and I aged, we were always going to go back and stay in style but we never did. My sister got dementia and our time together was shortened.

By the time I got married, I was tired of traveling and if we went anywhere, we visited family. We also did not camp and instead stayed in motels where someone else made our beds.

We did not do our own cooking but relied on fast food places that were popular by that time.

We spent the day in a museum or in a duck on the river at Wisconsin Dells rather than deal with a camp site.

When my grandchildren started camping at the White Pines State Park with their fathers, it brought back many memories I had as a child.

PUBLIC VOICE

Chana School sale volunteer thanks all the supporters

To the Edtior,

The Chana School Museum garage sale was a huge success!

We would like to thank everyone who donated items, and the people who bought those items at the sale.

We would also like to thank our many volunteers, without them our sale would not have been possible. This sale has made it possible to keep the museum going through these difficult times.

We weren’t able to have children at the school for spring field trips. The prospect of having children come in the fall looks dim. The profits from the sale will help pay the bills for this year.

We appreciate and are thankful for all the assistance in making this year’s fundraiser a great success.

First the use of the Oregon Coliseum was so important for our event, so we thank the City of Oregon and the CMAAA for allowing us to use the beautiful building.

We would like to also thank Liz Vos and the Oregon Chamber of Commerce for their help in promoting our sale. The Oregon community has been a great supporter of the school museum, and we thank them also.

The school museum will be open for private tours by appointment at some point in the future. Social distancing and health department rules will be followed for any tour.

Call Connie at 815-732-2447 or Ray at 815-979-2903 for more information.

Thank you for your support!

Donna Gruber

Chana School Volunteer Oregon

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