Some nights we would sleep in the boat at rest
stops along the highway. These rest stops were
parking areas and usually had a bathroom.
There were lots of trucks parked too, and the
drivers would leave the engines running all night
to keep their air conditioners on. Since some
were refrigerated trucks, they had to keep them
cool. Needless to say, the nights were very noisy.
We even “camped” in our sailboat at
campgrounds.
In one of the pictures we set up a Bar-B-Q in the back of the boat and you can see dad is cooking
dinner while Jim and Cindi watched. When registering at a campground in Gallup, New Mexico,
we were asked what type of RV we were sleeping in. When dad said it was a 22-foot, yellow
sailboat, everyone in the office ran outside to see our “camper.”
The day we were pulled our sailboat into the Grand Canyon National Park, dad asked the
ranger at the gate “Where’s the nearest launch ramp?” The ranger smiled and said, “Just pull
up to any spot and launch right over the side!”
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