Winnebago's and California

I was 12 when my family went on a huge 2 week trip to California.  We lived in south Texas, and my dad's mother lived in Sacramento, California at the time, so we planned a trip to see her.

So mom and dad bought something like this:

 

 

Beauty, ain't she?   Believe it or not, we actually piled in 9 people and took off. 

 

 

Dad had to modify some of it to sleep everyone, and it worked.  The back had a U-shaped couch that made into mom and dad's bed, above it was a bed that folded down that two kids slept on.  The kitchen dinette made a small bed that my uncle and 7 months pregnant aunt slept on.  Over the drivers area dad built another fold down bed another two kids slept on.  Across the front seat dad fashioned a board that my little niece slept on.  It worked. 

 

Saw snow for the first time in my life in Colorado.  It was actually slush, but what did we know.  Us girls had slush fights.  Saw the Grand Canyon.  Saw weird fake dinosaurs.  Listened to my oldest sister moan and groan and make everyone more miserable going through the Mojave desert.  Got scared in California from being lost, but my step granddad came and found us and took us to my grandma. 

 

That is where my real love of RV'ing came into play, my grandma.  Or MawMaw, as we always called her.  Miss her so much!   She had a little class C that was fairly new at the time.  I remember being so impressed how she always kept it stocked up and ready to go.  She said that way when she felt like taking off she just had to throw in clothes and food and be off.  I got that from her, my need to always have my rig stocked up.  Me and my little sister was lucky enough to get to ride with them in their snazzy newer rig, as they were going from California to Oklahoma and we would be convoying with them.  It was such a thrill to be up top over cab area watching out the front window, so much fun.  We felt like we were flying over the road.

 

We stopped outside Reno, and my lucky step granddad went in to pay for gas and hit a big win on a slot machine in the little convenience store there, he was lucky that way.  Stopped in Lake Tahoe, us girls snuck into a swimming pool illegally while the grown ups were gambling, we got caught, and everyone was asked to leave.  Oops.  Went to Vegas and got to go in to Circus Circus, much fun for a kid.  It was a grand adventure.  We 'mined for gold' on a river somewhere in Colorado.  Really, I think they were just wanting us kids out of their hair, but we were all sure we were gonna strike some gold, haha.  It was a great two week trip.

 

Only later to find out....    Can you believe dad didn't have a clue if that Winnebago would make it across town, let alone to California and back?  No tags.  No insurance.  And a lot of times unsure if the brakes would work.  We got back and they had $1 to their name.  That's balls, people!

 

 

 

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