Wednesday, January 13, 2021

The Way We Were Wednesday - Summer of 1974


 In the Summer of 1974, I spent two weeks on a 2,000 acre ranch about 75 miles east of Colorado Springs.  It was part of a 4-H exchange program.  We had hosted a student from there the summer before, it was our year to go.  40 or so of us, non-stop on a charter bus from Michigan to small town Colorado.  I don't recall what it cost, or how I came up with the money.  I was working on the farm and had a little money, I had bought my first 35-mm SLR that winter.  

I experienced a few firsts, my first overnight travel, I hated it, I have gotten better, but still dread overnight rides.  My first time driving a full size tractor, it was a huge 4 wheel drive Stiger, in a 400 acre field.  My first time driving on the road, driving one of the farm trucks back to the barn.  My first time tasting rare steak. It was my first time being away from home without family - I loved it.  

What was your first trip away from home without family?  

21 comments:

  1. In high school. I was in BEST club...which stood for Bringing Exchange Students Together. It was great playing host to people of my age from all over the world.The club taught American culture and history to the exchange students. The club often did weekend trips and I believe DC was my first trip away with no parents...just the three teachers and us students.

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    1. DC, I am sure you were the best behaved.

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  2. I THINK it was when I was 16 and drove "upstate" with a group of older friends. It wasn't as wholesome as your first trip and the memories are all clouded in some kind of smoke.

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    1. When I was a senior in high school, the fall of 1976, an adventure to watch KISS in the Jacksonville Coliseum, I recall a lot of giggling.

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  3. I guess this counts - I went camping with a friend and her family when I was in junior high. The first and only time I went somewhere overnight without my family (who never went anywhere overnight.) The first real trip was in college - I went to Boston for the first time) for the weekend to a Lesbian and Gay student conference (that was before they added the B, T et al) It was amazing for so many reasons.

    Sean
    Www.Idleeyesandadormy.Com

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    1. Boston sounds amazing, I need to go back there when the weather is nice.

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  4. Does a month at camp fill the bill? I was maybe twelve and we were herded into buses and taken to Camp Arcade in the mountains for a week of hiking nd swimming and fishing and all sorts of "outdoor" activities.
    I remember I hated every minute of it.

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    1. I did a week at summer camp, outhouses were the worst.

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  5. europe trip, summer of 1970, with my high school french teacher + 9 other students. I was 15.

    of course, there were the weeks at grandmom's house in the city during the summer, starting from age 6. no abusive "parents", just grandparents and me.

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    1. PS - overnight train trips are fun!

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    2. I want to try long distance train travel

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  6. church group trip in my teens

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  7. If I remember correctly, it was a trip to college campus with about 15 classmates to learn from their arts program. I remember enjoying it very much but I also remember being very nostalgic when we all stood around a piano and sang some songs. There was something about that simple group act that moved me.

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    1. Groups and music are powerful

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  8. This is going to sound odd, but here goes. My first trip alone was when I was about nine. It was a early morning to early nighttime trip from San Diego to Anaheim. General Dynamics sponsored a trip to Disneyland for the "gifted" students and I was one of them. My one and only friend wasn't in this group, so I was alone with a bunch of rowdy children who basically ignored the shy, skinny girl. Still, Disneyland! I hung out with the teacher.
    My first grown-up trip? My honeymoon, ten years later. Where? Disneyland! Well that was the plan before pre-Balder Half totaled his car, and we were too young for a rental.

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    1. I hung out with teachers a lot, intelligent conversation. I went to Disney World as the photographer for a school choir at Christmas time. While they were rehearsing with John Williams as director, I had the run of the park for most of the day.

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  9. Mine was in the summer of 1975 (right after high school) when I attended a live-in French Immersion program for 6 weeks. Loved every minute of it!

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    1. French, "I talk pretty someday", well probably not, but I can order dinner.

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  10. Anonymous1/13/2021

    A school camp and I became quite homesick.

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    1. I called home and wanted to stay another couple of weeks.

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