The Good Old Days! My parents took my brothers and I to the worlds fair in 1962. We traveled from Indiana to the west coast, started at the top and went all the way to Mexico, and back to Indiana. We had a new 62 chevy pulling a slightly used 1959 Fan travel trailer. We stoped at most of the N.P. and monuments ( the grand canyon was one pull out and "there she is boys")and back on the road again. We were gone for a month. We saw 50 some bears in Yellowstone while there as I recall. We always ate in the trailer, except in Mexico we had tacos for the first time, but otherwise mom did all of the cooking. And we did it for $800.

YES.... the good ol' days! My parents moved to Africa when I was in second grade in the sixties. When I got the news at the dinner table I was so excited!! Lions and tigers and bears!! (oh my !) I could barely contain myself over the next month as each school chum came up to me amazed that we were going to live in Africa.

Long story short, it totally lived up to my expectations.
What an amazing country, Ethiopia was candy for the senses to a little kid. What a culture shock to be immersed into a whole different country. I got to see Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Kenya, Seychelle Islands. What a treat for a wide eyed kid. And, all under the protective wing of my parents. Never felt scared.

I guess that is what planted the seed for wanderlust in me.
How cool it would be to be able to travel whenever I wanted. ahhh... the good ol days!

When i was a kid, we had a board game that sent cargo ships to foreign ports, and a ship would pick up a cargo and drop one off! I used to know all of the foreign ports where my ships would go, and even now, if i hear "Bolivia", i think of tin, which is the cargo we'd pick up there! I don't remember how the game was won, but i think it was better than geography class in school! And it made me want to travel the world!
So, upon hearing that my Uncle Sam would send me off to exotic places, i signed on for one of his cruises!
Of course, i had to go thru some indoctrination before setting out! Uncle warned me that there were some "unfriendlies" out there, maybe i'd better brush up on my gun handling and shooting, maybe learn how to dig holes in the ground, and he told me i might have to do some long walks, so i got used to that too!
Any way, after the training, i joined a large group of fellows who were going on the cruise offered by Uncle Sam! I never thought there were so many guys interested in traveling the world!
Oh, we sailed the briny deep for a week or more, then had to stop in Liverpool, England, to take in fresh supplies! While waiting for that, we boarded a nice passenger train and went thru England, south, to Warminster and Trowbridge, and then into a nice hotel there! (The main hotel was full, so we used some large tents instead!) Later we toured Bournemouth, and Southampton. We got to see a different type of ship there, and while we were on it inspecting it, the ship pulled out, with us all on it! WHOA!! We didn't expect that!
And the next thing we knew, the sky was filled with the most fireworks any of us had seen in our lifetimes! I think the Captain of the ship was angry with us--he had us dumped off onto a beach filled with blown up tanks, ships, trucks---WHAAAT?? Soon, trucks came and took us to a large wooded area where they gave us firearms and ammunition, new clothes, a blanket, a gas mask, and new boots and a steel helmet! And, then, we got to where the other people were shooting at us!! In spite of all this, i did manage to walk most all the way across France!
Well, sooner or later most everybody either got killed or wounded, or went nuts, but, like Uncle said, it would be like this, so don't complain!
I managed to get wounded badly by a German land mine, so that ended my cruise, and Uncle managed to find a boat to have me sent home! And, i have never wanted to go on a cruise ever again!! It would be o.k., as long as the boat didn't leave the dock! And, if i could keep one foot on shore! (Some wag told me to leave my wooden leg on shore, and i could go!)
by: Rustyj

Rusty, thank you very much for your sacrifice and service to our country so that we "youngsters" can enjoy the freedom we have today.