Back in the 70’s my parents inherited some money and decided to spend the month of August doing a family trip to the Grand Canyon. So we loaded all 11 of us into our white Plymouth Fury station wagon, hitched up our 18 foot Shasta trailer and off we went. We went through the upper states on the way there and the lower states on the way back, it was the one big family trip we ever did. We made stops at many historical sites along the way, Dad being a teacher and all.

There was a variety of places we camped along the way like a gas station in Toledo Ohio for two days while they replaced our transmission, we must have drove those mechanics crazy. Also found a nice camp to stay at in New Mexico while Dad went out for new tires. I celebrated my birthday at a strip mall in Texas, they went into the stores, got me some presents and a cake and we celebrated in the trailer. At another camp site in a desert some where we were walking down the road and got between 2 rattle snakes. One place we stayed at the wood was real easy to carve so being kids we made swords and knives out of it, my Dad made firewood of them. Were also at a camp where a nearby creek was drying up and each puddle was full of fish, so we were grabbing them by hand, didn’t go hungry that night.

We also visited an Aunt of my Mother’s that was a Nun at a convent in Kentucky. The Nun’s loved having all 9 kids visit and made a big meal for us. Plus they gave us toys. I got a cat, which I still have.

At one point while the four youngest were sitting in the back of the car my sister was playing wedding when her vial (aka blankie) was sucked out the back window, my Dad wasn’t stopping for that no matter how much she cried. Also he did not stop if one of the boys had to do a #1, just pass the Clorox bottle along, we’ll empty it later. We also decided to drive up a mountain in the Rockies and froze our butts off and played countless games of Crazy 8 along the way. It was the one family trip most of us older children remember. The seating arrangement during it went as follows, 3 in the front seat, 4 in the back seat and the rest in the back with no seats, and I doubt anyone else wore a seat belt.

For my parents 40^th wedding anniversary the video we made was centered on the pictures from this trip. As I said, this was thee family trip.