Wednesday, May 08, 2019

The Way We Were Wednesday - Colorado Here We Come


I have mentioned before that I was active in 4-H in the 1970's.  In addition to the County Fair, the other highlight of that was an exchange program.  One summer we hosted a group 4-H members from Colorado, and the next summer a bus load of us went to Colorado for 10 days.  Tis a long bus ride from eastern Michigan to just outside of Colorado Springs. The group from Colorado rode the train cross country, a sensible way to travel, we chartered a bus, the one and only long distance bus trip of my life.  

My host family had a 2,000 acre farm.  They had a dairy operation, milking about 200 cows, and about 1,000 acres of wheat.  I spent a day driving a massive four-wheel drive tractor preparing ground for planting. 

It was fun, and expanded my horizons. 

Did you do any long distance group trips growing up? 

6 comments:

  1. First, you have my respect for even doing the bus. Friends of mine wanted to do a cross country trip once on a bus, and I'm like girls, I DO NOT DO the bus you obliviously have me mistaken for Miss Rosa Parks!

    To confining for me. Give me the train or plane baby. My Canadian trips were quite long.

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    1. Terrific reference, Miss Noxema!

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    2. I knew one of you would get it!

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  2. I never have. I don’t know that I had the temperament to do a long trip with my peers. Yours sounds like an exceptional experience that I would enjoy now... but not then.

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  3. age 15 - went with some of my high school to europe. switzerland, france, england, italy. only other group trip was a bus tour of new england fall foliage right before I met todd.

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  4. No long distance trips, per se. However, I do remember when I was about 9 or ten, General Dynamics sponsored a trip to Disneyland for "gifted" children at my school. I was one of them. Really. I was! I was excruciatingly shy and had no friends who were gifted, so I was on my own on a chartered bus. It was kind of awesome since it wasn't a "school" bus. Two hours from San Diego to Anaheim was a long trip for a kid. The food at Disneyland was paid for by General Dynamics, but I was too shy to order anything, so I went without. I hung out with a teacher the whole time. We had KFC (before it was KFC) on the bus ride home. I had a helluva time trying to figure out what the honey packet was for. Wow, that memory is a punch in the face!

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