>>> Part 1 of 3...
 -=> Donna Ransdell was shooting the bull with Zaynab Richmond about vacation 
on 08 Sep 96  15:56:01 <=-
 > We went out of state.. it was the first time for the
 > kids, and the first time
 > I'd been out of state since 1978!  We also went out of
 DR> Perhaps next year we'll go out of state. This year I had just two
 DR> weeks of vacation, which I combined with a couple of extra days I'd
 DR> already begged off of, from work, so we didn't want to go too far. 
 > anyhow!!! :)  We also
 > stopped to walk around at the International Peace Arch
 DR> Neat!
 
 > Yeah, I know what you mean... I used to live in
 > Redding too!!  That's where I
 DR> You've lived a lot of places, like I have. We tried to find the people
 DR> that we bought this house from - they moved to Redding from here - but
 DR> they weren't listed in the phone book in Redding. 
 > Yes, this is one place I've been planning to go this
 > year with my kids... they
 DR> Do it! It's one of the least used national parks in the system. Those
 DR> that go there seem to congregate in three places: Lassen Peak trail,
 DR> Bumpass Hell trail, and the Kings Creek Falls trail. Those are all
 DR> worthwhile, but we did other things and were really pleased. 
 > Have you ever seen the documentary that PBS has shown
 > about the Donner party?
 DR> No, but the movie that the museum showed was excellent.
 
 > Yes, they are.   Did you see Mono Lake?
 DR> We drove past it, and also past some of the dry-lake sites. Mono was a
 DR> lot bigger than I envisioned! (Of course, so was Lake Tahoe!) 
 > car.   I couldn't afford motel rooms or even
 > campsites, but we sure have some wonderful memories anyhow. :)
 DR> Campsites in California are ridiculous...$12 (plus!) for a state park
 DR> with nothing to offer except pit toilets! There are still a few
 DR> relatively free national forest and BLM campgrounds, tho. 
 > we'll have more money to work with, and some good
 > camping equipment.  I'm
 DR> Watch garage sales and thrifty ads in the paper. Maybe you'll luck out
 DR> and someone will have "traded up" from a tent to an RV, and wants to
 DR> get rid of the camping equipment. 
Hello Donna:
Please excuse the interupt, but I know the NE corner of California like the
back of my hand.....well did, last time I was there was in 1962 when I finish
High school up in Modoc County (Alturas), and that is only about what, 200
miles NNE of Redding on US299 (that is what it was called in those days)
Goes up thru Fall River, Burney Mountain, Adin, Canby, Alturas, Willow Creek
Ranch (right on the CA-OR stateline,  or you can turn off about to canby from
adin and go N into Klamath Falls, OR thru Tulelake.  Modoc County is nearly 
all US Forest Service lands, and granted, when I was there the campsites
were just that, real rough, no running water, no nothing....but that is what
camping was all about in those days....the 50's and early 60's was the best
time to be growning up in America.....the Assassination of President Kennedy
in Dallas was the turning point...and things in this country have been 
etting
worse and worse by the month it seems.......But for camping gear, there
used to be a pretty good Army/Navy surplus store in Redding that sold some
pretty good military surplus tents including tent poles and pegs pretty
reasonable as well as gas stoves (the old pump in the tank type) and complete
mess kits, not the individual size, but mess kits for a squad or rifle team.
Including cooking pots, pans utinsils, knives, fork, spoons, cups, plates
and everything.  They were all metal, so you didn't have to worry about 
breaking them....we had a setup that included a box that was built so that
a 3 burner gas stove, a double mantle lantern, the cooking/eating utinsils
all packed inside of the large bucked that had a lid so it wouldn't get lost
so easily, room for a griddle and grill (to use on those fire pits at most
campsites, or if you had to build your own), The box also contained a wash
pan for washing dishes, a white gas can for the fuel for the cook stove and
lamp, room for half dozen plastic cups and a box of paper cup liners that fit
inside the plastic cups, half dozen rolls of "store bought TP", a couple of
rolls of paper towels and the legs for the table, which doubled as the top
of the "Camping" box which was just large enough to fit in the back of a
regular stationwagon or pickup.  That camping box lasted us for over 10 years
that I know of, and probably another 12 years until my father retired in 74.
The Tent was a government surplus GP tent that would sleep 8 easily and not
crowded......there were 7 of us....6 kids and our father...our mother died in
1952 when the baby was just 4 months old.....she is burried in Alturas, and
most of the "Old" timers from Modoc can tell you about my father and the 
ior
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