Bunning Families (Boyd and Martha) First Big Trip; Canada

 My first big trip…What was your first big trip? 

This is not a hard question, but I have to set the stage before you will understand what it was like, when and where I grew up.  We lived in Oak Harbor, Ohio.  Our address was RR# 2, that is the whole thing… We had a party line for our telephone.  When you picked up the phone it may be busy, you would hear a neighbor talking on the phone and yes often we would listen in.  We had about 10 people on our party line.  Our family was very poor but my brothers and sisters were not aware of it.   

Most people would take vacations based on the time of the year but my Dad worked construction so the summer time was out, you work when you could get work because most winters were cold, wet and construction workers would go weeks without working during the winter.  

The first trip, I remember taking was in October of 1959 and was a trip to Canada.  There were 5 children in our family ranging from in 8 to 15. I was the youngest, then Terry, Peggy, Sharon and Tracy.   My Mom and Dad would take an annual hunting trip to Maine in December but as far as I know this was our first family vacation.

We loaded up in the Station Wagon with the pop-up camper on the back and a bag of (homemade) popcorn in a grocery sack.  We went with some cousins, Joy (my God Mother) and Delbert Latham from Thornville, Ohio.  We went to a camp ground in Canada.  I can’t recall to much of the drive but remember quite a bit about the camp ground.  There was a beautiful lake that was crystal clear and when you looked in it you could see the bottom of the lake as well as fish.  I had never seen clear water and to that point had never been in a swimming pool.  The area where I grew up had lots of water but all very muddy.  My Dad set up a tent for the kids to sleep in while him and Mom sleep in the camper.  There were deer everywhere, the first time I had seen wild deer as well. We would feed them cookies and candy, they seem to eat anything.  One night I put my hand under the side of the tent and a deer licked the candy from my hand, at least I hope it was a deer.

The weather was a little cold so every night we would sit around the fire.  My Mom cooked all the meals from the camper stove and on the fire, and I remember them being so good.  Breakfast was my favorite, we would have bacon, eggs and potatoes.  Normally, at home we ate oatmeal every morning, so this was something completely different and special.   

There was a lake down the hill that had a dock.  We would walk out on the dock and look into the water and marvel about how clear and clean the water was.  On one of the days I was on the doc and I am not sure how it happened, but I fell in, right off the end of the dock.  I remember going to the bottom and thinking as I looked up that I didn’t think the water looked that deep…but there I was.  My Aunt Joy jumped in and pulled me out sputtering and spitting, it was close, but I made it.  That night my Mom and Dad said I could sleep in the Camper if I wanted….

I can’t remember if I sleep in the camper, but this above picture is what I remember.  So, you don’t get the wrong idea, my Dad and Mom liked to party, I loved them for that, they never put on pretenses, we were poor but very happy.  

My childhood memories are very positive and for the most part I had a childhood that today’s children could only dream of.  We hunted, fished, built treehouses and forts.  We explored our marsh and river, we had the time of our lives.