In the summer of 1967 I took my young wife and two year old son and drove from Springfield, Mass. to Los Angeles, Calif. to complete my Masters field work for my degree in Outdoor Education. I had just purchased a 1967 VW Camper on credit. It took us 7 days to make the trip and gas cost only .38 a gallon. It cost $60 to make it across the USA at the time.

We Spend a week at the Los Angeles School Camp in the Angeles mountains with Eagles, bees, and rattlesnakes everywhere. After that week we drove to San Pedro Calif. where we would be living for 9 weeks at the Los Angeles Light House School Camp in the public park on the cliffs of San Pedro, Calif. The camp had 9 army tents for the 8 camper groups and one for my wife, son, and I.

We tide pooled almost everyday, went to the local Cabrillo beach, and took a trip on the Harbor Taxi which toured around all of Long Beach Harbor and the breakwater. It was a summer without any rain. We ate our food on picnic benches in the public park provided for us by a local Elementary School using heater stacks to keep the food hot. At night time we went to the beach and had bonfires and songs and telling of stories for the campers.

It was a great summer of sun and surf at the Marine School camp. After the summer was over we drove 3,000 miles back to New York where I started my first teaching job in Spring Valley, NY>