Caren Krutsinger | + Follow Poet |
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Our Family Vacation In 1964

We were thrown in the back of a pick-up truck camper in 1964,
My twin sister, my brother, and me. We were all fighting age.
There was a mattress, comic books, three pillows, and an ice chest.
We were told if we got into the ice chest we would be sorry, so we didn’t.

Mommy and Daddy sat in the front. Daddy drove. Mommy smiled.
If we rapped on the tiny in between window hard she might open it.
Other times she glared and shook her head ‘no”. 
Going to the bathroom was expected at each stop, not many of them.

We drove from Iowa to South Dakota. Saw the Corn Palace.
It was amazingly beautiful; I never wanted to leave it. Saw Indians.
We called them that in 1964, and I remember how beautiful they were.
Like TV Indians that I used to root for more than the cowboys.

Stopped at a park with enormous dinosaurs you could walk up and down.
Mount Rushmore was exactly like the books. Did not interest me long.
We reread and reread those twenty-two comic books, nothing else to do....
Except watch mile after mile after mile of badlands, all the same as the other.
Pretty for the first mile or two, maybe three tops. 
I swear there are three thousand miles of Badlands in South Dakota.

Copyright © Caren Krutsinger | Year Posted 2020

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John Fleming Date: 8/30/2020 5:48:00 AM I was just a little bit younger then yourself in 1964...and yes, a decade full of nostalgia. Our family (I was the eldest with two sisters and a younger brother) journeyed about in a Morris Traveller; a wooden framed vehicle with an engine no bigger than a lawnmower. We would drive all the way up and through Scotland in it...no Motorways then, just little winding roads: each bend revealing its own little bit of interest. Ahh happy days that will never return again. Thank you for this, Caren. :) Login to Reply Caren Krutsinger Date: 8/31/2020 3:03:00 PM John, I feel your own poem about this begging to be written, don't you ?

Ilene Bauer Date: 8/29/2020 1:45:00 PM you've described this so well and so realistically, caren! i've never been to those places but i can picture you and your siblings in the back of the car perfectly! Login to Reply Caren Krutsinger Date: 8/30/2020 3:16:00 AM I tell you I was twelve, and I do not forget things like this easily. It was HOT in that non-airconditioned camper! I remember the sweat pouring off our backs.

Panagiota Romios Date: 8/29/2020 11:07:00 AM We drove from the Midwest to the East Coast, reading Burma Shave ads but it was earlier than 1964. No Internet to play with, dolls, coloring and comic books. I loved the Blue Ridge Mountains, The boardwalk, salt wAter taffy and the Atlantic Ocean. Would love to relive it, Thanks for your great prose write. Pangie xx Login to Reply Caren Krutsinger Date: 8/30/2020 3:16:00 AM Thank you very much Pangie. I appreciate you stopping by. Those were the days before video games, and tvs in cars for sure!

Sharon Keely Date: 8/29/2020 7:21:00 AM No kidding on the 3,000 miles! I preferred the Indians too. Login to Reply Caren Krutsinger Date: 8/30/2020 3:17:00 AM I always rooted for them, and was ALWAYS disappointed. Yet, the next time, I was optimistic "this is their time!" But alas, it never was! Unless they were named Tonto.