This family with guests numbered five adults. They made a motor camping tour from Bemidji, Minn., to Kansas City, Mo., and return. They had an inexpensive car, equipped with a modest [6]camping outfit. They made the excursion described in thirty-one days, traveling at the average leisurely speed of seventeen miles an hour. Their total outlay for food was $66.76, and the entire cost of gasoline and oil for the journey was $34.27. This brought the total traveling expenditures for a party of five adults from Bemidji to Kansas City and return to the sum of $101.03.

Had this party taken the same tour by rail the cost would have been as follows:

The railroad expenses, as will be observed, are put very low, as there is no allowance for such items as tips. And, furthermore, the party of five are assigned to only three Pullman berths. The hotel expenses, too, are drawn down as low as possible. In fact, had the trip been taken by rail the estimates given would have been exceeded.

An Iowa farmer with a small car of popular make started out with his wife and three children to see [7]the Colorado mountains. He expected to take a trip of about seven hundred miles out and back. Before they were home again they had covered a distance of more than seventeen hundred miles. By the way, fully fifty per cent of all motor campers are farmers.

This farmer tells us that from start to finish of their motor camping vacation, they did not sleep in a bed, eat off a table, or sit on a chair.

Their equipment consisted of a small tent, the most necessary clothes, a tin cup, a tin plate, and a tin spoon for each person. They had a big butcher knife, one fork, a skillet for cooking meat, a two-quart pail for other cooking and to serve as a coffee-pot; also a gallon pail in which to carry water. A knife and fork per person were also provided.

For covering at night they took along a good supply of blankets. Their food was bread, meat and canned fruit—all bought in the small towns through which the family toured. In addition milk, butter and an occasional chicken were purchased from farmers in the country as they passed through.

Firewood for the cook-fire and straw for bedding in the tent they got for the asking. The cooking was done over an Indian fire on the ground.

Their car was in good condition at the start. They drove moderately and carefully, and their only expense on the car was for gas and oil. Their vacation trip of seventeen hundred miles was taken at but little more cost than the expense of staying at home. Any other kind of an excursion trip for [8]these people would have been out of question as they could not have stood the price.

Equipment which was sufficient for the family of an Iowa farmer, comprising himself, his wife, and three children, on a 1,700-mile trip

Now for some details of a motor camping tour taken by a Boston woman and her friends. This trip involved much more elaborate preparation and considerable more expense than the case just given, but nevertheless was much more economical than a similar tour by rail and hotels.

This Bostonian after minimizing baggage as much as she thought possible took along the following items: one light-weight cloth-tailored suit, half a dozen tailored shirt-waists, one foulard gown to wear of an evening should occasion arise, the necessary underwear, a motor coat and bonnet. She also took extra wraps, steamer rugs and rubber coats. The clothing was packed in suit cases. The party consisted of eight people and took sleeping tents, each tent large enough for two. They took hammocks and folding beds so constructed that they could be bundled and tied on the rear of the car. The tents cost fifteen dollars each. They had two luncheon or tea baskets and three thermos bottles. The baskets used were circular in shape, about the size of a cart wheel, and contained small silver, cups, saucers, and plates for eight people, besides an alcohol cooking apparatus and numerous metal covered dishes and china platters. When these baskets [9]were closed they were carried after the manner of extra tires.

With this outfit and two cars these motorists toured through New England and a portion of Canada. They tented in open field or grove wherever night overtook them. Fresh eggs, milk, butter, and occasionally a chicken or two were obtained at moderate prices from farmhouses on the way.

Some long trips are made with a surprising economy not only in the matter of shelter and subsistence, but also in expenditure for motor supplies. A school principal in Montana made an excursion from his home to San Diego, Cal., and back. He logged a total distance of 2,503 miles. In doing this distance he used only 116 gallons of gasoline and three and a half gallons of oil. These cost the sum of $39.35, making his transportation cost him at the rate of a little more than a cent and a half a mile (1.6 cents). His mileage on gas figured out 21.58 miles to the gallon. Of course, in these figures no account is had of the wear and tear on the car or of depreciation.

Two New York couples forming a one-car touring party went motor camping through the Hudson River country. Their outfit was somewhat elaborate, and for the ladies consisted of toilet articles, underwear, flannel underskirts, linen shirt-waists [10]without collars, gray flannel shirt-waists, sweaters, high water-proof shoes with heavy soles, woolen kimonos, sun bonnets, motoring bonnets, heavy raincoats, khaki skirts, flannel night-dresses, stockings (including extra pairs of heavier weight), and slippers.

The men confined themselves to heavy flannel and khaki shirts, and two silk and wool negligee shirts each. In addition they took regular summer underwear and a set of woolens apiece. Besides khaki suits for use when motoring, they took along old suits which had been discarded for street and business wear.

Having sent for the catalogues of a number of sporting-goods houses, they selected from them and bought two patent automobile tents made of sea-island cotton and oiled in such a manner as to water-proof them. Each tent had a telescopic tent pole. The center of the rear tent wall was made to be guyed from the steering wheel of the car and the two corners of the rear wall were guyed to front and rear car wheels, thus providing two one-family houses, one on each side of the car.

This party was provided with a combination cooking outfit which included four cooking pots, coffee-pot, tea-pot, two frying pans, and four each of plates, cups, soup bowls, knives, forks, dessert spoons, and tea spoons. All these articles were of aluminum except the frying pans, and all nested in the large pot which was ten inches across and eleven inches high. The frying pans had folding handles. [11]There was also a porcelain, salt, pepper and mustard set that nested together, and two oblong cake pans, one slightly larger than the other. They took eight woolen blankets, four camp stools, a patent grate, a three-quarter size ax in sheath, a thirty-caliber rifle, a shotgun, fishing tackle and collapsible table.

The provisions taken consisted of tobacco, prepared coffee, pea-soup powder, tabloid tea, evaporated milk, flour, sugar, salt pork, bacon, cheese, baking powder, baking soda, beef-tea cubes, sweet chocolate and soda crackers.

The clothing was carried packed in four suit cases fastened to the trunk rack of the car. The tents were carried in large duffle bags on the running board, and the remainder of the outfit in bags placed in the tonneau.

The party at each stop made “a real Indian fire,” as they called it, by clearing a space on the ground about four feet across. Then with some yellow birch bark which they had previously gathered they kindled a small fire, later adding small branches, so that in a few minutes they had a low fire of pure coals. Next, two forked sticks sharpened at one end were driven into the ground, a cross pole was laid in the forks, and by means of a couple of wire links the coffee-pot was hung from the pole about eight inches above the fire. Soon the pot was boiling, and, adding evaporated cream, the coffee was ready.

The beds were fashioned in this wise. They [12]selected several small saplings about an inch and a half in diameter, and cutting them off just above a convenient crotch at the top, pointed the lower end, leaving the stick about twenty inches long. These were driven about a foot into the ground, forming thus four bed-posts. In driving the posts it was arranged so that the crotches were toward each other. Across were laid poles on each side. Again, across these longitudinal rails were laid a row of birch branches about three-quarters of an inch in diameter. While this foundation for a bed was being prepared the women would industriously gather a sufficient supply of balsam twigs to cover these improvised beds to a depth of eight inches. Over these last were spread the blankets, and they had beds fit for a king.

The cooking experience of this party was also successful. They mixed dough and put it in a greased cake tin. After raking away the coals they put the tin in the hole where the fire had been. The other cake tin was then placed on top, and the ashes and coals were heaped on over it. In fifteen minutes the hot bread was cooked to a turn. Potatoes in soaked newspapers were put under the ashes and came out in about half an hour cooked to perfection.

Thus these New Yorkers went motor camping for two weeks up and down the Hudson and Connecticut valleys at very small expense and with health-giving enjoyment. [13]

A party of four Ohians from Cleveland took a twelve-hundred-mile motor camping trip through their own and one or two adjacent states. They report that it cost them from a dollar to a dollar and a half a day to run their car. They state that their meals for four averaged two dollars and fifty cents a day. Lodging cost nothing. They had delicacies, too. Their refrigerator basket kept the butter cold and enabled them to have deliciously cool cantaloup, lettuce and tomatoes.

Personal baggage was kept down to the lowest possible amount. Two double suit cases rode on the baggage carrier, and two large duffle bags were placed in front of the suit cases. They also carried a tool outfit including a spade, hatchet, pick-ax and a coil of strong rope; also the usual repair kit for car and tires. The outfit just described weighed two hundred and fifty pounds. This list was found to meet every requirement and was easily packed in the car.

In addition to the articles already named the following items were also carried:

• One canvas tent 8¾ feet square.
• One A tent 8 by 10 feet.
• Four folding stools and cots.
• Blankets, ponchos and pneumatic pillows.
• Two waterproof duffle bags.
• Canvas water bottle.
• Folding water bucket and basin. [14]
• Two hatchets and clothes line.
• Aluminum cooking set.
• Alcohol stove and fuel.
• Two vacuum bottles and a refrigerator basket.
• Two electric flash lights.
• Camera and tripod.
• Fishing tackle.
• Canned provisions, coffee, sugar, etc.
• Tarpaulins and assorted straps.

From the experiences given the reader may see how widely equipment and expenses may vary according to the choice or economic ability of the motor camper. The equipment in addition to the car may range from almost nothing to what is quite elaborate. But whether simple or elaborate, motor camping is seen to be an economical way of taking one’s vacation. [15]

Take New York City, for example. Within sight of the upper part of Manhattan Island and accessible by ferries is the Palisades Interstate Park owned jointly by the states of New York and New Jersey. Of the total area of more than thirty-six thousand acres New Jersey owns some thousand acres of the section running for twelve miles along the Palisades ridge. In this nearer section the motorist may find secluded camping sites that seem almost out of the world of mankind, while in the Bear Mountain portion of the park there are great stretches that are a veritable wilderness.

Going further afield the week-ender from New York City can find camping sites in the Catskills at such places as Chichester, westward of Kingston. Up through the Westchester hills, too, are many beautiful and secluded spots where the New Yorker may be “far from the madding crowd” within a brief hour or two from the traffic of Fifth Avenue. If he is willing to spend several hours going forth [17]he can visit for his week-end the State Forests of North New Jersey. In these reserves are the ridge and western slope of a stretch of the Kittatinny Mountain range which slopes down on the west to the Delaware River. At Branchville as he approaches the State Forest he can call up the State Forester, who will accord the camper the courtesies of his department and assist the motorist in locating his camp site. Here camp sites, spring water, trout fishing, and small game hunting in season are offered without cost to the public. Three lakes where fishing, boating, and hunting may be had are near by. Wild deer, which may be hunted in season, exist in considerable numbers in the Kittatinny Mountains. The camp sites here available are of several kinds; some of them near good roads, some in clearings or old fields, and some deep in the woods. New Jersey residents’ applications naturally receive first attention, but there are thousands of acres, and visitors from other states are welcomed.

Every large city in this country has remote spots within easy motoring distance where the week-end camper may be as far away from the crowd as desired. The Bostonian will find camping accommodations at Wellesley, or he can purchase a permanent site for his exclusive use not many miles from the city. The State Highway Department is planning a number of camp sites along Massachusetts roads. [18]

The resident of Philadelphia can cross the Delaware and find solace in the woods of South Jersey. The “Penn State Forest” of the South New Jersey group is five miles east of Chatsworth on the Central Railroad of New Jersey, and consists of 2,700 acres of pine and cedar forest in one of the wildest sections of that state. In his own state the Philadelphian will find not far away the ranges of the Blue Ridge Mountains running northward toward the Pocono and the Delaware Water Gap, and even these last are not altogether beyond reach of the motorist faring forth for a week-end.

At Baltimore there is right at hand the Patapsco Forest Reserve on the outskirts of the city where camp sites are given free to any who apply for them. Permits are required, but no fee is charged. The State of Maryland maintains a series of camp sites along the National Pike between Baltimore and the Pennsylvania State Line. These camps are free and are “established for convenience, comfort and use of the people of Maryland and tourists who come into the state.” The nearest of these camp sites to Baltimore is Conococheague, seventy-nine miles west of the city.

Not far from Cleveland is the camping-ground of Marblehead, located on a peninsula combining the [19]advantages of water and woodland. There is also another wooded camp site near by at Amherst, Ohio.

There are thousands of square miles of woodland available at moderate prices on the east coast of Michigan, but the motoring Detroiter who does not own his own shack in the woods can find accommodations in the many beautiful State Parks, those near by being Island Lake and Cedar Hill.

The Buckeye who abides in Cincinnati may find week-end camping sites among the hills of southern Ohio or across the river in the State Parks of Kentucky.

The dweller in Chicago who desires to go forth in his car for a week-end camping trip has a wide variety of choice as to location. He may find camp sites of natural wildness within the park system of his own city, especially along the Desplaines Valley. He may travel north into the woods of Wisconsin as far as the Cushing State Park, near Waukesha, or to the south he may reach the Indiana Turkey Run State Park, near Marshall, Parke County, of that state. This last park, almost due south of Chicago, is a tract of 470 acres, the largest tract in the [20]state that has never come under the woodman’s ax, and its trees are the largest and finest in the Middle West. In addition it may be said that there are dozens of towns in Illinois which have set apart outlying woodlands where the Chicago man can find fresh air and outdoor life.

As one works farther west, the possibilities for a quick journey into the wilderness become increasingly easy. The Rocky Mountain National Park is within ready motoring distance from Denver. California abounds in free playgrounds. There is the Los Angeles National Forest near Los Angeles, the Santa Barbara National Forest a little farther north, and about seventy-five miles above San Francisco begin the Trinity National Forests.

In the beginning of his experience the week-end camper would do well to consult local motor clubs for maps and information regarding camp sites. He may find it wise to initiate his experience in week-end camping by going to those sites provided by various towns. There, save in the eastern sections of the country, he will likely be able to find stoves, shelter, sometimes even cut wood and electricity, already provided. These municipal motor camping sites are now numbered by the thousand, but they are not numerous yet east of Ohio. (Tabulation of motor camp sites by states is given in another chapter of this book.) [21]

One of the few of these motor camp sites in the east near New York City is the one at Rahway, N. J., about twenty miles southwest of Jersey City. This consists mostly of an open field in the City Water Works Reservation along the banks of the Rahway River, which flows through a wooded gorge about a hundred feet below the plateau of the camp site. As yet almost nothing is provided in the way of camp conveniences except camping space.

When the camper becomes less of a tenderfoot he may venture forth into wilder areas. Then he can write to his State Forester and learn where there are camp sites that he may occupy in the real wilderness within reach of his week-end tether.

The State Forester is usually a man after whom other politicians might pattern. There is not, as a rule, much money in his job. In the main he is doing it primarily for the love of the work, and he will take pains to help all those wishing to visit his domains. A State Forester of California, for instance, has made a special study of the motor campers requirements and makes these suggestions for his equipment.

Equipment Recommended by State Forester

“Clothing.—An old business suit of corduroy, khaki, or overall material. Include a sweater or mackinaw, and figure on medium-weight underwear. Underwear should be of wool, or two pairs of medium-weight cotton. Shoes should be easy on the feet and stout, with soles heavy enough for hobnails. A flannel shirt half size larger than usual should [22]be worn. Leggins of canvas or leather are an advantage, and buckskin gloves without cuffs are best for general use. The hat may be of felt with a moderately wide brim.

“Bed.—Air mattresses are the most comfortable beds for the mountains since they can be placed even on bare rocks. There are, however, a number of objections to them, one of which is their cost.

“Bedding.—The most serviceable bedding is an eiderdown quilt, with an extra covering of denim, and two light wool blankets. The quilt can be pinned with blanket pins along the bottom and side to form a sleeping bag. Wool quilts can be substituted for eiderdown, although they are not quite as warm. A 7 by 7 foot 10 ounce canvas will make an excellent bed cover to be placed next the ground, and is also useful as a pack cover. In a pine forest, pine needles, raked up before building the fire and with the cones removed, will make a wonderful bed.”

In addition to their desire to help, the State Foresters realize that besides its health values this camping movement is likely to have a profound effect on our national economic policy. We have been exhausting our timber supply. Every one knows about it, every one believes that forestry is a good thing, but it has been a political issue of such minor interest as to command little attention. As the average man develops the camping habit, comes to know the Forest Reserves, forestry will become a part of his life. He will meet the officials or their deputies, learn some of the problems, and have the same interest that he has in his home and his town. We may then see the time when conservation will receive the same intent attention as the income tax. [23]

The expense of a week-end spent in motor camping may be made very slight. The equipment may be simple. Of course, the camper has a car to start with, whether flivver or something more elaborate.

An outdoor week-end tent to pitch alongside his car may be bought as cheap as $10.50. Or for about the same price he may get a bed to go from end to end of the car that will supply comfortable sleeping accommodations for two people. Special equipment of this sort is made for Ford touring and sedan types (see Chapter IV). If the week-end camper is ingenious he may rig up a bed of his own by disposing the seat cushions and his suit cases so as to form a foundation on which to lay his quilts and blankets. A bed inside the car is mighty convenient in rainy weather, but in a small car the quarters are a little close for complete comfort.

As for clothing, we have already had the advice of an experienced forester. Mr. Average Citizen, however, can usually get along with an old suit of clothes, an extra set of underwear and a second pair of socks. After a little experience, the week-end camper will be surprised to find how little he really requires in the way of extra equipment.

When it comes to the matter of food, it is difficult to lay down rules, as there is such a difference in [24]the matter of taste and appetite. One man will get along finely with some hard-tack or stale bread to which he adds some canned beef and cheese. He will also take along some seasonable fruit. Mainly for the sake of something hot he will take along some ground coffee and a tin pail in which to cook it over an open fire or on a Boy Scouts’ theroz stove. With several loaves of bread, two pounds of the canned beef, a pound or two of cheese, and the fruit and coffee he will fare finely over the week-end. Another man must have his butter, hot meat, eggs, hot bread, etc., or he will suffer.

It is a convenience to have some sort of a regular camp stove of the folding variety that will take wood fuel. An open fire may be made with very little fuel, and is most camplike. In some places an open fire is forbidden, and if permission to camp has to be secured from a private owner of a site favorable action is much more likely if it is stated that there will be no open camp fire. In rainy weather, too, the camp fire is likely to be a problem. If it is intended to depend on the open fire either under the shelter of a tent, if rainy, or in the open, it will be well to take along a few pieces of dry wood that may easily be split up for kindling.

The usual toilet articles will be taken along, and there will be some provision for containers to hold clothing, food, etc. The week-ender will not require [25]anything extensive in the way of containers, but he should have at least a suit case or two, or duffle bags. Of course, clothing will be much less mussed if packed in a suit case. The suit case or suit cases may be carried on the running board. Whatever is carried outside the car must be fastened on with great care and security, and well protected by water-proof covering against wet.

The week-ender will not need so much in the way of tools as one going for a longer trip, but he should not fail to have his ax, shovel, and huntsman’s knife in addition to his usual tools for the care of his car. For eating he can make out with tin plate, tin cup, knife, fork and spoon. Of course, he may take as elaborate a table outfit as he pleases, but he will not get as fine a tang out of his outing as he will if he roughs it a little. If he wishes to really rough it he may sleep out in the open in a sleeping bag. In case of rain he can roll under his car. Mr. Average Man, however, will not care to overdo in the way of roughing it, yet as a rule he will get along with little, particularly if he camps with a like-minded chum who with him mostly wants change and fresh air for the week-end.

The week-end camper will follow his usual washing methods in summer, but in winter, or when the temperature gets down to the frost level, he will have to modify his washing methods a little if he does not wish to suffer from cracked and chapped face and hands. When the mercury gets down to frost or below, don’t wash, but rub on vaseline, and [26]then to remove the dirt wipe it off thoroughly with a towel. This will leave the camper with a fairly clean appearance and with a smooth skin.

We have been all along considering this question of week-end motor camping from the masculine angle. This is not necessarily the only way to consider it. In many cases the motor campers are a man and wife, or even a family including one or more children. Of course, when a woman is along a little more preparation must be made; more clothing and equipment, more complete and systematic provision in the matter of food and cooking arrangements; more comfortable sleeping arrangements also should be arranged. A group of four would need at least one extra shelter tent. Such tents are very inexpensive and have the advantage, since they have no poles, of folding up into a small space so that they can readily be carried on the running boards.

The tents may be erected by stretching ropes from the top of the car to near-by trees. Care should be taken to have the tent pins driven deep and to attach the canvas close to the ground. If possible, the site chosen should allow of drainage away from the tent in case of rain, and should be, so far as [27]circumstances will permit, on gravelly or porous soil. In any event it is desirable to dig a shallow trench about the tent to drain away the water that will run down the tent in case of heavy rain. In selecting a site care should be taken to avoid a creek bottom. We have seen motorists camping in a meadow by the side of a stream below a road skirting the foot of a precipitous hill. We have even seen such a camping site pictured as ideal. Ideal it would be in fine dry weather, but a heavy summer shower, particularly at night, would endanger the camp and its occupants. Such streams often rise with great suddenness, and if nothing more the campers would be put to extreme discomfort by having to move in haste, and in the wet, to higher ground.

A raincoat with blanket spread over it will form a convenient mattress. Some campers, and the weight of tradition, recommend cedar boughs for a bed, but the art of arranging and sleeping on them has to be acquired. The only kind of boughs or browse that can be comfortably used as the basis for a bed must be fine in quality, otherwise the corners of the boughs will find the bones of the sleeper with infernal ingenuity and make his rest very unsatisfying. Some campers prefer to sleep in hammocks. In some cases where the body is of sufficient length these may be slung from end to end in the car. Otherwise they may be slung from the corners [28]of the car top to near-by trees. A canvas fly may be arranged overhead to keep off rain. It takes some experience to be able to rest easily in a hammock, but once the habit is acquired there is no more comfortable bed. The hammock is the bed of our sea jackies and marines, and they thrive on that kind of a couch.

In summertime a raincoat and a pair of blankets for each person, with hammocks, car beds, or tent, should care for the necessary sleeping equipment so far as covering goes.

A medical kit should always be carried. This should include a Red Cross first-aid outfit. In the absence of a physician it is well to have on hand cascara or castor oil, sun cholera tablets in case of diarrhœa which often develops from change of drinking water, Epsom salts to be taken to clear out ptomaine poisoning, and mustard for external application in case of cold. Iodex should be included to be used in the event of sprains.

Mention has already been made of the inclusion of children on week-end camping excursions. Yes, take them along—as many as the good Lord has given you. It is the undying spirit of youth in you that makes you want to pack your outfit and take to the open road. So why deprive the kids of their rightful heritage, the right to fill their lungs with clean country air and to stretch their strong little [29]legs where there is plenty of room for them to stretch?

They may get restless, but the week-ender will not be likely to travel far enough for them to need anything more to occupy their attention than the passing landscape until the destination is reached. Even take the baby and swing a little hammock for it at one side or across the car.

With children along a little more care should be taken as to what is provided as food and drink. It will be safer to have all water boiled and to have along a good supply of evaporated milk. Of course, where infants are included in the camping party arrangements must be made to supply the customary diet which they have been having.

The last commandment of the Scout Law runs in part, “A Scout is faithful in his religious duties.” Now, the week-end camper need not neglect his religious duties, for in the East and South, as also in the Middle States, the week-ender is not likely to camp in a place so remote as to be more than a fifteen-minute, or thereabouts, motor ride from a church of some denomination where he will be likely to get as much good as he will be able to assimilate. If he is particular as to his brand of religion he can pick his camping site accordingly. And, furthermore, he is liable to be surprised at the excellence supplied at the country church. He may miss the [30]pomp and artistic quality of the city church service with its excellent music and other features, but on the other hand he may be led to realize that the old professor in the theological school was right when advising his students who were candidating for pulpits he said: “When you go to a city church wear your best clothes, but when you go to a country church take your best sermon.” And the country churches are by no means all deserted. There is a country church in Orange County, N. Y., where any Sunday morning fifty or sixty cars may be seen parked about it by the attending worshipers—a church, too, that is by no means unique in its prosperity.

Week-end camping will tend to bring the town and the country into closer acquaintance and sympathy to the mutual advantage of both. The tendency more and more will be for the week-ender to take occasion on his outing to stock up with fresh vegetables, eggs and fruit, thus giving the farmer a more profitable market for his products and giving the city and town dweller fresher and more wholesome food. [31]

Considerable space may be saved by having duffle bags of the round type, and smaller bags that will fit within the larger bags. These small bags will pack better if of cheese shape, and there will be less difficulty in locating the contents if they are of different colored goods—a color for each classification of stuff; say, white for underwear, blue for canned goods such as evaporated milk, and red for dry groceries like coffee and flour. These duffle bags and the contained bags may just as well be home-made with the resulting saving. The outer bag may be made of heavy canvas, or even stout drilling. Burlap, although a little coarse and rough, would serve if canvas or drilling may not be had conveniently.

Whatever is to be carried outside the car must, of course, be wrapped up in flexible oilcloth or [33]other waterproof material, as the rain is very successful in driving in through an ordinary box or suit case with results disastrous to the contents.

No matter what car the motor camper may use there are at least four things for him to consider. Perhaps most essential to determine in advance is where and how he will sleep. Food, clothing, and car he need not bother so much about. He has his car, whatever make it may be. His clothes, too, can be made to do, no matter what they may be. His food at a scratch he may pick up by the way, but as to sleeping quarters he must take thought in advance.

If the Ford is a touring car or a sedan the camper or campers to the number of two may arrange to sleep very comfortably in the car itself.

In a sedan the seat backs fold forward, and by setting up the two suit cases alongside between the seats a foundation may be laid upon which the blankets may be spread to form a bed. The suit cases may not be quite a fit, and it may be necessary to fill in with some of the other stuff so as to get a fairly level bed, but getting this done to one’s satisfaction is half the good and fun of camping.

How a couple traveled for 9,000 miles in a Ford roadster, using a home-made equipment, is described in the following chapter.

There are on the market to-day various devices for the Ford owner which will enable him at slight expense to convert his touring car or sedan into very comfortable sleeping quarters. The products mentioned [34]here are not necessarily the only good devices on the market. The aim is to give one or two examples of various types of equipment, so that the reader may have an idea of the range of material available.

One of these devices is the “Foldaway Bed,” for the sedan. The Foldaway rolls into a bundle 4½ inches by 4 feet, weighs only 14 pounds, and takes up less space than a golf bag. It is made of tough oak and double strength canvas and will support two 250-pound people. The Foldaway has a clever stringer suspension. The rear seat cushion is pushed up to the front of the car, the seat beside the driver is removed by pulling two cotter pins, and the back seat sets low on top of the driver’s seat with cushions removed. The Foldaway may be set up in four minutes. The camper may undress in the car by rolling back half of the bed, and there is room under the bed for clothes and equipment.

Above is shown the McMillan Auto-Bed for use in touring cars; a special size is made for Fords. The lower drawing is the Universal Car Bed which operates on the suspension principle

Another bed for the Ford, for the touring car, is the McMillan Auto Bed. This may be bought for ten dollars or less for the Ford size. The McMillan Auto Bed is based on the idea that you should use what you have rather than load yourself and the car with a lot of things you haven’t and [35]don’t need. With the McMillan Auto Bed the cushions you sit on during the day are the cushions you sleep on at night. With this difference: Between your body and the cushions is a roll of smooth heavy canvas and as many blankets as you see fit to use. The cushions give, but do not sag. Your bed conforms to every curve of your body, and it is wide enough, long enough, and strong enough for two grown people or three—yes, at a pinch, four—children.

The McMillan Auto Bed is set up by removing both front and rear cushions. The adjustable steel rods, on which the cushions rest, are next hooked over the tops of the car seats, both front and back. Then the cushions are replaced so that they will lie evenly on the rods, and the canvas is attached by straps to the side brackets at the back and in front to both sides of the wind-shield.

For the roadster and coupé there comes what is called the “Carefree Folding Outfit for Touring, Camping, Dining, Sleeping.” This is an attachment weighing 160 pounds which is easily attached to the rear of a roadster or coupé in half an hour by fastening four bolts. This outfit gives the camper a comfortable elevated bed, a storm-tight shelter, a folding dining table, handy while preparing meals and during meals, a writing or work table between meals, plenty of room for suit cases and camp equipment, [36]a special food compartment, a separate bedding compartment, a sun or rain shelter under extensible canvas during the day, and three minutes’ time converts the outfit into a thoroughly practical sleeping room.

One concern, the Auto Bed Manufacturing Company, makes what they call “The A.B.C. Sleeper” for Fords only. It provides means for making a real spring cushion bed for two adults in a car of this type. It can be used with the top up or down.

This same concern makes what they term the “Universal Car Bed” for every car, and which is also a perfect fit for a Ford. It is built on a patented principle of sagless tension, and has a bed mat of heavy canvas, olive drab in color. It is guaranteed not to scratch or mar the car. This bed is priced at $18.00. The A.B.C. Sleeper, for Ford cars only, is listed at $7.50. Prices referred to in this and other chapters are taken from catalogues, but are subject to change and are given that the reader may have a general idea of the cost.

The American Camp Equipment Company makes a car bed which is comparatively inexpensive ($11.45) and will fit a Ford as well as a Packard. It may also be set up outside of the car as a double cot for use in a tent or house. This appliance is called the Moto Bed.

A convenient and inexpensive piece of equipment for a Ford car of any model is the Carefree Luggagett. It fits on either running board. There is no drilling. It is fastened with a strap hook. It affords [37]a closed tight space for carrying loose articles. It has a smooth retainer wall with no rivets or lugs to tear or wear holes in luggage. Since container space is closed, no strapping or tying is necessary. It allows the doors to open over it. It may be attached or detached in a minute. It is substantial and weighs only 7½ pounds. [38]

The basis of the Huntington tent structure is two ordinary army cots placed side by side, six inches apart. A hole is bored in each crosspiece at the end near the adjoining cot, both at the head and at the foot of the bed. The next step is to take two brass rods about three-eighths inch in diameter and twelve inches in length. Have a machinist bend each rod into the shape of a double-pointed matting-tack, with the horizontal part eight inches in length. Thread the ends of the two side pieces so that they become screw bolts. Then insert these two devices into the holes aforementioned. Secure them with nuts fitting the threaded ends of the rods, and [40]you have the two cots fastened securely together (Fig. 1).

Basis for home-made tenting outfit built by Mr. Frederick W. Huntington of Brooklyn, N. Y. Note the two standard army cots, the canvas trough, the sticks of the frame work, and the design of the joints.

The next feature is the canvas trough which supplies a floor on which one stands while getting into bed or dressing. This protects the feet from the ground, and keeps insects from coming up from the ground. To prepare for this trough, attach five tapes or strips of canvas about nine inches in length in a row at even intervals along the cloth of each cot about nine inches from the inner edge. Then take a piece of tent canvas fifty-eight inches wide by six feet six inches long. Along the outer edges of this attach tapes which are to be tied with the tapes attached to the cot, giving a U-shaped trough six inches in width and with a depth determined by the height of the cots from the ground, with the edges overlapping six inches on the cots. The ends of the trough are stopped by pieces of cloth eight inches wide by twenty-four inches in length, the extra length permitting a six-inch flap at the top of each end of the trough and the extra width allowing for seams (Fig. 2).

The framework of the tent is built up from the cots. To construct this, first bore four three-eighths-inch holes, one at each of the outside ends of the [41]crosspieces of the cots. Then screw in four screw-eyes near those holes through which the brass rods are inserted (Fig. 3). Next take two strips of hardwood eighteen inches in length, using about three-quarter-inch stuff; also two more similar strips three feet nine inches in length. Bevel the ends of these pieces of wood so that when joined they will appear as in Fig. 4, left. The joints for these tent supports are the most difficult part of the construction. They will probably have to be made at a machine shop. Each consists of a one-quarter-inch brass rod (about the size of a fat pencil) with holes drilled in the lower end for the attachment of wires. Passing through and welded to each rod is a one-half-inch-wide metal strip extending out about one-half inch at either side forming wings, with a hole drilled through each wing. Slits or deep grooves about three-fourths inch in depth should then be cut in the beveled end of each stick or support into which the wings are fitted. Holes should be bored through the sticks to correspond with the holes in the wings. Bolts are then passed through the holes and hammered at each end so as to clinch them, thus preventing their slipping out (Fig. 4, left).

In the lower end of each of the upright sticks of this device a quarter-inch hole is bored and a piece of dowel stick glued into the hole. A thin wire nail driven into the upright and a binding of copper wire help to secure the dowel stick (Fig. 6).

Detail of framework of home-made camping outfit. Note in Fig. 6 how the little piece of dowel stick is inserted into the upright of the tent frame. Figs. 7 and 9 show how the frame and cots are assembled, while Fig. 8 gives detail for wiring.

You now have a framework secured by brass [42]joints and fitted at the lower end with wooden posts which rest in the outer holes at the ends of the cots (Figs. 7 and 9). As the illustrations indicate, the framework described must be made in duplicate, one for each end of the tent.

From the holes in the two corner joints of this arrangement picture wire is stretched to the screw-eyes at the inner ends of the crosspieces and secured by snap-buckles (Fig. 8, left).

At each end of the tent a flat piece of brass, two and a half inches long and three-quarter inches wide is the means employed for the guy ropes and ridge wire. There are three holes in the brass piece, one for the guy rope, the center one for the center post in the tent’s framework, and the third for the ridge wire (Fig. 8, center and right).

The exterior of the tent is similar to that of an ordinary tent in shape. It can be made from any quality of duck, but should be waterproofed when completed. Waterproofing preparations can be bought at most sporting goods or hardware stores.

The slope of the roof of the tent on each side is three feet ten inches by six feet six inches. The outside walls below the slope are twenty-one inches by six feet six inches. These are the dimensions for the outside of the tent and the pattern for its construction is shown in Fig. 10. One feature that will [43]be noted is that the outside flaps are fitted with holes for tapes so that they may be tied back to the ridge, permitting the freer flow of air.

The inner side flaps are similar to the outer, except that a stretch of sixteen inches of mosquito netting is inserted running from end to end of the tent wall (Fig. 11). Top fits end of pole 10 again.

The bottom strip of the inner side-flaps referred to in the above paragraph is of sufficient length so that six inches of it can be turned in to lie along the outer side of the cot. The weight of mattress, blankets or whatever is used to sleep on will keep this turned-in flap from coming out.

Along the ridge on the inside of the tent is secured a seven-inch-wide strip running the length of the tent (Fig. 11). By use of the clips or pins this serves as a clothes rack at night.

The only feature that remains to be considered is the ends of the tent. These ends, illustrated in the upper part of Figure 12, are thirty-six inches wide at the base, fifty inches high at the inner edge, twenty inches high at the outer edge, and forty-five inches along the shoulder. These dimensions permit an outside overhang of four inches at the bottom. [44]An eight-inch inside flap is sewed on four inches from the bottom, and is turned under the mattress, or sleeping bag, when the tent is closed.

It is advisable to make a waterproof bag in which to carry the tent. This done, the equipment consists of the following main items:

The total outfit weighs under sixty pounds.

The Huntingtons carried this equipment in a two-compartment box on the rear of a Ford roadster. The size of this box was 42¾ by 37⅛ by 20½ inches. One compartment was devoted to this equipment and the other carried two suit cases, blocks and tackle, and water bottles. They also carried a running board cupboard, the dimensions of which were 45 by 28 by 8¾ inches.

This outfit, with ponchos, blankets, and extra clothing, constituted the entire equipment.

Cooking utensils were not a serious factor in this trip, as the desire to cover a long distance in a limited amount of time caused the travelers to purchase most of their meals en route rather than take the time required for cooking.

Tent pattern of home-made camping outfit. Note in the upper part of Fig. 10 the little tab sewed on at the tent corner, holding the ring to which the side guy ropes are secured. Another feature is the mosquito netting inside flaps which permit free circulation of air. Fig. 11 is a strip of canvas along the ridge which, with pins or clips, serves as a hanger for clothes.

[45]

The feature of the compartment described above is that the two compartments are horizontal, the lower being covered by the false bottom of the upper. Equipment not needed at every stop is kept in the lower compartment and hence is not in the way when the campers are packing or unpacking.

The Huntington compartment is covered with waterproof canvas affixed with curtain cleats.

End pieces of tent of home-made camping outfit, and the way the design appears when closed. Note the various cross cords and tapes which permit of close tying in case of storms. Normally the side flap is tied back, with the inner mosquito netting flap acting as side wall, since the latter permits of better ventilation.

[46]

In these days when the gypsy habit is being contracted by many thousands who tour to the southlands in the winter season and across the continent during the summertime there are many who find it most convenient to have special caravan car bodies which in effect are land yachts or traveling bungalows. Some of a mechanical turn or training will take one of the standard chassis and build upon it a bungalow top to suit the owner’s needs and tastes. In other instances a special bungalow body will be built to order by one or other of the automobile manufacturers; and local car dealers will give the inquirer a list of body makers who will undertake this kind of construction.

We give an illustration of a traveling bungalow built for a man prominently identified with the automobile industry who uses the outfit in his business, which takes him afar over this country, and also for gypsy tours with his family in vacation time.

This outfit is a real home. Measuring seventeen feet long and six feet wide, the house itself contains everything necessary for comfort. The furniture is skillfully designed so that the tables fold and other pieces nest into each other for economy in space.

The beds are made up at night from the seats in somewhat the same manner that a lower berth takes shape under the deft hands of George, the porter. But these berths are longer, wider and infinitely more restful. Then the windows are large [48]and can be raised without the aid of a crowbar. The ventilation is perfect.

As one-third of human life is spent in sleep and a considerable portion in consuming food, the dining apparatus of this portable home is designed with the same care as bestowed upon the sleeping quarters. The table, sufficiently large, folds neatly into a minimum of space. The refrigerator is commodious enough to meet the expectations of the keenest appetite.

This gypsy caravan contains five lockers, including one devoted to the commander’s dress clothes, a tent to provide extra sleeping space on the roof of the car, a thirty-gallon tank containing water under air pressure for the shower bath, a writing desk, electric lights throughout, a two-burner stove, fireless cooker and phonograph.

With this equipment the family toured New England in summer. The trip totaled 1,666 miles and the entire expense for gasoline, tips, cleaning and storage was only $66.44, or less than four cents a mile for the journey.

The matter of trailers is one of considerable dispute. Some tell of seeing abandoned trailers left broken down along the roadside. Others declare that they never knew motor camping comfort until they came to use a trailer. Undoubtedly a trailer reduces the speed somewhat. However, the pull of [49]a good trailer only amounts to about twenty-five pounds, and so will not interfere with reasonable speed. On the main highways with wide roadways and easy grades a trailer will be a great convenience and source of comfort and give no trouble. On the other hand, where the grades are steep and the roads narrow and crooked the trailer is quite likely to prove a large-sized nuisance. One can back around a street corner with his trailer in the rear without great difficulty, but to back one down a stretch of crooked mountain road to a turn-out so that a descending car may pass him would be beyond the power of the ordinary driver.

Trailer owners may find trailer regulations of the various states tabulated in Chapter XIV.

There are several good makes of trailers at moderate prices. One firm is planning to offer a snug little trailer to follow a motorcycle, which has a number of points in its favor. As designed it can be attached to any make of motorcycle, using the rear end of the chassis as a connecting bar. The end of the trailer is fitted with a double swivel which fits into a clamp on the side car chassis and is secured there by a spring locking pin.

Among trailers there is the Motorbungalow which comes in two forms. There is the Motorbungalow, Junior. This is a real folding house, with kitchenette, wardrobe space, screened windows, comfortable [50]beds, large enough when erected to afford two bedrooms or dining-room in inclement weather. The Motorbungalow, Junior, is light and compact. It will follow an automobile almost anywhere, carrying all spare equipment. The erecting of the Motorbungalow, Junior, is very simple for the walls and roof are permanently secured to the folding frame. No canvas has to be spread or fastened on during the pitching of the camp. The bed frames, which are fastened to the sides of the trailer body, are turned over, the top raised and strapped into position, and the house is ready for occupancy. It can be done in the dark. The Motorbungalow, Junior, is listed at $225.00. The Motorbungalow is built on somewhat the same plans as the Junior of the same name. Both leave the motor camper with the unimpeded use of his car. Both have a forged steel axle, roller bearing wheels, 30 by 3½ inch pneumatic tires, and reënforced steel frame and hardwood floor.

Three trailers. At the top is the Motorbungalow Jr. packed for the journey. In the middle is the Chenango with sides let down, giving a bungalow effect. The lowest picture is the Auto-Kamp, showing the framework ready for the tent top. The framework folds into a small space when the trailer is on tour.

The Motorbungalow, however, is much more elaborate in its appointments than the Junior. In interior dimensions there is an open floor space, 4 by 7 feet. The room size is 9 by 12 feet. There is a kitchenette containing work table, pockets for knives, forks, spoons, etc. Special shelves provide for jars and for cooking utensils. There is a large ice box and an emergency water tank, both finished in white enamel. A table finished in mahogany with white top acts as an inside door to kitchenette when touring or when not in use. Then there [51]is a permanent table formed by the top of the wardrobe and kitchenette which is four feet wide and triangular in shape. There are side curtains which are of brown “Fabrikoid,” also curtains to the rear of the same; a large wardrobe where clothes may be hung at full length, two beds four feet by six feet two; cotton mattresses two and a half inches thick, screened windows; back door and step—door locked by key from inside or out.

Another trailer but somewhat simpler than that just described is the “Auto-Kamp” Trailer. The Auto-Kamp can be set up in a few minutes and provides a tent 7 by 12 feet upon a frame that extends out from the trailer when it is opened up. There are two windows with storm-proof covers opened or closed from the inside. The beds simply fold over on strong hinges, tent frame sets up in sockets, bed legs are fitted with adjustable ends to take care of uneven ground so that beds will be level. The beds are high and dry, each large enough for two adults—size 48 by 76 inches, sagless bed springs and felt mattresses. Four feather pillows are furnished. There is a curtain for dividing the tent into two sections. A comfortable bed can be made up on the floor of the trailer for children and cots may be placed under the beds for extra members of the party. The body of the trailer is made of selected woods securely ironed and braced. [52]The end gate is made to form a convenient step when dropped. The floor is of matched lumber, put together with white lead so as to exclude all dust on the road. The axles are 1¼-inch solid drop-forged steel, fitted with automobile type ball-bearing hubs. Standard 56-inch tread. Regular equipment is 30 by 3 pneumatic tires on artillery wheels. There is also standard equipment of electric light outfit complete with wire and plug for attaching in any socket on car, folding table, folding shelf, two burner gasoline stove and electric tail light outfit, with dry battery.

Still another notable trailer, which is known as the “Chenango Camp Trailer,” provides outdoor comfort with privacy. This is listed at $375.00. In a very short time this trailer can be converted into a 10 by 14 foot bungalow with two comfortable bedrooms, a kitchen equipped with a two-burner vapor stove and oven, encased in a fireproof metallic cabinet with ventilator, refrigerator of fifty pounds ice capacity, kitchen cabinet capable of carrying a week’s provisions for a party of four, four large dust-proof clothes lockers, running water, electric lights, dining-room seating six, which is a reading and recreation room at night and all that one could desire in a 10 by 14 foot camp. The two bedrooms, which are ventilated by screened glass windows adjustable to any angle, contain each a double spring, [53]sagless bed with down mattresses and are separated by a four-foot aisle. The bungalow has 9⅓-foot head room. Everything can be reached at a moment’s notice and the entire outfit made ready for the road without any tiresome packing in a few seconds. The trailer body is of hard wood tongued and grooved and covered by 24-gauge sheet metal. The roof is made of collapsible framework of quarter-inch steel tubing which by a simple operation drops down into retaining sockets, allowing the sides of the bungalow to fold up and the roof to collapse over all without disturbing the contents of the bungalow. The trailer is supported on 30 by 3½ pneumatic tires and springs with roller bearings and demountable rims. The weight is 850 pounds with equal carrying capacity. The axle is of nickel steel with Timken roller bearings.

Many persons, however, do not find it feasible or desirable to have either a convertible body or to own a land yacht for motor touring. Others do not care to sleep in the car body, but prefer rather to pitch a tent either in connection with the car, alongside, or near by. Such will require something in the way of tenting equipment. In many aspects a tent entirely separate from the car has its advantages. The car is then simply parked near by and is available for side trips, journeys to market, near-by sights, etc. [54]

As for tents, the variety available is well-nigh infinite, and at almost any price from several dollars up. The humble pup-tent, or the army A tent (so named from its shape) will serve very well for those who don’t mind roughing it.

Of tents attached to the car there are those that do not touch the ground and others that have a ground attachment. Still others are entirely separate from the car and form independent units. Some tents use poles and others are supported entirely by ropes. Where tent poles are used they are as a rule in sections for convenience in packing.

Of sleeping tents that are attached to the roof of the car and extend from its side without reaching the ground, save by the guy ropes and the supporting frame, the Auto Bed Camp is a good example. These tents come in units for two people, and are sufficiently rugged to accommodate two large adults. The supporting frame is so constructed as to increase the tension of the bed canvas in proportion to the weight superimposed, thus preventing any sagging of the bed. The bed is protected on all sides and screened windows admit sufficient air. Such a tent bed is practically damp proof, as a tent [55]with a floor cloth resting on the ground cannot be.

There are many styles of tents that attach to the car, some of them extremely ingenious in construction. Many of these tents use no poles, but are supported by ropes that fasten to the top of the car. Some of these tents are very simple and are little more than canopies, while others are quite elaborate with sod cloths for the floor, side walls, flies, and folding cots.

An inexpensive tent thus attaching to the side of the car by ropes that go over the top, a tent having walls but using no poles, and having no floor, may be bought as low as $7.50 for the 7 by 7 foot size, $6.50 for size 5 by 7 feet. This tent can be set up either with or without the auto. One has simply to throw the front flap over the car and fasten to the wheels or stakes on the opposite side with guy ropes which are furnished. To use without the car, with front flap closed, two 6½-foot poles are required. This particular tent is styled a Double Service Moto-tent.

It may be remarked in passing that in pricing tents on specifications supplied by the manufacturers [56]it will be well to keep in mind this information. The United States Government Standard yard of duck is 29 by 36 inches. A piece of canvas this size that weighs eight ounces is the “U. S. Standard” eight-ounce duck. If it weighs ten ounces it is U. S. Standard ten-ounce duck. Many manufacturers, jobbers and dealers use 36 by 36 inches as their standard yard. On this basis six-ounce “U. S. Standard” duck is called eight ounce, and eight-ounce “U. S. Standard” is sold for ten ounce. This means that they are using a lighter weight than the U. S. Standard, though using the same terminology as to weight in ounces. The only basis for comparative purchasing is to determine whether the statement of weight is based on a 29 by 36 or a 36 by 36 yard.

Above the Moto-Tent of the type attaching to the side of the car. In the middle, the simple Scouts Featherweight Tent. At the bottom a light serviceable Outdoor Week-End Tent

In small, inexpensive tents that stand apart from the car, tents without floors, a quite satisfactory article is the Scout Featherweight Shelter Tent.

The “Scout Featherweight” has a door at each end, and each door is equipped with an overlapping lapel and double row of tie strings. Draw the lapels together, tie them securely and the whole world is shut out completely.

Two folding poles, six stakes and a pack-bag are supplied with each tent. It’s no trick at all for a man or a boy to put the tent up in two minutes. No ridge poles, no guy lines. [57]

This tent is made of water-proofed aëroplane cloth—khaki color. The cost of the “Scout Featherweight” in the smallest size is only $5.00, with $1.50 extra if a sod cloth is desired. The smallest size is 7 by 5 feet, 3 feet high, with two poles and six stakes.

There is a larger Scout tent than the Featherweight which is made of the same lightweight aëroplane khaki cloth. It is fitted with automatic loop fasteners for the ridge pole or for a rope stretched between two trees. It is supplied with necessary guy lines. Doors at front and rear have double lapels and automatic button fasteners. Four ventilators, one in each gable end and one in each side wall diagonally opposite supply fresh air. The size is 6 feet wide, 6 feet high and 6 feet long, with a 3-foot side wall and 9-inch sod cloth. It rolls into a bundle 6 by 18 inches and weighs only eight pounds. This tent may be bought for $12.00, canvas packing bag fifty cents extra.

A more elaborate type of tent, but still one comparatively inexpensive in cost, is called “The Overland Trail Camp.” The occupants are completely shut in. This tent also has a bed for two people raised fifteen inches from the floor. The ground space covered is 8 feet 6 inches by 5 feet. The peak in front is 6 feet, and the back wall 30 inches. The space in front of the bed is 5 feet by 2 feet 6 inches. [58]There are three pockets on the side wall, with a netting door sewed to the front wall. The smallest model is the one described, and it is suitable for two people traveling very light, on long trips, making overnight stops. The weight of tent and fixtures, including stakes and pins, is only seventeen pounds. This tent is priced at $38.50.

One of the most recent tent outfits upon the market is a tourist tent called the Khaki Watershed. This is priced at $22.50. As the name would suggest, it is designed to afford full protection from rain and moisture and to be mildew-proof. Rolled up with its jointed poles and packed in its waterproof bag its weight is only eighteen pounds. This tent supplies sufficient space for three cots and can be erected either separately or attached to the car. When erected separately the front flap may be used as an awning in front of the tent. The quickest and usual way is to throw the flap over the car and the tent will be ready for occupancy in a jiffy.

Those who wish something more expensive have a wide variety of tents to choose from. Some of the more elaborate, and yet light in weight, are made of silk balloon cloth. These are somewhat costly, but for those who don’t mind a little expense they are extremely satisfactory. Lack of space will not allow a description of these here, but any one by writing to the leading dealers in sportsman’s supplies [59]will be supplied with catalogues which will show these more elaborate and costly designs.

One of these larger tents that illustrate the more elaborate provision that is made for the motor camper who desires this sort of thing is called the Tentobed which may be set up without any external support. A light collapsible frame made from cold drawn steel when erected supports the canvas. A tent which folds up 4 feet long and 8½ inches in diameter and weighing only sixty-nine pounds has a dressing or extra room alongside full length of bed, 6 feet 4 inches long and 4 feet wide, and may be completely inclosed. This room may be used for an extra bed, double or single, or for serving and cooking lunch in case of rain. The drop curtain is 6 feet square and may be extended out as an awning if desired. The tent has two large ventilating windows with storm flaps, adjustable from inside with draw cords, and special marquisette net curtain full length of tent alongside of bed, secured by buttons in double flaps, making the bed absolutely insect-proof. The list price of this outfit, including tent, tent supports, new model steel tube bed, rain and dust-proof carrying case and steel tube frame for setting up independent of car, is $80.00. [60]

A type of the old-fashioned ordinary tent with which we are all familiar is called the Cabco Wall Tent. These tents come in five sizes, ranging from 5 by 7 feet and 5½ feet high to 12 by 14 feet and 8 feet in height. The side walls are 3 feet, save in the largest size, where they are 3½ feet. These tents come with fly and jointed ridge-poles, as also jointed uprights. Sod cloths are likewise provided. The largest size weighs close to a hundred pounds and will cost in the neighborhood of fifty dollars.

Closely related to tents as part of the equipment of the motor camper is that of beds and bedding. Of course, if resourceful and of economic trend the motor camper may equip himself fairly from his home supplies. With car cushions and suit cases he may arrange the foundation for a bed in his car upon which he will spread blankets and comfortables or such other bedding as he may find room for in his car.

But many will prefer the purchased rather than the home-made article in the way of beds and bedding. For such the variety offered is large.

If the camper prefers to bed out of his car rather than within its shelter he may get the De Luxe Comfort Bed, which is a combination of tent and bed. This in the smallest size will cost him about [61]a hundred dollars. This outfit consists of a double bed with a tent over and around it. The bed is a full-size forty-eight-inch double spring bed which easily accommodates two full-sized adults. It is equipped with a special spring tension regulator. The cotton floss mattress rolls up into a light compact bundle. The tent is of the highest grade waterproofed and mildew-proofed Emeraldite, very light of weight, yet tough. At the side of the tent are screened windows, with shutters adjustable from the inside, that give ventilation and light and regulate both. They also afford complete protection from bugs and mosquitoes. The tent is 6½ feet wide by 6½ feet deep, giving ample dressing room when the front is closed. As the tent is supported by four telescopic steel tubes mounted on the four corners of the bed, no poles are required. Ropes are provided for fastening the tent to the ground, but they are never needed except in case of severe storms.

There are a number of combination bed, tent and carrying case outfits, some of them very cleverly designed and exceedingly complete, yet compact. One of these which comes in several sizes is a combination for use with any auto. It is equipped with clamps for instantly attaching to the running board. There are no holes to drill. The bed has sagless, non-stretchable springs which enable a heavy person [62]and a light person to lie comfortably without rolling together. The tent of waterproof, mildew-proof material is olive drab in color and is four feet wide by seven feet long. The tent fits close around the edge of the bed and reaches the ground on all sides, shutting out all draft under the bed. The storm-proof bobbinet insect windows, which operate from the inside of the tent, allow plenty of ventilation. The complete weight is sixty-three pounds. The carrying case has an extra flap to hold three or four double blankets. Three straps hold the tent securely to the auto top, and a rod through the tent top makes correct attachment for either roadster or touring car. The back wall is a continuation of the tent top. No rain can enter. No ropes or stakes are needed. The combination is priced at $47.50.

Of beds that may be used inside the car there are many. One of these, called the “Utility,” is designed to serve many purposes, as it may be used in any wall tent, auto tent, sleeping porch, cabin, inside most touring cars, and as a spare bed in the home. The legs are adjustable for use inside touring cars, to pass over the seat backs. No ropes or fastenings are necessary. The bed is self-supporting, and the legs rest upon the seat standards after the cushions are removed. The frame is all steel, with an easy, quick-folding arrangement allowing a set-up in three minutes. When set up this bed is 45 inches [63]wide by 73 inches long, and when folded measures 5 inches in diameter by 45 inches long. It may be carried folded in the tonneau of most cars. The weight is forty-eight pounds and the listed cost $18.50.

Then we have beds which are somewhat similar to hammocks suspended from end to end of the car. One of these hammock beds is called the “Tour-bed” and rolls into a bundle four feet four inches long and only four inches in diameter with a weight of twelve pounds. The bed is really an apron of heavy duck stretching from the back of the car to the front, over the wheel. It is said to be strong enough to carry two people weighing together over five hundred pounds. The Tour-bed is anchored to the axles, main springs or car frame, front and rear, so that there is no danger of pulling anything loose. The sleeper can adjust the bed to suit his own individual fancy as to rigidity, as the anchorage straps pull against the springs of the car itself. The front braces or legs rest on the floor and the rear braces on the floor under the rear cushion. The price of this appliance is $15.00.

There are also several kinds of auto-beds made that will fit any car and which make use of the [64]cushions of the car over which the auto-bed, made of heavy canvas, is stretched. The canvas is fastened to the four corners of the car, and upon the canvas the autoist lays down as many blankets as he can spare to put under him. Such a bed can be adjusted in a few minutes and to most people is quite satisfactory.

When we take up the question of food preparation and the cooking utensils required we have a great variety of appliances and a wide range of preference. Some will manage without any cooking utensils and will get along with an open fire on the ground. Naturally in such a case the motor camper is liable to have more or less difficulty with his fire in rainy weather. But notwithstanding the inconvenience due to inclement weather there are some hardy and resourceful souls that, like the wild Indians and trappers of former days, manage to make out very well with an open fire, whether it rains or shines.

The average motor camper, however, will find it much more convenient to provide himself with some sort of equipment for cooking or at least heating part of his food and drink. If nothing more, he will carry with him solidified alcohol in some form [65]or other. Those little kits for the use of alcohol in cubes or simply in a can do not give out a great deal of heat and are not good for much except for making tea, coffee or cocoa, or for heating up canned goods, such as beans. Yet they are convenient and absolutely clean. They are also entirely safe and may be used in the car itself. For short trips, such as week-ends, one can make out pretty well with this sort of thing, but on longer tours the motor camper will probably want to have something in the way of a regular stove, either for wood, oil or gasoline.

And here there is extensive variety of choice. Take first what we may term regular stoves.

About the simplest and least expensive of these is the “Rush Stove.” It is simply a rectangular box-like affair that folds up flat. It will burn any kind of solid fuel, but works best with wood. It costs about five dollars, and can be set up in ten seconds.

This stove weighs but seven pounds and folds into a package only one and a half inches thick. It may be packed under the seat of an auto or strapped on the back of a motorcycle. Nevertheless, this stove is thoroughly substantial, is made of 20-gauge sheet steel with four thicknesses at the corners, where strength is needed.

Another very satisfactory stove for solid fuel is the “Livingood.” This is somewhat more extensive and complete than the one just mentioned and costs [66]about twice as much money. The “Livingood” folds flat to a thickness of four inches. It comes with oven, three-quart water container, eight-cup coffee-pot and will roast a sizable potato in thirty minutes. When set up the stove proper is roughly two feet long, a foot wide and a foot high. It works best with wood or charcoal. In material the top is 22-gauge black iron, the body and oven of 26-gauge black iron, and the hinges of copper built with the body. The stove alone without the extras comes to $7.50.

Various kinds of cooking apparatus. At the top is the dingle stick; immediately below is the Kampkook gasoline stove; to the right of the Kampkook is the Livingood stove burning solid fuel and having the advantage of folding into a flat form when not in use. At the lower left is the Juwel, a kerosene burner.

Oil stoves are pretty effective, but they are usually not collapsible, accordingly bulky, and likewise are hard to keep clean, particularly such types of them as use wicks. The best are those kinds that operate under air pressure, like plumber’s torches, and without a wick. These high-pressure wickless stoves are very efficient. One, called the “Juwell,” will raise two pints of cold water—sixty degrees—to boiling in three or four minutes at the outside. This stove is claimed to be faultless in operation, also to make no noise, deposit no soot, and be absolutely free from danger of explosion.

However, there are exceptions to all rules, and there is at least one oil stove for campers which can be knocked down and packed up. It is the Optimus Traveling and Camp Stove. It can be taken apart and various parts packed into a small fiber [67]box, which also has places for a bottle of spirits, cleaning pins and a funnel. The oil tank is fitted with a hermetical brass stopper which permits the stove to be carried full of petroleum. The capacity is one quart of oil.

There are many kinds of gasoline stoves, but there is some danger attached to their use, as this fluid leaks out very readily and is, as all know, very volatile and inflammable. Of course, the great advantage lies in the fact that it is a material that the motorist is sure to have at hand, and a gasoline stove when working right certainly does the work in short order.

One of the best gasoline stoves is the Colorado Sure Meal Camp Stove. It burns with such a hot flame that the stove can be opened up and water boiled in five minutes. The burners can also be easily regulated and the fire controlled to a nicety. There are two burners solidly mounted in the grate, making this part of the stove practically one piece. There is nothing to get out of order. The stove has an adjustable wind-shield. The Sure Meal Stove has its burners enclosed in a heavy steel case, with grids at the top like an ordinary gas or gasoline stove. The top is covered except for these grids, preventing the flames from being blown out by the wind. The extra cover folds back to form a shelf or warming oven. The tank rests outside the stove [68]and holds three pints of fuel. The legs may be folded up when not in use, thus taking up little or no room. For carrying, the tank is detached and placed inside the stove, the shelf folding over the top of the stove as a cover, with a sure catch to hold it in place. The stove then resembles a small suit case in shape and measures only 18 by 11 by 3½ inches. This stove may also be had with a folding oven which when in use is set over the stove. A feature of this oven is the metal and asbestos plate on the shelf. This plate is open on all sides to permit the heat to radiate evenly to all parts of the oven. The asbestos prevents food from burning on the bottom. The oven is collapsible and can be set up or taken down in less than a minute. The front and side are hinged—the top comes off and the shelf out. The oven packs in a galvanized iron box, only 1¾ inches deep, which comes with the oven. This stove is listed at $9.00 and the oven at $5.00.

In addition to stoves, campers use various wire broilers that are supported by legs and that stand on the ground. These cost very little and are a convenience where open fires are used. Similar to the broilers but more substantial are various kinds of camp grids which can be stood over the coals and on which pots, pans and kettles may be placed for cooking purposes. [69]

As to other cooking utensils, aside from stoves or other appliances to be used in connection with cooking fires, the camper has the same wide choice that he has elsewhere. He may have everything going or almost nothing. He may use a skillet for both his coffee and his frying, making the coffee first, and keeping it hot in his pail while he fries his bacon. Then, with tin cup, plate, knife, fork and spoon he may make out to his satisfaction. Another motor camper, however, will be satisfied with nothing less than a complete folding kit of the latest and best cooking outfit offered by the market. Naturally Mr. Average Man will come somewhere in between the extremes noted.

Cooking utensils may be taken along from home, but such will mostly be rather bulky and will not pack together well. There are many comparatively inexpensive outfits that nest together and so take but little room that will meet all the needs of the average motor camper. Almost anywhere the motor camper may buy aluminum ware that nests together and that will meet all requirements.

In buying aluminum ware for camp use it is well to remember that aluminum cups have a tendency to burn the lips because the metal is such a good heat conductor. So agateware cups will prove more satisfactory for the camper’s use. Likewise an aluminum skillet for the same reason is liable to burn on the bottom, and a steel skillet with a folding or [70]removable handle will fill the bill better for the motor camper than one of aluminum. Aside from these cautions the motor camper may go as far as he pleases in buying aluminum ware, and he will be pretty sure to meet with satisfaction. There are, indeed, some campers who feel that lightness compensates for the disadvantages named above even in the case of cups.

A standard aluminum cooking set for two persons, to nest together in a canvas bag eight inches high and nine inches in diameter will cost about twenty dollars and weigh about five pounds. Such a set will consist of 1 seven-pint cooking pot, 1 ten-pint cooking pot, 1 four-pint coffee-pot, 1 frying pan, 2 plates, 2 dessert spoons, 2 cups, 2 soup bowls, 2 knives, 2 forks and 2 teaspoons. As has been seen above, it will be well to substitute for aluminum ware agateware cups and a steel frying pan. These sets come also for three, four and six persons with a corresponding increase in the number of utensils.

As for tools, the motor camper will include the usual number of spare parts and repair and adjustment implements for his car. If his trip is to be at all extensive, or even more than for the week-end, he should not fail to include such items as a good towing line and other equipment to extricate himself if need be from mud holes and other difficulties. [71]In addition the motor camper should have along with him at least a camp ax, a shovel, and a hunting knife. A standard camp ax, “Quarter Ax” size, may be bought for $1.25. This has a nineteen-inch handle. If a larger one, half, three-quarter, or full size is desired, the cost will be a little more. If the camper intends to cut browse for his bed he had best supply himself with a machete. This will cost him in the neighborhood of three dollars for one with a full-size blade of about twenty-two inches.

The car will have its own lights and perhaps a spotlight that within some range will be adjustable. Also the motor camper may be provided with insulated wire, lamp sockets and lamps with which to light his tent and the vicinity of his car. But in addition it will be convenient for him to have a lantern or two. If he lives in the country he may already be provided with lanterns that he may take along. Otherwise he will have use for one of the many camp lanterns that are on the market at small cost.

The temptation for the tenderfoot camper will be to load up with equipment which will burden him and for which he will have small use. These extras he will learn to discard. And yet there are some things that he will find mighty useful and convenient which at first he hardly thought of at all. Such [72]articles as waterproof water bags, folding basins, folding bucket and the like may be included in the above.

In the so-called “Egyptian Sanitary Self-cooling Water Bag” water is kept cool by the principle of refrigeration by evaporation. A small amount of water exuded by the bag evaporates slowly and keeps the contents cool. Colder water can be obtained by exposing the bag to the air on all sides, as when hung up.

Waterproof folding basins come in weight of seven ounces to fold in one-half inch thickness. One such basin costing sixty-five cents is made of brown waterproof duck; capacity, 1 gallon; diameter, 12 inches; height, 3 inches.

It is bound with linen braid and has a wire rim. A canvas folding bucket which costs ninety-five cents is made of the same material in the same way and with a stout rope handle, with a capacity of three gallons. The diameter of this is 9 inches; the height 12 inches, and the weight 8 ounces.

An excellent thing to take along for safety’s sake as a protection from contaminated water is the Army Filter Pump known the world over. This weighs three pounds and has a capacity of a quart a minute. [73]The filter consists of a brass case nickel plated, containing and protecting a cylinder made of infusorial earth. This must be put in water and, by a pump attached at the side, water is forced through the filtering cylinder out through a goose neck tube at the top. The filtering cylinder should occasionally be removed and washed off with a cloth or soft brush.

Everywhere, save in the eastern states and unpopulated parts of the west, the motor camper will find municipal camp sites in nearly all the towns and cities or in their close vicinity. These for the most part are supplied with public water of good quality. In most of them the motorist will also find electricity for light, and in many places gas for cooking. In others he will find fireplaces and fuel for his use. If the motor camper plans to use these public facilities, so numerously supplied, he will not have to depend upon his own resources for the same and so may correspondingly limit his camping equipment.

There is a camping outfit for motor campers that differs from all others in being a substantial canvas bungalow which is set up by itself like a house. It affords larger quarters than any trailer, but packs up so compactly and is so light that it may be carried [74]upon the running board. This is the Rietschel Camping Outfit. The structure can be erected in a few minutes and stands on its own feet like a house. The cost is listed at $98.50 and the weight is only 150 pounds. It has one full-sized bed and two benches that will accommodate six people. The two benches can also be used for children to sleep on. In addition there is a 36-inch table, 55 inches long. The floor space is 6 feet 8 inches by 9 feet. There is no stooping to get in and head room everywhere. Windows on four sides give plenty of ventilation. It is water tight and wind-proof. This entire outfit packs in a box that forms the table and fits on the running board of any car.

Nothing has been said hitherto on the matter of refrigeration. Where the motor camper wishes to take fresh milk, or meat, or such articles as butter or berries, along with him it will be essential to have some means of keeping these in good condition, and about the only thing that will meet such a situation is some kind of a refrigerator.

Some motor campers take along one of the small nursery ice-boxes that most people have who possess babies. These little ice-boxes will not hold much, but where small infants are members of the party they are quite essential, especially where the infants are bottle-fed.

Others take along their fireless cookers, and put [75]a piece of ice inside in place of the hot iron. Fireless cookers make very good refrigerators when so used.

Probably the most convenient arrangement for the motor camper is the refrigerator basket.

A refrigerator basket, called the Hawkeye, is made in several designs and sizes and ranges in price from $6.50 to $24.00. The most expensive one is a strong, light-weight rattan basket with nickel-plated zinc lining, a layer of asbestos and a layer of felt. There is a small removable ice compartment. In size this basket is twenty-five by fourteen inches and ten inches deep. It weighs nine pounds. The cheapest style is twenty-one by ten inches in size and twelve inches in depth. It is not only smaller but less expensively made.

One motor camper had an ingenious arrangement for keeping the baby’s milk cool. He made two wooden boxes, one six by six inches in size, and the other six inches by nine in size. They were both eight inches deep. These were inside measurements. The lids had an extra block of the same thickness as the box (13 by 16 inches) which fitted down inside the box. These boxes were provided with a galvanized-iron lining seven inches deep and fitting snugly inside the boxes. He would ice the boxes to pre-cool them. Then the bottles, filled with the prepared milk, carefully stoppered and wrapped in [76]paper to prevent breakage, were packed in the boxes in chipped ice. These would keep the milk ice cold in ordinary weather for two days with the initial icing. Sterilized nipples were carried in an extra empty bottle.

To heat the baby’s milk water was drawn from the radiator of the car into a pound-size baking-powder can, and the bottle containing the milk was placed in this bottle until sufficiently heated, after which the water was returned to the radiator.

Probably the most satisfactory method of carrying “grub” is to put your dry foodstuffs, such as flour, corn meal, sugar, cereals, dried fruit, etc., into paraffined muslin bags which measure about eight inches across and which sit one on top of the other, in a waterproof canvas bag with a double throat for double protection from dust and insects. The little bags should be plainly labeled on their sides for such articles as coffee, tea, cooking fat, and the like. Use friction-top tins, which are made broad and flat to fit a cylindrical bag, for greasy foods, such as ham and bacon.

Wooden salt and pepper shakers are the best, because salt will not suffer hydration in a wooden shaker, but the grains will keep dry and separate.

It should hardly be necessary to remind the motor tourist that such adages as “Safety First,” “It’s Better To Be Safe Than Sorry,” and a “Stitch in [77]Time …” supply a wise basis of conduct for the motor tourist.

We sometimes hear a tourist boasting the speed at which he “hits it up,” “giving the other fellow the dust,” etc.; or telling how he made his forty per right along, and with a trailer, too. All such talk is supremely silly.

Watching for crossings, breaks in the road, and other wise precautions involve going at a moderate pace. The “Speed Fiend” is a peril to himself and a danger to every one who crosses his path.

One objection to speed is the effect on the tires. The thoughtful tourist will seek to lessen tire heat as much as possible on long tours. Run the wheels through water wherever convenient. Keep to the shady side of the street wherever possible. If there is a dirt side-road run on the dirt slowly and so cool the tires of your machine.

Keep the tires well inflated, the radiator full, and the fan belt sufficiently taut. On hot days coast down the slopes with your engine shut off. If the engine heats, wedge open the hood at the back so as to get better ventilation.

In the hilly regions of the Northeast, and among the mountains of the West, it is all-important to have both brakes in prime condition. On some of the Western roads the much advocated use of the engine as a break is almost positively essential. However, elsewhere most hills may be negotiated with the brakes alone, thus avoiding strain on the driving mechanism. Approach a descent slowly, so [78]as to avoid heating up the breaks by a sudden checking of speed. Alternate in the application of the brakes and thus avoid heating. Do not lock the hand brake, but hold it in your hand tensing and relaxing as required.

Watch your spark lever. The driver who leaves the spark lever fully advanced, irrespective of grades, road conditions and speeds, imposes unnecessary strain on the engine, and does not get the efficiency he should in car performance. It pays to regulate the spark to suit the load and speed of the engine so that ignition does not take place either too early or too late for smooth running and a steady flow of power.

In rainy or misty weather the wind-shield becomes obscured. There are a number of more or less successful devices for cleaning off the accumulated moisture. It is claimed by those who ought to know that a sliced onion rubbed over the surface of the glass will prevent the gathering of moisture upon it. Others are equally confident that a moistened plug of ordinary chewing tobacco is an efficient wind-shield cleaner if rubbed over the surface of the glass. There are soaps and other substances that are sold for the purpose of cleaning the wind-shield, and like the above-mentioned articles are more or less effective. The squeegee mechanical cleaners that work back and forth are probably the most efficient cleaners. A mechanical cleaner is the only kind efficient with snow. At any rate, keep your wind-shield clear and you will drive more safely. [79]

Always stop for street cars or omnibuses, unloading or loading. In most cities this is required by local ordinances, and in some states the traffic laws impose the same requirement.

Motorists should spread the gospel of good roads to all men, and great will be their reward in tire-saving.

Women drivers of vehicles should be given special consideration, and, some say, watching.

A small amount of shellac will stop small leaks in radiators.

Any kind of grease (butter, lard, etc.) is good to soften road tar adhering to fender, bumpers, etc., for easy removal.

To heat a tent on a cold night, fill a bucket with stones piping hot from the camp fire. Invert and cover with bucket. Good as a stove. [80]

It will be obvious that the camper should not camp or even park his car on or in front of private property without asking permission of the owner or occupant of such property. Of course, where the motor camper is in a wild and uninhabited region it may not be practicable to seek permission, and in such a case he may take a chance on trespassing. But as a rule this cannot be advised as either right or wise.

So many motor campers in the past have abused the hospitality of farmers by carelessly and even wantonly breaking down shrubbery, leaving rubbish, injuring trees and otherwise comporting themselves as nuisances that in some sections the farmers are hostile to the motor camper and so the decent, law-abiding man has to suffer for the sins of the vandal. [81]

Notwithstanding the abuse of hospitality on the part of some motor campers, the good citizen and gentleman will not find it difficult to deal with the average farmer, who will be as quick to appreciate fair and courteous treatment as he is ready to resent the misconduct of those who abuse his hospitality.

In some communities where there are no public facilities for motor campers schoolhouse yards are available or church grounds and sheds. Naturally the schoolhouse sites will be available only during vacation time, or outside of school hours.

The motor camper who is content to follow the beaten ways and the main highways need, as a rule, not go far to find a municipal camping park. The tabular list of these parks, given elsewhere, will indicate in the main the privileges and facilities offered by each of these parks. In the great majority of cases, even where no fee may be charged, the motor camper is required to register and secure permission to camp.

Most of the municipal motor-camping parks have facilities for cooking. Where there are no fireplaces other provision is likely to be made. Gas ranges with quarter meters are found provided at many camping parks. Sometimes wood stoves are at the service of the motor camper, and free fuel.

The question of water supply is very important. The municipal camping parks usually provide city water which is almost sure to be safe. The water from the wayside well with the old oaken bucket may seem safe, and may be cool and sparkling. But [82]farmers are entirely too careless about the location of the house or barn well with reference to the barnyard and the manure pile for such sources of water supply to be used without careful examination. Furthermore, the farmhouse itself may be a source of peril to health because the family well may receive the drainage of a leaky or overflowing cesspool. Or there may be no toilet within doors and the outdoor privy may stand on higher ground than the well with dangerous results.

The wayside spring is by no means a safe source of water supply, as it often receives drainage from barnyards or from fields upon which manure has been spread. The same may be said of the small streams which abound in some sections of the country. The larger streams also are open to the suspicion of impurity. What then is the camper to do in case he wishes to camp elsewhere than in a public motor camping park? There is only one safe thing to do when you must use water that has not been tested and certified, and that is, boil all the water you drink. Of course, boiled water is not very tasty. It is apt to be flat and dead to the taste, but better drink flat and dead water than take poison which you will surely imbibe if you drink much of the water referred to above. One sure way to get good water is to drink only boiled drinks, or drinks, [83]such as tea and coffee, made with water that has been boiled. In fall, spring and winter boiled water, when cooled, really is not bad. Neither is it so in summer after it has been hung up to cool in a canvas bag or filter. This last has considerable value in purifying water, but it is not certain, as some bacterial impurities are so small that they will pass with the water through the ordinary filter.

Aside from the matter of contamination, water sometimes is unsuitable for drinking because of its being mineralized. In the western section of this country, particularly the Rocky Mountain and arid sections, there may be so much alkali in the water as to make it useless for drinking. Also, in some of the middle states the water from certain wells will contain enough sulphur to make it taste unpleasant to the stranger, and even when there is not enough sulphur to taste there may be enough to act rather severely upon the bowels of many people. This will often be so, even when the natives do not seem to mind the water or to get from its use any undesirable results. The alkaline water may be neutralized by the addition of a small amount of hydrochloric acid, but don’t put in enough to make the water taste sour. The addition of lime water to the water impregnated with sulphur would tend to eliminate the difficulty. That, however, is inconvenient, and about the only thing to do is either to find water that is free from sulphur or else motor away from the region where the water is bad. [84]

If the desire is to camp elsewhere than in a municipal motor camping park certain conditions must be considered in making the selection of a camp site. Considering that the motor camper will tent and have a regular camp fire, wood and water are prime essentials. Seek high, well-drained land. Avoid stony or rocky ground or shallow soil. Do not camp in a pine or hemlock grove, at least in summer, as fire is liable to creep and spread in the fallen pine needles and hemlock leaves. If possible camp near hemlocks, firs, spruce or other evergreens, as these have great value for the camper. The air from evergreen trees has an aromatic quality which is both grateful and healthful.

Should the camp be on a hillside dig a shallow trench above the tent and on both sides to carry off the water when it rains. Camp if possible where fallen or dead timber is near to serve as fuel, and where there is no brush or weeds that will be hard to clear away. White birches are very useful to the camper because the bark when peeled off the dead trunks makes splendid kindling. For tent pins use steel pegs, the longer the better. If steel pins are not used, cut maple or birch pins an inch in diameter and at least eighteen inches long. Cut these pins off across a log with two short blows of the ax, cutting at an angle.

Automobiles lined up at Grand Haven State Park, Michigan

Hotel building at Orchard Beach State Park, Michigan. Note the tents provided for motor campers, rented at lower than room rates to those taking their meals at the hotel

[85]

In disposing of refuse, dig a good-sized hole into which it may be thrown. Before leaving fill up the hole completely with earth. Meanwhile, each time refuse is thrown into this hole, throw upon it several shovelfuls of earth so as to prevent flies, insects, and odors from developing. Never cast refuse into ponds, lakes or streams. It is unsightly and dangerous to health. Clean up at once after each meal. If you have no hot water scrub your plates and kitchen utensils in a brook or lake, using a handful of sand, moss or sod for a dish rag.

The location of the latrine is a matter of great importance both from the standpoint of health and convenience. The motor camping parks established by municipalities as a rule provide toilet facilities. Where the camper does not have these facilities some provision must be made. In many instances a small tent is carried along which provides shelter for a chemical closet. This tent is pitched back of the car and the living tent, if there be one, in as convenient and sheltered a place as can be secured. Still further away, a deep trench or hole should be dug into which the contents of the chemical closet may be thrown from time to time. There should be a quantity of earth at hand which may be shoveled into the hole as often as the contents of the chemical closet are emptied into it.

If the campers have no toilet tent and no chemical closet, the best that can be done will be to locate [86]the latrine in as well-screened and out-of-the-way spot as possible, digging a deep trench which may be used as a toilet and into which, whenever the trench is used for toilet purposes, earth may be shoveled. It would be a help in avoiding odors and securing proper disinfection to have a can of chloride of lime, some of which should be thrown into the trench each time before casting in the earth.

In the vast national forests of this country “Camping is free,” to quote from one of the bulletins of the U. S. Forest Service, “and generally requires no permit. You may choose your own camp ground and help yourself to dead wood.… You may fish or you may hunt with gun or camera. On most of the forests there are no restrictions other than those imposed by the game laws of the states in which the forests are situated. You can find out what these are from forest officers or state game wardens.” (In another chapter of this book the readers will find a tabulated compilation of these game laws.)

To camp in a state forest a permit is usually required, which may be secured as a rule from the local forester. The camper in a state forest is subject to a number of regulations, none of which are unreasonable or onerous. The State of New York, which has more than two million acres in its numerous forest reservations, has perhaps the most comprehensive [87]set of regulations which are typical, and for this reason they are given below:

“General Regulations

“The following rules and regulations are of general application to the state land administered by the Conservation Commission, and are to govern all those who make use of this land. Regulations of special or local application may be adopted from time to time:

“1. No fires except for cooking, warmth or smudge purposes are permitted. No fire shall be lighted until all inflammable material is removed to prevent its spread.

“2. Lighted matches, cigars, cigarettes or burning tobacco must not be deposited or left where they may cause fires.

“3. No official sign posted, or structure maintained under permit, shall be defaced.

“4. Peeling bark or injuring trees is prohibited.

“5. Dead or down wood may be used for fuel by temporary campers.

“6. Camps and adjacent grounds must be maintained in a clean and sanitary condition. Garbage and refuse must be either buried, removed or burned. Waste materials must not be thrown into the waters, or waters polluted.

“7. Each camper on Lake George islands, St. Lawrence Reservation or other much frequented place, must provide a plentiful supply of chloride of lime and dirt, for disinfecting and covering any latrine used by him. All latrines must be cleaned and the contents burned or buried at frequent intervals, in such manner as to prevent offensive odors, and above all to avoid pollution of the water supply.

“8. Canvas tents without platforms for use during short periods may be placed without a permit, but not in a trail or within 150 feet of any spring used for water supply.

“9. No tents (except those under rule 8) or wooden [88]structures shall be erected or maintained in the Forest Preserve, except under written permission from the Conservation Commission (located at Albany, N. Y.). Tar paper shall not be used, except for roofs of open camps erected under permit. The structures for which permits may be granted are as follows. Those erected under (a), (b) or (c) become the property of the state.

“(a) Open camps for use of travelers, not to be occupied by the same person or persons more than three nights in succession or more than ten nights in any one year.

“(b) Open camps for use of campers, hunters or fishermen, may be occupied for reasonable periods.

“(c) Permanent tent platforms for summer camping purposes. Permit granted to use while occupied in good faith. Platform to be left for future use. When not in use permits may be given others to use.

“(d) Temporary tent platforms for summer camping. The platform to be erected and removed simultaneously with the tent.

“(e) Portable canvas houses for summer camping.

“10. No one may claim any particular site from year to year or the exclusive use of the same.

“11. The use of the Forest Preserve or the improvements thereon for private revenue or commercial purposes is prohibited.

“12. Any unoccupied tent or structure may be removed by the Commission.

“13. At St. Lawrence Reservation, where fireplaces are provided, fires must not be kindled elsewhere, nor shall tents on these parks be pitched less than two hundred feet from any public fireplace or boat landing.

“14. No boat is entitled to the exclusive use of any dock built by the state. There must be free access for boats at all times.

“15. Dancing in any building erected by the state is prohibited.

“16. All campers will be held responsible for compliance [89]with these rules, and any person responsible for injury of state property will be held liable for damages and penalties.”

In the matter of fire the New York Conservation Commission adds these cautions:

“The great cause of forest fires to-day is carelessness in its numerous forms. Many fires are due to smokers and to abandoned camp fires. Many people use the woods who do not appreciate that the forest floor is nothing but decayed vegetation and that after a few days of continued dry weather it becomes so dry that the dropping of a match, cigarette or burning tobacco is as likely to cause a fire as if the same burning material was dropped into a basket of dry waste paper. Underneath these dry leaves is in most instances a heavy mat of rotted leaves. After periods of drought, this material, called ‘duff,’ becomes very dry and inflammable, and will hold fire for a long time. Under no circumstances should camp fires be set on this kind of soil.

“A camp fire should be set on a brook bed or shore, or on some camping ground where there is no ‘duff,’ and in all cases the inflammable material around the edge of the fire should be removed, so that it cannot spread. Every camper should be sure the fire is out before it is left.”

Special attention is paid to the New York State Parks and Reservations because New York is our most populous state and because its system of parks and reservations is one of the most extensive. The New York system of parks but illustrates the great wealth of opportunity open to the motor camper.

In addition to the Interstate Palisades Park, with its thirty thousand acres administered by an interstate commission, the State of New York has no less than thirty-two state parks and also eight great [90]forest reserve parks, most of which are administered by the Conservation Commission through the Superintendent of State Forests, his assistants and deputies.

The parks proper are not very extensive and are mainly for the preservation of points of historic interest, such as the Stony Point Battlefield (35 acres), Bennington Battlefield (171 acres), Lake George Battlefield (35 acres), Washington Headquarters at Newburgh, and locations of scenic beauty such as Watkins Glen (103 acres), Niagara Falls State Reservation (112 acres). Some of these parks are not administered by the Conservation Commission, but by special commissions, like the last-mentioned, which is administered by five commissioners appointed by the Governor.

The forest preserves proper of New York are mainly:

First, the Adirondack Park, which comprises 3,313,564 acres, of which forty-nine per cent is owned by the people of New York State; twenty-two per cent is owned by lumber and pulp companies; fifteen per cent is in private parks; six per cent is in small private holdings; two per cent is held by companies interested in minerals; and six per cent is improved lands. For purposes of comparison it may be said that the Adirondack Park is slightly larger than the State of Connecticut.

Second, the Catskill Park, which is readily accessible to the motorists of the Metropolitan District of New York City, and which includes 576,120 [91]acres, of which the state owns 116,364 acres. This park includes the central portion of the Catskill Mountain region. While of less extent than the Adirondack Park, the Catskill Park contains a wealth of wonderful scenery. Excellent macadam and dirt highways enable the motor camper to reach almost all parts of the Catskill Park. There are at least twenty-six delightful camp sites, all provided with fireplaces, that are open to the motor-camping public. A complete list of these public camp sites is given in Chapter XIII, where will be found a tabulated list of public camp sites throughout the United States. There are also half a dozen other Forest Reserve Parks of lesser extent than the two above-mentioned.

People usually think of motor camping as a diversion of the summertime. To be sure, camping is simpler and easier in warm weather, and that is also the season when most folks can get vacations.

But summer camping is not the only seasonal camping. The fall season is one of the pleasantest times to camp. The nights may be cold and even frosty, but the sharp tang in the air will make the experience all the more delightful. In fact, some who are seasoned to motor camping hold that it is only when the leaves begin to fall that nature puts at the disposal of the autoist a copious supply of material by which more satisfactory sleep can be [92]secured. These assert that with a few armfuls of leaves a camp bed can be created that will make the house bed feel like a row of boards in comparison. Another advantage which is adduced by the autumn camper is the comparative exclusiveness that can be secured. A great many of those who tour in summer, not appreciating the enjoyment to be had during the autumn, will stay at home week-ends, or attend the football games. This will give those who do venture forth less crowded roads on which to drive and doubtless exclusive use of their favorite places. Some are selecting semi-permanent sites, which they expect to improve each week-end, and they are fairly sure that on their return to them each time they will not be occupied by others, as would be apt to be the case in the summer.

Specially built touring bungalow, on a Reo chassis, adapting the Pullman idea to the motor vehicle

Hettrick tourist tent showing awning for use outside of sleeping hours or stormy weather

While most of the summer campers may not admit that they are inconvenienced in any way by mosquitoes, bugs or insects of any sort, those who contemplate camping in the fall are quick to agree that one advantage of this sport in cooler weather will be the absence of many such pests. They advise, however, that motorists should take along with their tents a few extra blankets as a protection against the nippings of Jack Frost.

In the winter time motor camping is mostly confined to the crowd of motor campers who to the number of many thousands follow the sun to the Southland. In some places that are central, and, so to speak, crossroads of this travel, as at Tampa, for example, the “tin can tourists,” as those driving [93]a popular make of car are sometimes called, and this, with their own hearty acceptance of the term, have assembled in convention to the number of thousands. One winter these “tin can tourists” assembled in the city just mentioned to the number of several thousand and formed an organization entitled “The Tin Can Tourists of the World.” This organization was rather informal and seems to have gone out of active existence.

As time goes on the number of motor campers trekking South each winter is bound to increase, for those who can spare the time to get away from home will sally forth and head their cars loaded with camping equipment into the South so as to escape the rigors of the season in the North. A few days’ cruising will take the motor camper away from winter into summer and at a cost about equivalent to that of staying at home, particularly when coal bills are taken into consideration.

But there is another class of winter campers. We refer to those whose blood is warm and who can rough it a little even in the face of snow and ice. These hardy souls enjoy camping out during the winter season with a zest that summer cannot afford.

The winter week-ender gets a spice and a thrill from life in the open under the frosty skies of winter that the summertime cannot supply.

When camping during the wintertime seek a sheltered place protected from the wind. In mid-winter the swamps are found the best of places for camping. The mud and water are frozen hard. If possible [94]get under the lee of a dense growth of underbrush, hackmatack or other conifers to keep the wind from blowing the camp fire smoke into your eyes.

The winter camper should not fail to dress as warmly as possible. The best way is not to wear overcoats and thick, heavy underclothes. Much better, put on two, three or even four suits of light underwear and they will keep you warmer than heavy ones. As many as five light jerseys may be worn without making the body bulky and without interfering with your activities in walking, climbing or swinging the ax. The advantage of this arrangement is that you may peel them off like the skins of an onion as you grow warm; and put them on again as you grow cold. Don’t go burdened with too much truck. Take two good blankets, your poncho and your shoes, well oiled, or wear rubber-footed boots, such as may be secured from Boy Scouts Headquarters in New York. Wear two or three pairs of good woolen stockings. If you can secure a pair of buckskin mittens, they will keep your hands warm when pulled over woolen gloves. Take along some stubs of candles, not to burn at night, but with which to light your fires. It does not require much skill to light a candle, even on a windy day, but it sometimes requires a great deal of patience to light a fire on the same sort of a day.

If the winter camper likes he may provide himself with an Indian tent—a circular tent with a hole at the top. With such a tent the fire for cooking may [95]be made on the ground within the tent. The smoke will draw pretty well out of the hole at the top of the tent. The miner’s tent, which is conical in shape, with the pole in the middle, can with little difficulty be used in the same way as the Indian tent. If you are going to have any fire in the tent, other than in an oil or gasoline stove, it will be wise to fireproof the tent. To fireproof a tent all that is required is to get a few cents’ worth of alum at any drug store. Dissolve the alum in water and soak the tent fabric in the solution until it is thoroughly wetted, after which dry it out.

Whether you sleep in your car or sleep out in a tent, you will find in cold weather that a good sleeping bag is a great source of comfort. They come in many varieties and are fully described elsewhere in the book. Here suffice it to say that a mighty comfortable and inexpensive home-made sleeping bag may be constructed by taking flexible, enameled oilcloth, a high-grade horse blanket or a pure wool house blanket. Continue the bag back of the head and neck so as to form a hood over the head. This bag can be improvised with large safety pins to hold it together. Have the flexible oilcloth in two pieces. Pin the pieces together, roll in the blanket and slide in. Change your stockings if you would avoid cold feet. [96]

When preparing the ground for an open fire without a fireplace, see that the ground is cleaned bare for several feet around the spot where the fire is to be built. If the surface soil of the ground is humus or in any way resembling peat, it will be best to dig down to the sand clay or rock underneath. At least go down to clear soil and do not build a fire on ground containing vegetable matter. Fire will creep in some of the lighter forms of loam after a prolonged drought, and the camper must make sure that his fire is built upon ground that will not burn.

Usually there will be no difficulty in kindling the fire unless the weather be wet. In this latter event, particularly in a rainstorm, it may be very difficult to start a fire in the open. If the camper has brought along some short pieces of dry wood which he can whittle into coarse shavings, or if he has along a store of dry pieces of birch bark, he may shelter the spot where he means to start a fire under the skirt of his raincoat, get together a few of the driest pieces of wood that he has, and then piling [102]together under the shelter mentioned some of the shavings, light them and as they start to burn gradually add small pieces of the driest wood, sheltering it until it gets well started. Starting a fire under the circumstances just described will not be easy, and several attempts may fail before success is attained. Making a fire in the wet is an art that must be learned through trial and experience like any other art, and is not achieved easily.

When the weather is fair and the ground dry a fire in the open is easily kindled. If the weather be dry and windy, great care must be taken lest sparks or embers from the fire blow away and start up a fire at a distance. It is surprising how far sparks or small embers will carry on the wind and start fires. The camper cannot be too careful with his fire. When he breaks camp and leaves he should not only see that his fire is out, but he ought to get a pail or two of water and drown out the last possible remaining spark. Unfortunately some campers are very careless with the open fires that they kindle. Because they leave fires that seem to be out when they are not, these fires often burn up again after the camper has gone on his way and spread disastrously. For this reason farmers and foresters look with marked disfavor on all open camp fires.

The wise motor camper will keep his matches in waterproof boxes, and will also use wax matches, [103]or at least those whose stems have been well paraffined. In the absence of matches a cigar lighter can be used to start a fire. A somewhat more difficult method of kindling a fire is to use a steel and flint lighting set. Still more difficult to accomplish is to start a fire the way the Boy Scouts do with two pieces of wood. To do this successfully it will be necessary to get one of those fire-making outfits sold at National Boy Scouts Headquarters. There are many Boy Scouts that can quickly, i.e., within a minute, make a fire with one of these outfits, but the scout is rare indeed who can make his drill from a cottonwood root, get his base of harder wood, gather his punk, string his drill bow, and start a fire with nothing but these implements. If the motor camper wants some real fun out of the process of building his fire let him buy one of the Boy Scout outfits for making fire from wood and try, try, try again until he becomes expert at such fire-making. He will feel as proud as Prometheus bringing fire from heaven.

There are two ways of cooking over an open fire. The pot may be slung over the fire from a hook on a pole, or the pan may be set over the fire, resting upon a support underneath. In the latter way the fire may be confined between two green logs and the pan placed across the logs close to the fire. Or a folding wire broiler may be set across over the [104]fire and the stew pan, camp kettle, or coffee-pot put on the broiler.

The beginner usually makes too big a fire. A very small fire, carefully fed as required, will cook better than a large fire which is apt to make a lot of smoke and blacken and burn everything put over it.

The ingenious and resourceful motor camper can cook a great variety of very appetizing food with almost no utensils to help him, using simply an open camp fire. Any one who has been a boy in the country knows how to roast potatoes in hot ashes. If not careful the potatoes will be burned, but probably not so badly as to entirely spoil them for food. But a burnt potato will not taste bad by a camp fire. Why, after the camper has been out for a week he will almost be able to eat, like, and digest gravel.

If the camper has taken along a few packages of prepared self-raising flour, let him cut a green club about four feet long. Then peel off the bark at one end for about the distance of a foot. Next hold or prop the bare end of this club slant-wise over the fire until it is roasting hot. Take some of the prepared flour and mix it with water into a very stiff dough. Mold this dough into a long strip, and when the club is almost burning hot wrap the strip [105]of dough around it. Replace the club over the fire, turning it now and then to prevent burning, and to get the dough cooked evenly. In fifteen minutes or so—depending upon the heat of the fire—you will have as fine a piece of hot biscuit as any one could wish.

For successful camp cooking one should know how to make fresh breadstuffs, palatable soups, good, nourishing stews, and a few tasty desserts. The camper should know also how to make such beverages as tea, coffee and cocoa; how to broil wild meats and fish of all kinds; how to make flapjacks and fritters without burning them or getting them greasy. Furthermore, the camp cook should know how to serve these things without letting them get cold and indigestible.

Speaking of desserts, here is one that is both palatable and corrective. The last word refers to the need of the camper for food that will be slightly laxative to counteract the effects of the concentrated foods that he is likely to use. Take dried apples, apricots, peaches and prunes—all in a dried condition—soak in water overnight. Mix all together, adding water and sugar. Stew slowly for twenty minutes and you will have a tutti-frutti stew that will give a dessert which the camper will eat with rapturous relish. [106]

The most common way of cooking over a camp fire is to cut two forked stakes or small posts and drive them into the ground far enough away from the fire so as to be in no danger of burning. The crotch of each fork is open to the fire, and in this crotch, which should stand a couple of feet up from the ground, a pole an inch or so through is laid. Over this pole above the fire is placed an iron hook, or a couple of hooks, with which the camper has provided himself at a hardware store before starting forth on his tour. From the lower loop of the hook hang the camp kettle or other utensil for cooking.

The dingle stick is another device sometimes used by the motor camper in cooking over his camp fire. This stick is an inch-thick sapling with one end stuck into the ground and the other end adjusted over the fire to a proper height by two forked stakes. Have brass chains with pot hooks attached to hang from the end of the stick. If there are no chains or hooks use forked, short branches with a notch in the lower end to take the bail of a pail.

Two small logs side by side and two short ones laid across underneath them and a small fire of twigs between the logs will do nicely for cooking emergency rations.

Whatever may be said in favor of stoves and the more artificial methods of preparing food for the motor camper, it must be said that food cooked on the open fire will taste best. But, on the other hand, [107]when it rains pitchforks, the little stove in the tent is a friend in need and a friend indeed.

Besides there are not only the state and national forestry regulations that apply to open fires. In addition to these in some states the counties take a hand in the matter, and in one open fires will be permitted, while in the county adjoining they may be taboo.

The two-burner Theroz kit burns solid alcohol that will not melt, and a thirty-cent can of cubes lasts the two burners about an hour. The heat from Theroz is not quite so hot as gasoline, but it can be put out instantly and what remains unburnt may be put away for the next time. Furthermore, any sort of solid alcohol is absolutely clean and sweet, with no appreciable smell. The fuel alcohol stove that is used in a single burner outfit arranged like a gas range is convenient, although not as safe as solid alcohol, and is hot enough to boil water in seven minutes. Such a stove comes with an alcohol reservoir that holds a quart, and the whole outfit weighs about ten pounds.

Returning to the subject of food for the camper, it will be agreed that the menu is largely a matter of personal taste. But there are certain items which are included in every outfit and which are regarded by all as necessities, no matter how widely personal tastes may differ with regard to other supplies. No one can imagine a camp without coffee, and the smell [108]of boiling coffee is as much a part of the camp atmosphere as the rustle of the leaves among the trees.

A popular custom in the West, where so much camping is done, is to measure the coffee—ground coffee is preferable, thus eliminating the coffee mill—a heaping tablespoon to the cup, and two cups to the person, and to tie it up in double cheesecloth bags. The advantage of this is that the coffee is clear and not so apt to boil over. Besides, any unskilled or hurried cook can measure the water and drop the bag.

In the East prepared coffee is coming to be used in preference to coffee in the bean. There are several kinds of this prepared coffee, such as the Mouquin and George Washington brands, which come in cans and are about equal in price and quality. The only difference in quality is that the former of those mentioned is a little more on the order of “French coffee,” namely, it is a little more bitter. This prepared coffee is somewhat more expensive than coffee in the bean, but all that is required to prepare it for drinking is to take a teaspoonful of the coffee, place this in the cup and fill up with boiling water, adding milk, cream or sugar to the taste.

After coffee come flapjacks. “Add water and bake” sounds good even at home, and out in the woods it has a special appeal. There are a number of prepared pancake flours on the market which make light, nourishing flapjacks.

Another important item is eggs. Plainly, they are not built for roughing it; but taken out of the [109]shell and dried they become an altogether dependable article for the camper. Care should be taken, however, in making a choice of an egg powder, for many substitutes are on the market that never had any relationship to a hen. Real egg powder when cooked can hardly be told from the genuine article made from a fresh egg. It can be scrambled or made into an omelet that will be in every way satisfactory.

Both enjoyment and health require a varied menu for the camper. The numerous wayside markets which may be found every mile or so along the main highways afford the camper an opportunity of picking up a variety of supplies which will serve to diversify the camp menu.

To the average person much of the enjoyment of motor camping will depend upon the quality of the meals that are supplied. If the day be started with a good breakfast of steaming coffee, a rasher of crisp bacon with hot flapjacks and crisp fried potatoes, the day is well begun and everything else is likely to pass off delightfully. But begin with dish-water coffee, lukewarm in temperature, soggy, half-done flapjacks, soft, stringy bacon and limp, greasy potatoes, and the rest of the day will be equally distasteful.

The reason why as a rule a man will make a better camp cook than a woman is because he has [110]had no experience as a cook in the use of modern conveniences. The woman who cooks splendidly in the home, with gas range and electric cooking utensils always at hand, is likely to be lost when out camping in the woods she tries to prepare breakfast with the limited equipment of a camp cooking kit, or a camp fireplace. She is still more in the wilderness as an efficient worker if she has nothing more than an open camp fire to work with. But, man or woman, the camp cook can live and learn, and the simpler and cruder the facilities with which to work the more zest there will be in getting the cooking done well. And food never tastes quite so good as when flavored with a dash of wood ashes and the pungent savor of wood smoke from a camp fire.

A camp meal for a party of three or four is comparatively simple to prepare, and it can be speedily and effectively served as well. It need not be elaborate, but it should be hot. Circumstances oftentimes demand that the whole process of preparing and serving breakfast be brief. When the fish are jumping one had almost rather do without his cup of hot coffee than spend twenty minutes making fire and bringing the water to a boil. But when one learns how, he finds that such delay is not necessary. A substantial breakfast of eggs, bacon and coffee can be prepared in from ten to fifteen minutes, and the fire built, even in the rain, within this time limit. Few motorists know the essentials of a successful fire for cooking. A fire that could be built [111]within the limits of an ordinary soup plate will cook quicker than the bonfire that the motor camper usually builds. What is needed is not a big fire for warmth or for drying out wet clothing.

Three or four cobblestones, bricks or even tin cans will do for a fireplace. If no stones, bricks or even cans are at hand, dig a small hole in the ground. All that is necessary is to find something that will support a skillet or frying pan in a steady and even position. A small fire directly under the skillet will work wonders. There is not much heat, but what there is goes right to the spot where it is needed to do the work. The camper soon learns how to make this small fire, feed it bit by bit, and control it even in rain or wind. To be sure of this little fire under all circumstances it will be advisable for the camper to have along with him a few short pieces of dry wood which can easily be split up. Should rain be falling when the fire is being made these small pieces of split wood can be kept dry as they are being fed to the fire by covering them with a piece of rubber cloth or oilcloth.

With a bright blaze started in this the miniature fireplace, the next thing to do is to heat water for the coffee before the rest of the cooking begins. The skillet being clean and free from grease, the water can be brought to a boil without receiving any taste from its container. A quart thermos [112]bottle should be filled with water, and when the fire has been started the water should be poured into the skillet as it rests on the stones over the fire. In a surprisingly short time the water will be hot and the coffee may be made in the skillet, or if a prepared coffee is to be used, the scalding water may be returned to the thermos bottle to be kept hot until the meal, when it will be added to the prepared coffee in the cup. In either case the hot fluid is returned to the thermos bottle. Using the skillet to heat the coffee water will save much time and insure the coffee being in a steaming condition when needed.

The coffee being made, the hot skillet goes back over the fire to receive the bacon, eggs or whatever else is to be cooked. The skillet can be used with equal success for frying, stewing, boiling, or even for making flapjacks, as required. A surprisingly large variety of dishes may be successfully prepared with this simple cooking utensil. In fact a skillful camper needs only a skillet, and finds all other pots and pans simply burdensome. The skillet will serve all needful purposes in cooking.

When the cooking is done the skillet should be wiped free from grease, filled with water and placed over the fire. By the time the meal is over the water will be sufficiently hot to be used in washing the dishes.

Many people feel unsatisfied and uneasy unless they can sit down to their three square meals a day. In the three square meals are included, as a rule, [113]an oversupply of some food elements and an insufficiency of others. This lack of balance in the diet of the average man has much to do with the various ills to which his body falls heir.

Not a little of the benefit to be derived from a motor camping trip will be the benefit derived from the simple fare that will be had on the camping trip. He will get all the more good from it if the party adopts the Indian plan of two meals a day—breakfast and supper, morning and night.

Some wise motor campers sally forth with hampers stuffed with fruit, sandwiches, grape juice, loganberry juice, lemons, sugar, dates, raisins, nuts, olives, powdered cereal coffee, malted milk, evaporated milk, and salt. A small oil stove and some “canned heat” are included. Fresh eggs, cottage cheese, and vegetables that do not require cooking, like lettuce, radishes, cucumbers, tomatoes and also fruit, can, as a rule, be bought at farmhouses along the way. Bread may be bought as needed. Whole wheat bread also may be bought in some places, for there is coming to be a demand for this real life-sustaining bread.

Stopping in some attractive place with these supplies, thoroughly sustaining and well-balanced meals can be provided with little work. Eggs may be cooked, and cereal coffee made or hot malted milk prepared. This sort of a menu may not seem like [114]a real HE camplike layout, but it will supply a better balance of diet and in addition to the fresh air that the camper gets will do him a vast amount of good both physically and otherwise.

 Courtesy, National Park Service

Scene in Mammoth Auto Camp, Yellowstone National Park

 Courtesy, National Park Service

Camping ground in Grand Canyon National Park

Such a meal consisting of one or two eggs or cottage cheese, a few nuts, whole wheat bread, olives, lettuce, radishes, tomatoes, apples, pears or peaches, with some dates or raisins, will supply the body’s needs and have as sustaining qualities as meats and rich desserts.

A menu of this description will supply in abundance the iron and lime and other mineral salts, as also the life-promoting vitamines. It will in addition give natural encouragement to bowel activity, and the camper will not have to resort to pills for this purpose.

The change from the usual heavy meals to this simpler and lighter diet will do the average man a world of good.

Then, too, while journeying through the country the motor camper may with profit add to his diet from the green growing things which may be eaten raw. The so-called “raw food fiends” have a degree of fact back of their theory concerning the superior value of raw foods from a nutritive standpoint. Children like to eat the tender young peas that they shell to be cooked for dinner. Most country children like to eat raw turnips, those of the white variety. They also like to nibble tender young carrots, and young sweet corn is sweeter and more tender raw than cooked. Let the motor camper [115]try out these foods in the raw. They can be secured from the farmers along the way.

We are aware that most campers will scoff at these suggestions, but if they will test them it will be found that one of the greatest benefits derived will be the laxative effects of this kind of fare.

Those who look upon the suggestions given above as faddish have already found full instructions for preparing the more conventional fare.

Most vegetables may now be bought in the dehydrated form, and these after soaking in water overnight are almost as good as when fresh and form a most desirable addition to the camp menu. As is well known, they have very little weight, and so a large supply may be carried along.

Many prefer powdered milk to the evaporated form for the camp supply box. A supply of sweet chocolate is taken along by many as a quick and satisfying nutriment.

The amount of food to be taken will vary greatly, twelve or fourteen pounds of all kinds per person per week is usually an ample total.

Recipes. The quantities given are for but two people. When the number is greater, corresponding quantities of materials should be used.

Biscuits. There are many brands of prepared flour which contain baking powder, shortening and other ingredients. These flours require nothing [116]more than the addition of enough water to make a soft dough before baking. The baking may be done in a skillet, by simply placing the dough on the bottom of the skillet after greasing and heating. When done on one side the dough should be turned.

If the camper has a reflector oven or a stove oven, roll out or even pat out with the hand the dough to a thickness of half an inch; then with the top of a baking powder can cut out the biscuits one by one and bake until brown. If there be no baking-powder can at hand the biscuits may be roughly shaped with the hand.

If the flour used is not “prepared,” mix in a pan one pint of ordinary flour with a heaping teaspoonful of baking powder. Add a tablespoonful of fat (butter, lard, or other shortening), half a teaspoonful of salt, and three tablespoonfuls of evaporated milk, putting in also just enough water to make a soft dough. Handle the dough as little as possible. Rub flour on the bread board, or, lacking a board, on the bottom of a pan or any flat surface, and then cut out as above. A knife can be used for cutting if nothing else is at hand. Put into a greased pan and place baker before the fire. If there is a good hot fire, the biscuits will be done in about twelve minutes. Stick in a fork, and if no dough sticks to it when withdrawn the biscuits are done.

Flapjacks may be mixed up as biscuits, but the dough should be thin enough to run. This dough is then to be poured or dipped onto the hot skillet, griddle, or pan, baked until one side is done and then [117]turned with a turner, unless the camper is skillful enough to turn his pancakes by tossing.

The prepared flour is by all odds the best for pancakes because all you have to add is water. But if the camper prefers to do his own mixing let him mix as for biscuit, but in addition put in a tablespoonful of dried eggs. A large spoonful of batter will make a moderate sized pancake.

Corn Bread. The best corn bread is made by taking the old-fashioned whole corn meal, and buttermilk or clabbered milk, with baking soda. All that was necessary was to take a quart of buttermilk, a couple of pinches of salt (according to taste), a teaspoonful of baking soda, and then add the corn meal until there was a thick batter. This was then poured into a deep pan which had been greased and baked for half an hour. The difficulty with this recipe is that the fundamental ingredient is unobtainable. The corn meal that can be bought in stores is almost always a bolted, devitalized stuff that is very unsatisfactory for corn bread. In some rural districts one can, once in a while, come across a country miller who grinds the old-time corn meal. If the camper comes across such an one, let him buy some of this meal and try it out as above.

Here is one of the modern recipes for what is called corn bread. Into a bread pan put one half pint of flour and one half pint of corn meal, thoroughly mixed with a heaping teaspoonful of baking powder, and half a teaspoonful of salt, a dessert spoonful of desiccated eggs, a half teaspoonful of [118]sugar, and a tablespoonful of cold pork fat, lard or vegetable substitute. Add three dessertspoonfuls of evaporated milk and sufficient water to make a thick batter. Stir well, pour into a greased pan and place baker before fire of hot coals.

Corn Meal Mush may be made by pouring slowly into a quart of boiling water to which has been added a half teaspoonful of salt, one cupful of corn meal, stirring constantly. If you wish to avoid its being lumpy, better feed in the corn meal through your fingers, so as to scatter it as it reaches the water.

Fish is best broiled. Rub fat on the grid to prevent sticking. If the fish is large remove head and entrails, split down the back and lay on the broiler with slices of bacon or pork placed across. Pepper and salt to suit taste. To fry small fish, put in pan with plenty of bacon or pork fat. Turn frequently to insure thorough cooking. When done spread with butter and brown for a few minutes. To bake small fish wrap each in wet paper and cover in hot ashes.

Squirrels should be broiled, using only young ones. After skinning and cleaning, soak in cold salted water for an hour. Wipe dry and place on a grid with slices of bacon laid across for basting. To fry old ones, parboil slowly for half an hour in salted water and fry in fat or butter until brown.

Rabbits, after being cleaned and skinned, should have the head removed. Then cut off the legs at the body joint and cut the back into three or four [119]pieces. Parboil in salted water. To stew leave in pot, add pepper, a tablespoonful each of rice and beans and a teaspoonful of dried onions. Add water so that the pieces of meat keep covered and boil until the meat will separate from the bones. To fry, remove from the pot when parboiled, sprinkle the meat with flour and fry in butter or fat until brown. Use only young animals for frying. To roast, remove from pot and place in pan, spread a piece of pork on each piece of rabbit, and baste frequently until done.

Game Birds should first be plucked, then cleaned, singed, and the head and legs removed. To fry, cut into convenient pieces and parboil until tender. Sprinkle with pepper, salt, and flour. Fry in pork fat. When done stir into frying pan a half cupful of flour until dark brown, add some of the liquor in which the bird was parboiled and bring to a boil. Pour this gravy over the bird on the dish. To broil, split the bird up back and place on the grid. Baste with drippings from a piece of pork held above on a stick. Cuts of larger birds like ducks or prairie chickens may be sliced off and held over the coals on sticks. To fricassee, cut into convenient pieces and parboil. When tender, drain off the water and sprinkle the pieces with salt, pepper, and flour. Fry some slices of pork and add to the fat some flour, stirring until brown. Pour into this the liquor in which the bird was parboiled and bring to a boil. Put the pieces of bird in a hot dish and pour the gravy over them. [120]

How to Boil Potatoes. This may seem superfluous, but of a truth most campers do not have much success in boiling potatoes, but get a soggy product which is anything but appetizing.

Peel the potatoes and allow them to stand in water for a short time. Then place the pot over hot coals. When boiling add salt and when the potatoes are done drain off the water thoroughly. Put the pot with the lid on back over the fire for a minute. Then, holding the lid on firmly, shake the pot well, and turn out the potatoes. They will be mealy and delicious. To bake potatoes, wrap each potato in wet paper and place in hot ashes until done, which will be in about half an hour—depending somewhat on the size of the potatoes and the heat of the ashes.

To make mashed potatoes, take a cup of dried (dehydrated) potatoes and a cup and a half of boiling water. Boil and stir for three minutes, and then add a dessertspoonful of evaporated milk. Salt, pepper, and butter to taste. To make potato cakes, prepare as above, add a teaspoonful of flour and form into small cakes. Sprinkle with flour and fry in pork fat.

Pork fat is frequently mentioned in these recipes. A vegetarian will perhaps be better satisfied by using a vegetable substitute.

Baking in Clay where clay is procurable gives satisfactory results. Cover bird or fish drawn, or undrawn, with a coating of wet clay a couple of inches thick. Place in live coals and cover with [121]hot ashes. In about an hour the clay will be baked hard. Crack open lengthwise and remove the meat, which will be tender, well-flavored and juicy. If baked undrawn the entrails should be removed after baking. [122]

Whether the party be large or small, it will be wise to have it pretty carefully organized. Divide up the chores, so that each one will have his part to perform in connection with the common enterprise. When the stop is made for the night have it understood in advance just what each one is to do in arranging for the camp and the preparation of the evening meal. Even each small boy who may be along should have his appointed task to perform. He will enjoy the outing all the more and instead of being a burden will prove a valuable help. As in the evening, so in the morning light, everything should be ordered and every one should have a part in the day’s order.

The motor camper who coöperates with his fellow campers on the basis of “self-service” will get the real fun and enjoyment which a camping trip can supply. The camper who is unwilling to “help out” had best arrange his trip with those who patronize the hotels and travel on the ten dollar a day per capita basis.

The camping site should be as carefully selected as may be. If the stop is made at one of the camping parks, there will be small choice save in the matter of the park, because in most of these public parks there will be some one who will assign each camper his appointed place. Where the park is large, and some of them include many acres, there may be considerable choice of location. This will [124]be more likely to be true early or late in the usual camping season of summertime, for then the parks are not likely to be crowded. At the height of the season, however, some of the more popular parks along the main cross-continent motor-ways are obliged from lack of accommodations to turn many cars away.

It is well while moving to cast about for a suitable camping site by mid-afternoon. If the intention is to make use of a public motor park, and the first one found does not seem altogether desirable in point of being roomy, shaded, or in the provisions made for the comfort and convenience of campers, drive on to another and keep on until the best camp site available is found. This advice applies all the more to the camper who intends to camp by himself on private property and who will have to arrange for camping permission, etc., before settling himself for the night.

A location by a stream, lake or bay is desirable. Such a location is important, if feasible, because of the attractiveness of a water view, and, still more, because bathing facilities are conducive to both health and happiness. The importance of bathing facilities is pretty well understood by almost every one. Some motorists pack along folding canvas bath tubs, and these are certainly very convenient. But, if a stream is alongside or near by the camp [125]site, or there is other water suitable for bathing, it will be much easier to bathe in this water than in the little bath tub. Of course, unless the water is very shoal those who cannot swim should exercise great care. For that matter those who cannot swim might well take advantage of the leisure of a camping trip to pitch camp where there will be a chance to learn this very healthful and vitally important art.

In selecting a camp site, other than in a camping park provided with water, as these mostly are, the question of a water supply for drinking purposes is exceedingly important. As mentioned elsewhere, the wells of the countryside and the wayside springs are more or less open to suspicion. So, too, are the brooks, as they may receive drainage from farmhouses near their course or from barnyards. If the camp is near a swamp, the water there may be dark, but that is no sign of especial impurity as the color may be due to discoloration from the vegetation and turf of the bog. This bog water is quite likely to be free from contamination. But no matter what the source of supply, an attitude of suspicion is the wise one, and the water should only be drunk after boiling. In extremity the writer has drunk unboiled water out of ditches and stagnant ponds without ill results, but this is not advised, and the motor camper will, as a rule, have facilities for [126]boiling his drinking water. We have heard of motorists, when hard put to, drawing hot water from the radiator of their machine in order to get a hot drink, but seldom, indeed, would there be any such necessity.

There are many forms of recreation that the motor camper may enjoy, particularly when camping away from the crowd. A basket ball may well form part of the camping equipment. It will not be hard to find two trees sixty feet apart. If baskets have been carried along with the ball, they may be attached to these trees at the regulation height of ten feet, with wire nails which will not injure the trees, and a lot of fun may be had from the games played on the hazards of an uneven court in the woods. If no regular baskets have been brought along, slender branches of underbrush may be cut and bent into hoop form, and, ends being tied up or otherwise secured, quite satisfactory baskets may be had by fastening these hoops to the trees at the right elevation.

Then, too, where there are any boys along a ball and bat of the baseball sort will not be lacking and quite a bit of sport and exercise may be had by the campers in the evenings from this source.

If there is water near, swimming will give a lot of recreation and contribute to the health of the campers. [127]

In fact, a little ingenuity will discover many games and exercises that will contribute to the interest and enjoyment of the evening camp.

The municipal motor camps often have entertainments arranged for those using these camp sites. Often music, usually band music, will be provided. In some places the camp managers get the campers together of evenings for all sorts of amusement, and in other cases the campers get together for acquaintance and entertainment spontaneously on their own initiative.

Another thing that the motor camper should not forget is provision for emergencies. He should know how to render first aid in case of injury, how to resuscitate those who have been drowning, how to treat various forms of common poisoning with a knowledge of the antidotes for these poisons. This subject cannot be gone into fully in this book. There are books entirely devoted to the promotion of safety and assistance to the injured when the emergency arises. As for drowning, many people who have been in a condition of suspended animation owing to submersion in the water have been allowed to die who might have been resuscitated had those present known how. And it is not necessary to have appliances, such as a pulmotor, at hand. In fact, the best method of resuscitating the drowned is the prone-pressure method in which no apparatus [128]whatever is employed. The old method of rolling the drowned person over a barrel, or the later method of sending for a pulmotor was mistaken. Both have been abandoned by progressive physicians and the Red Cross Life-saving Department.

The motor camper is quite unlikely to have a physician anywhere near by who can be summoned, and so should know what to do in an emergency, particularly when one of the party has apparently been drowned. For that matter, sending for a physician in case of drowning is usually entirely futile, for it is seldom that a physician can be brought until it is too late to succeed with resuscitation. The prone-pressure method, which we are about to describe, has succeeded where animation has been suspended until after more than two hours of effort. There have been many cases where it would most likely have saved life, where life was lost, because, instead of promptly applying this treatment, a physician and pulmotor were sent for and neither could be procured until the lapse of considerable vital time.

The Prone-pressure Method of Resuscitation

1. Lay the patient on his stomach on a flat surface. Draw the arms above the head. Bring the right wrist under the forehead so that it will support the head and turn the head slightly to the left. Be sure that the nose and mouth do not touch the ground. [129]

2. Clean the patient’s mouth of mucus, blood, chewing gum or other extraneous matter by a stroke of the finger. The prone position facilitates the removal of liquids from the mouth by causing the tongue to fall forward.

3. Kneel astride the patient, facing his head, and place your hands on his lowest ribs, with your fingers curving close to his body. Be careful to avoid pressure on the pelvis and to keep your hands away from the spine.

4. Lean forward, keeping the arms straight, and put the weight of the upper part of your body on your hands. The pressure should be applied gradually, not in a sudden thrust. The Boy Scout Book suggests saying alternately as the hands go down and back again, “Out Goes the Water,” “In Comes the Air,” exerting and relaxing pressure to suit the words.

5. Keep this up steadily about twelve times a minute. Follow your own regular rate of respiration—count or use a watch. The downward pressure forces the diaphragm up into the chest cavity, decreasing the air space and forcing the water out of the lungs. When the pressure is relaxed the diaphragm goes back into place and the air rushes in.

6. Do not cease your efforts as soon as your patient begins to breathe. Continue until the breathing is quite regular. Then when the patient is able to sit up, stimulants, such as aromatic spirits of ammonia, may be given in spoonful doses. The stimulant should be given in water. After this the [130]wet clothing should be removed and the patient put to bed.

If the patient is not revived at the end of an hour do not give up. Keep him warm and continue. Many persons have been resuscitated after two hours and more of uninterrupted effort.

It will be a good plan, if the camping place is near the water and any swimming is to be done, or even bathing only, to practice the prone pressure method as a game until practice makes perfect. With children the method may be dramatized and made very interesting to them.

The prone-pressure method of resuscitation is the best to employ in case of unconsciousness from lightning stroke, other electric shock, or poisoning by the inhalation of gas.

As for poisons, it is assumed that the motor camper will not carry with him the more violently poisonous disinfectants, such as carbolic acid, corrosive sublimate or even formaldehyde. The limit in the disinfectant line should be a can or two of chloride of lime. Some of the household cleaning and polishing materials contain poisons such as oxalic acid. Carbon tetrachloride and chloroform are frequently mixed with gasoline for cleaning purposes. This sort of a fluid is not inflammable when properly prepared, but may cause anesthesia. The most dangerous poisons to have about the camp are white [131]arsenic, which is found in fly poisons and rodent poisons, and Paris green, which is used to poison various plant pests such as potato bugs. The motor camper, however, will not be likely to suffer exposure to these poisons.

It is the children that most frequently get poisoned, and on a camping tour they are most likely to get poisoned by things found in the woods or near the camp. The most common source of poisoning is the poison ivy. This is sometimes very painful, but seldom dangerous to life. Pokeberries are said by some authorities to be poisonous, but in some sections of the country poor people gather them and use them as filling for pies, the same as elderberries, without any apparent ill results. In some regions the deadly nightshade, with its attractive but very poisonous purple berries, is fairly plentiful, and when eaten by children, as it sometimes is, proves quickly fatal.

When you have reason to suppose that any one has been poisoned by something that has been eaten, lose no time, but proceed at once to take steps to expel the poison from the victim’s system. Effective emetics are mustard and warm water (one tablespoonful of mustard to a quart of water), salt and water, ipecac and water (one teaspoonful of ipecac to a quart of water), or even warm water. If you have no warm water at hand, give cold water to dilute the poison till you can heat warm water. If neither warm nor cold water is available immediately, vomiting may be induced by thrusting a finger [132]down the patient’s throat. Give from two to four glasses of fluid to dilute the poison. Milk, tea, soda water, will do if no plain water is at hand. About ten minutes after the vomiting has been produced, give another dose of emetic to make sure that the poison is out of the system.

The treatment is slightly different in the case of acid and alkaline poisons. Alkali is neutralized by acid and vice versa. For instance, suppose the baby drinks a bowl of lye water (alkali), dilute vinegar or lemon juice in water and make him drink as much of it as possible. An acid usually becomes comparatively harmless as soon as neutralized by an alkali. Nevertheless, the system should be cleansed by a good purgative. Castor oil is effective. Since both acids and alkalis are harmful to the interior of the stomach, some other substance should be taken after the antidote. Milk, oil, white of eggs, flour and water may be used. There are a few exceptions to milk and oil, but it is always safe to give whites of eggs in any kind of poisoning. Stir the whites of four eggs into a quart of water. Make the patient drink it all, if you can.

The fumes of ammonia may be useful in the case of acid poisoning, as they will tend to neutralize any acid that may have entered the respiratory tract. Always put the ammonia on a handkerchief or piece of cloth, and give only enough to relieve the patient.

In case the hands and feet of the patient become cold, the lips turn blue, or cold perspiration appears on the forehead, put him to bed. Cover him up [133]warmly, use hot water bottles, and give him a cup of strong tea or coffee as hot as it can be taken.

Where poisonous mushrooms have been eaten, as is sometimes done by children, or where there is ptomaine poisoning from bad food, the use of emetics is not advised, although their use can do little harm, and sometimes the poison may not have yet passed beyond the reach of such a remedy. As a rule, however, the symptoms of these vegetable poisons, as they usually are, will not appear in acute form until the poisoning agent has passed into the lower digestive tract. Then about the only thing to do is to give large and repeated doses of Epsom salts to drive the poison down and out of the system as soon as possible.

The above suggestions are not intended to take the place of treatment by a skilled physician, but they are for emergency use by the motor camper who cannot be reached quickly by any physician.

The contents of the motor camper’s medicine chest will depend somewhat on his preference as to the school of medicine. Yet certain simple remedies will doubtless be acceptable to any of the medical systems. A Red Cross First Aid Kit should, of course, be included in the camper’s outfit. So, too, should Epsom salts and some other cathartic, such as cascara tablets or castor oil. Spirits of camphor taken in small doses helps most people to stop or [134]throw off a cold. Sun cholera tablets are of value in diarrhea, which often develops from a change of drinking water. Mustard is valuable for external application as a counter irritant in case of colds, or when needed to mix with water as an emetic. An excellent remedy for sprains is the iodine emollient known as Iodex. It relieves the sprain and will not burn and blister as will the tincture of iodine, which is also poisonous.

If the reader has a family physician, it would be well to ask this physician to make up a medicine kit for the camping trip.

The articles mentioned above are harmless, and about all that the motor camper should use without the expert advice of a physician.

There are some who may prefer something more elaborate than the simple articles previously mentioned. A camper of many years’ experience itemizes the following as the requisites of a medicine kit:

• Quinine pills or tablets.
• Rhubarb pills or tablets.
• Bicarbonate of soda or soda mint tablets.
• Bismuth subnitrate.
• Chlorate of potash.
• Warburg’s tincture.
• Sun cholera pills.
• Small rolls of antiseptic bandages.
• Box zinc ointment.
• Bottle tincture of iodine.
• Permanganate of potash. [135]
• Bottle of iodoform.
• Some powerful stimulant.
• Adhesive surgeons’ plaster, but not court-plaster.

The stimulant is included to relieve those faint from loss of blood, drowning or injury. Permanganate of potash solution will relieve pain from insect bites and poison ivy. Antiseptic tablets are for slight scratches, cuts or bruises.

Be careful to have everything plainly labeled and poisons marked in heavy black letters and with skull and cross-bones.

There are a number of little things in connection with the arrangement of the camp and its tent which are not likely to occur to the inexperienced camper which nevertheless are quite important when it comes to his comfort. One of these little things is the exact location of the tent and its position. If there is any option in the matter it will be well to have the tent face a little south of east. This brings sunshine into the tent’s entrance the first thing in the morning at a time when it is most needed and welcome. This position of the tent also insures considerable protection against cold northwest winds. The camper will be more comfortable under all weather conditions if his tent is pitched in this position.

Then again, be careful to choose a well-drained [136]and fairly open situation for the camp—one well exposed to sun and air, and yet look out for shelter. In case of wet weather the open situation will allow the tent to dry out sooner, and a fringe of timber to the west or northward will often enable the tent to safely weather a blow that would otherwise send it kiting.

Be careful not to camp near dead timber which might be liable to blow down on you in a storm with unfortunate results.

Until the camper has had a little experience he is apt to exaggerate the hardships of camping. Colds and minor ailments are not apt to attack those who have taken to the open in a camping trip. Even a drenching is likely to be more unpleasant than dangerous to health, provided the precaution of getting into dry clothing and shoes as soon as possible is followed. If the shoes are wet and there is no dry article to change to, the chill of the wet may be cured and the shoes made warm as toast by heating a few small stones in the camp fire or on the camp stove, and then placing these in the shoes for a few minutes. Be a little careful not to heat the stones hot enough to burn the shoes.

If the camper is careful to keep the inside of his tent dry he will not mind a day or two of wet weather. The tent if not of waterproofed material should be protected by a fly to make sure of keeping it dry. Still the ordinary tent of duck without [137]any fly can be kept dry if the occupant is careful not to allow anything to touch the inside surface of the tent, and thus start a drip.

It is a good plan to raise the sides or walls of a tent during the heat of the day so as to thoroughly dry it out, particularly if there has been a wet spell.

The matter of insect pests is of importance. A tent with a good floor cloth will help to keep out mosquitoes, which are likely to be the most obnoxious pest encountered by the motor camper. Mosquitoes, however, are by no means found everywhere. There are many sections of the middle and mountain states where one has to travel hundreds of miles to find one of these pestiferous songsters, but along the coast, especially the Atlantic coast, they are pretty sure to be bothersome. They are hard to get used to, and hard to keep out of tent or car at night. Screens are of some avail, but are not altogether a specific. Neither are the various mosquito lotions. About the best thing to use is the oil of citronella, which may be bought at any drug store and which is inexpensive. Sometimes a smudge of punk or browse is fairly effective in keeping the creatures out, but the remedy is about as bad as the disease, unless one does not mind having his tongue taste like ham for a good part of the day. Citronella, too, is very offensive to some, but most people get used to it, and find it a very good protection against the activities of the mosquito.

The ordinary mosquito net is not much protection against most of the mosquito tribe. Scrim or [138]bobbinet is much closer in weave and so much more effectual in keeping these insects out.

It may be asked, what about taking exercise while motor camping? In these days most every one has his “Daily Dozen,” or two dozen flexes or genuflexes, that he takes in order to keep fit. Now, should these be kept up when in camp? Really, each one will have to settle this for himself according to his bent. Most campers will have considerable exercise in keeping the car fit, and that exercise will go a long way at the same time in the direction of keeping the car owner fit. Even if the car is in perfect mechanical condition, the chassis, the body, the upholstery will require no small amount of cleaning, washing, rubbing and dusting or brushing if it is to be kept from quite speedily showing the signs of travel. If the car should develop temperamental tendencies, such as even the most expensive cars occasionally exhibit, the question of sufficient exercise will not become acute.

If the camper uses a tent, as most campers do, there will be no small amount of exercise involved in setting it up, driving in the pins and seeing that all guy lines are taut and secure.

Many campers are inclined to neglect the care of their cars, as is very evident by the unkempt and [139]dusty appearance that so many of them present. They are likely, too, to be equally careless and disorderly in securely adjusting the tent and in keeping everything in the way of tools in an appointed place so as to be always findable, until after waking in the night a time or two in a wind and rain storm to find the sleeping tent ballooning because of a loosened stake, and then being carried away while the rain comes down, soaking everybody, because the ax has been mislaid and there is nothing to use as a means of pounding down the stakes that hold the tent except bare fists. After one or two such experiences the importance of order and its advantages over disorder are likely to be quite clearly realized.

Aside from the exercise afforded by the effort employed in regularly tightening up any parts of the car and its gear that may have been loosened by travel, the gathering of food for the fire and other chores involved in camp life, the camper will often go hunting or fishing when in a region where hunting and fishing may be had.

In the evening, after the meal and the chores are done up, if the campers are not all too old and stiffened, there will be exercise in the way of playing ball, tossing quoits and other games for which the camper should provide in advance by including the necessary bats, balls, quoits, etc., along with the other supplies taken for the trip. [140]

As Sancho Panza remarked, “Blessed be the man who first invented sleep.” Certainly sufficient and restful sleep is a prime essential if the motor camper is to enjoy his camping trip and is to get full measure of profit from his experience.

In the selection of sleeping accommodations in a motor-camping tour much depends upon the familiarity of the campers with outdoor conditions. There are some people who can curl up under a thick blanket on the bare ground, and there sleep in perfect comfort. There are others who shiver and stay awake even though completely inclosed in a warm, soft sleeping bag under a waterproof tent; and there are still others who find rest and comfort only when sleeping snugly in the car itself. For [141]these last it may be enough to remove the tonneau seats, place them lengthwise and thus provide the foundation for sleep.

Every one of the variations just mentioned may be found within the average motoring party of four or five people: one will want to sleep in the car, one in a bag, and the others on and under blankets in a tent. Therefore, a sleeping bag, a removable tonneau seat with the back of the front seat folding down so as together to form a couch, and a couple of small folding cots are desirable on a camping trip.

Comfortable sleeping arrangements are most essential. The arrangements for comfort, especially in the matter of keeping warm, will depend a little on where the tour is to take the camper. If he tours through the state of Maine he will find the nights cool and must provide accordingly. If his destination takes him through the middle states south of the Great Lakes and west to the Missouri River and somewhat beyond, or in the Middle Atlantic States from New York south and including New York, he usually will find the nights in summer warm. If the tourist travels through a mountain region, even the Catskill region, he will need to take an amount of thought concerning covering by night that is entirely unnecessary where the night temperatures are mild and balmy. Should the camper tour through the Rocky Mountain region he will find the nights cold and in the high Rockies even freezing. [142]

Good bedding, beds, and proper shelter are very important both for comfort and health. Blankets or sleeping bags are essential, and the blankets should be of pure wool. Some blanket safety pins should be included in the equipment for the night. In cold weather sleeping bags are a decided advantage over blankets. A comforter, especially one filled with wool, is warm and provides a satisfying protection against the chill of a cold night. Such a comfortable may be bought at a reasonable price in almost any fair-sized department store; or it may be home-made where the wool batting with which to fill it can be procured. This last, however, is not always the case, although in most city stores this article is obtainable. Such a comfortable should be inclosed in an outer covering of light, washable material, otherwise it will very soon become very much soiled.

For the sleeper who prefers to roost high and dry in his auto body there is considerable choice of arrangements. He may do as already suggested, turn around his cushions, and with suit cases and duffle bags make out a pretty good foundation on which to sleep. Nevertheless, by making a comparatively modest investment, he may get a folding bed which can be packed into a small roll so as to take little room when not in use, but which when used will give him a bed incomparably more satisfactory than one made of cushions and other odds and ends. [143]

One of these car beds, called the “Utility Auto Bed,” will fit any car from Fords to Packards. It is very comfortable. No mattresses are needed. It is made of heavy, olive drab canvas. The frame is made of a strong but light-weight material. The whole folds into a small bundle which weighs twenty-three pounds. This bed is listed at $15.00. This bed can also be used out of the car.

Another very comfortable article is the Red Seal Auto Bed. It is truly a luxurious bed, affording with its strong spring flexible mattress complete rest and homelike comfort. It has a strong steel frame, light but rigid, constructed in a manner that makes erection or folding a simple and quick matter. The mattress is of high-grade duck and non-stretchable webbing, reënforced with leather where attached to the springs. This bed is also equipped with strong tensile steel springs that prevent sagging of the mattress, thus assuring perfect satisfaction and comfortable sleep. It can be used as an extra bed in the house. This bed when on a floor stands 17 inches high, with a length of 6 feet 4 inches and a width of 47 inches. It rolls into a bundle 47 inches in length with a diameter of 5 inches. The weight is 46 pounds, and the list price $24.50.

Where the camper prefers to do his sleeping in a tent, he has the choice of the tent floor for a bed, a bed made for the occasion by laying blankets over [144]straw, leaves, cedar boughs, hemlock fans, or other browse, or, finally, a camp cot.

If the ground is dry with a gravel or sandy foundation a sleeper can be quite comfortable lying on a canvas spread directly on the ground itself. This is true particularly during July and August in those regions where the nights are warm. The writer has been very comfortable with nothing under him but a canvas tarpaulin spread on the ground of his tent over the gravel surface of the tent floor. This, with a single blanket, has been all that he found necessary for comfortable sleep.

Many prefer to make up a bed of leaves, cedar boughs or other springy material, which is thrown upon the tent floor and covered with blankets. To properly confine this foundation within the bounds of the bed it is well to stake out the map of the bed, and then lay poles cut to the right lengths within these stakes to bound the bed and keep the bedding of boughs or leaves in place under the blankets. In the autumn leaves can easily be gathered in quantities, and these certainly make a fine easy bed. Boughs form a more problematical material for bedding. Small cedar branches or twigs well covered with blankets make a good springy bed with a refreshing balsamic odor. Hemlock fans are a little rougher than cedar and so do not make as soft a bed. Sometimes where evergreens are not found, other browse, such as male fern, is used. The male fern will make an easy bed, but its odor is offensive to some. [145]

There are any number of varieties of folding cots for those campers who prefer to sleep in that way. Many of these are quite inexpensive and fold up very compactly. There is a “Gold Medal Cot,” listed at $4.50, which folds into a package 4 inches by 5 inches by 3 feet 2 inches long and weighs 17 pounds. This cot is made of the highest grade olive duck and will support a weight of over 1,000 pounds.

What is called “The Improved Yankee Cot” is another strong, convenient and comfortable camp cot. It folds into a package 32 by 4 by 5 inches, weighs 16 pounds and is guaranteed to support 600 pounds. This cot, when opened, is 6½ feet long, 27 inches wide and 18 inches high. It is made of twelve-ounce double-filled brown duck. The woodwork is of air-dried rock elm, and the steel supports are 14-gauge and all japanned.

There will be no need of bed or cot where the camper prefers a sleeping bag. This may be laid down on the tent floor, or even placed out in the open.

There are sleeping bags which are designed to be used in the open and which supply their own protection of the head from the inclemencies of the [146]weather. When the weather is fair many prefer sleeping with no covering below the stars.

The “Kenwood Sleeping Bag and Tent in One” has 4½, 5½ or 6½-pound inner bags of soft, warm, new wool. For very cold weather these bags can be arranged to nest one within the other so that the camper sleeping out may add or remove the thicknesses of his covering as the temperature may change. There are special double flaps over chest and shoulders, and no rest-breaking buckles, snaps, buttons or lacings. A 5½-pound waterproof canvas cover with extra long fly gives complete outdoor protection. This sleeping bag is generously roomy. It is 7 feet long by 5 feet 8 inches around. The canvas fly is propped up, forming a dog tent above the head of the sleeper.

Types of bed equipment. At the top the Yankee cot which folds into 32 × 4 × 6 inches; beneath it the Kenwood sleeping bag with tent covering for head. The two lower illustrations have pneumatic mattress, the upper of the two being the Perfection sleeping bag and the lower the Airtube camp mattress combined with a shelter tent.

Another combination camp and bed is the “Airtube Camp Mattress.” This is a mattress with a shelter tent attached. It is impervious to moisture, and the camper can sleep on the wet ground. The mattress is formed of 3½-inch Rubber Pneumatic Tubes, incased in separate cells, in a light, serviceable cover. It is easily filled by lung power, and requires only about fifteen pounds air pressure. It conforms to the body and to uneven ground. The tent is made of army khaki cloth and completely covers and incloses the bed at both the head and foot, the peak being at the head, with a triangular [147]screened window in the face of the tent-head for ventilation.

There is a combination sleeping air bed and sleeping bag called the “Perfection.” When the air bed is deflated it rolls up into a small compact bundle. The distinct feature of this combination is that mattress, blankets and bag are three separate articles that make one complete outfit and still can be used independently. Thus the mattress with its separate cover can be removed from the bag and used in the home or otherwise when not wanted in the open. The lining, also being removable, can be taken out for cleaning and drying, which is an advantage not to be overlooked, as where the lining is fastened to the bag it is nearly impossible to get it thoroughly dry when once wet. This sleeping bag is made of the best quality eight-ounce waterproof Densol Cloth in a dark brown color, and is closed with a row of braided loops which insures a tight and strong bag when laced, yet one that can be instantly opened and spread to the air. The lacing can be ended anywhere desired. Thus in cold and rainy weather it can be laced all the way up, leaving only a small opening for the head, and in warm weather can be left partly open. At the top of the cover is an extra flap, which can be drawn over the head when used in the open.

There are a number of very good air beds and air pillows on the market which need not be described, as they are familiar to the public. In inflating an air mattress a tire pump may be used, but [148]most of them can easily be inflated by lung power, and the exercise involved will be good for the camper’s lungs.

Another portable bed is the “Army Bed Roll.” As the name suggests, it is a bed that rolls up. The outside is of heavy waterproof khaki duck. The mattress is filled with curled hair. When spread out on a tent floor it makes a very comfortable bed.

There are mattresses made of Kapok which are in favor with some campers because of the extreme lightness of the material which gives these mattresses their name. Kapok is a product of the East Indies. It is a silky fiber similar to the silk found in the pods of the ordinary milk weed of our fields. It is about the lightest substance known, at least of the fiber sort. It is many times lighter than cork, and so is used in the best grade of life preservers. Kapok beds are very light and soft and so are attractive to the motor tourist both on the score of convenience and comfort because so easily portable and restful. Kapok mattresses when used in sleeping bags serve to make them exceptionally warm.

Cots if made without a mattress, as most of them are, will need as much covering beneath the sleeper as above him if the weather be cold. Newspapers laid on the canvas of a cot will make it much warmer when warmth is an object. The same is true when newspapers are spread between blankets, or upon a rubber sheet laid on the ground. If the ground is not perfectly dry a rubber sheet or rubberized [149]canvas will be needed if the sleeper wishes to sleep on the floor of his tent.

In the West they have an arrangement that they call a “Slab,” which is a bag the exact length and width of the cot and is laid upon it as a mattress and serves fairly well to keep the cold from striking up. This bag is made of what is called ticking and is similar to the mattresses still used in some sections, which are bags the size of the bed filled with straw or corn husks. In fact, except for the bulkiness, such a home-made mattress serves many very satisfactorily. In almost any part of this country east of the Missouri River the camping tourist can readily get some straw from a near-by farmer and fill his bed tick with it. Where the stay is to be for some days this will involve very little trouble. To get straw each evening would be rather bothersome.

The insulating properties of the air make an air mattress warmer than a cot, but in cold weather the air mattress is cold, unless reënforced with plenty of blankets on its surface.

In cold weather there are many advantages in sleeping in the car. If it gets cold the engine can be run a while to warm things up a little. In addition to those car-body beds previously described there are several others on the market which are excellent for the purpose. Any one with tools and a little ingenuity can rig up his own sleeping outfit and without infringing on any patents have as good a bed as the market affords. [150]

Sleeping in the car gets one away from the intrusion of the creeping and crawling things that abound on the ground, and which will succeed more or less in getting into the tent where that is used for sleeping quarters. Then, too, in time of wet and storm the car is sure to be dry. On the other hand, the sleeping quarters in the ordinary car are very close and crowded. There will be no trouble about ventilation, but pretty much all the space in the tonneau will be occupied by the bed.

Some motor campers get along finely by sleeping in hammocks slung from the sides of the car at the ends to near-by trees or even to tent poles. There are some wide hammocks that answer very well as beds. The snug hammocks that are used in the navy are of strong canvas, but they are very hard to get into and at first quite uncomfortable. It takes several nights to get used to one of these hammocks, and some people never get to enjoy them.

There are really no very satisfactory sleeping hammocks on the market. The navy hammock can be bought of dealers in navy supplies. The ordinary porch hammock can be bought almost anywhere, but it is not very satisfactory as a bed. However, one can buy a wide hammock made of heavy canvas of tan color with metal spreaders and cotton ropes for about five dollars which will make a pretty good [151]sleeping hammock for a camper. Where a hammock is used care should be taken to have the head higher than the foot and to have it strung as taut as possible, otherwise the sleeper will be doubled up something after the manner of a jack-knife.

Although sleeping in a hammock is attended with some difficulty, any fairly active man or youth ought to find it quite satisfactory in fine weather. In bad weather some provision will need to be made to secure shelter from the rain. In the winter season no one will want to sleep in a hammock because it would be very difficult to keep warm in one in freezing weather.

A very useful article in cold or chilly weather is a night hood, or night cap. This should be of wool. Such a protection is mighty comfortable of a cold night. Also, in cold weather, the best way to have warm feet is to take off the shoes and day socks and put on heavy sleeping socks.

Perhaps we should not leave the subject of sleeping accommodations without describing one or two other interesting outfits for the tourist camper. One of these is the “Comfort Sleeping Pocket.” This is a luxurious puncture-proof air bed in a water and wind-proof felt-lined covering. The outer covering or pocket is made of “Wearproof” duck, lined with heavy red felt, wind and waterproof, light and strong. It is shaped to the body to save weight and bulk, but is very roomy. There is “lots of room” to “turn over,” for blankets, circulation, etc. [152]There is one opening only, which is closed by snap buttons and an overlap. While cold and weather-proof, it allows for throwing the pocket open for airing. An extension flap at the head, 25 by 36 inches, may be used as a wind-shield, storm hood or head covering. The inside air bed is made with a patented longitudinal device which prevents the “rolling” sensation common in old-style air beds. The inside air bed is four feet long, four inches thick at the top, gradually diminishing toward the foot. There is no abrupt drop at the end. A pump is not needed as lung power is sufficient to inflate the bed. As an added protection, the air bed is inclosed in a felt sub-pocket.

There is also an air pillow, felt covered, 11 by 16 inches, which is fastened to the bed with snap buttons and which is a part of this outfit.

The other device which we mention here is a light tent of the lean-to type with what is called the “Brownie Camp Pad” to support the head, shoulders, back and hips of the sleeper. The “Brownie Camp Pad” is an abbreviated air bed which is placed on the sewed-in floor of what is called a Utility Combination Tent. This is an air-bed combination for the fellow who goes “light but right” and who requires something light, strong, practical and inexpensive. The entire combination weighs only eleven pounds, and when rolled up makes a very small compact package.

When the motor tourist camps in one of the municipal camping parks he will seldom, if ever, [153]receive assistance in the matter of sleeping quarters, but these public camping sites are usually lighted with electricity, they have public comfort stations, and many other features which are detailed elsewhere. They usually provide, too, a degree of shelter against bad storms, which have a habit of coming up in the night to the dismay of the camper. These public camping places are not only sheltered from the wind, but are well drained and mostly wooded, so that in a night storm the camper has little to fear from the elements.

An auto camper who has been at the camping game for the past ten years, who has kept at week-end camping right along and who has crossed the continent a couple of times, camping along the route, has out of his long experience reached this as his standard outfit. He takes an “Auto bed” with a 7 by 7-foot tent; a six-pound cotton pad or mattress for the bed; a two-burner gasoline camp stove; one heavy double blanket; one wool-filled quilt; a blanket roll; two eight-quart milk cans for water; and a refrigerator basket. The whole affair packs into very small space.

The tent and bed appeal on account of the roominess of the tent and the spring feature of the bed. The outfit is heavier than some, but can’t be beat, he says, “for sleeping comfort.” He considers the bed and tent the main part of any auto camping outfit, as an uncomfortable selection of either one will probably do more to discourage the new camper than anything else. The outfit, bed, tent and pad, [154]fold into small space. Everything is carried clamped to the running board and weighs about seventy-five pounds.

This camper uses half of the double blanket under the sleeping pad, then the bed is made up and the other half of the blanket is pulled over the top. This makes a sort of a bag and prevents the clothes pulling out at the foot. One wool blanket and a wool-filled comfort he has found to be warmer and less heavy than two blankets.

For a blanket roll he took a piece of heavy canvas about seven feet long by thirty-five inches wide and sewed lighter pieces or wings on each side and end, then waterproofed the whole thing. The blankets, folded lengthwise, will just fit in the center when the roll is spread out. Then the sides can be folded over and the ends rolled up. A couple of small pillows can be carried inside. It has been found that this roll keeps dust and wet from bedclothes better than any other way.

The other items of this veteran camper’s outfit consist of a tin cooking set which nests into a six-quart pail and is somewhat heavier than an aluminum outfit, but was chosen because the wife preferred it with its steel frying pan. For a table he used the rack, which is under and supports his rear seat cushion, for a model, and cut a new one out of one-half-inch board to take its place. It has folding legs of three-eighths-inch iron rods sharpened at the end so that they can be pushed into the ground. For chairs he uses the cushions. [155]

An extra plug socket in the tonneau makes an easy way to get a connection for a trouble light to hang up in the tent at night. An extra rear view mirror is clamped to the rear top bow and serves as a toilet mirror. Other units which this camper advises, but which he does not always bother with himself are vacuum bottles, folding canvas pail for wash basin, and a roll of paper towels. These towels may serve as napkins, and a strip utilized as a table cover.

Rainy weather and chilly nights drive flies into the tent in swarms which prove a great nuisance in the early morning when the camper is trying his best to sleep. The best way to get them out is to darken the tent as much as possible, open the entrance on a wide crack and shoo them out, using towels vigorously for this purpose. This is fine exercise and is recommended as a substitute for the “Daily Dozen.”

Mosquitoes seek shelter from the hot sunshine by day, when the camper is in a region where these winged creatures abound, and are drawn by artificial light by night. It is easiest to get them out in the early morning, as they are highly sensitive to light and atmospheric conditions. In the early morning, too, after having dined well upon the camper by night, they feel more like taking the air. But, seriously speaking, always remember that mosquitoes prefer cool, moist air and dim light rather than darkness or sunshine. If there are any lurking inside during the day to avoid the hot sunshine they [156]may be driven out just at dusk without much trouble—in fact, they will go out voluntarily if an opening is provided. But they are more stupid than flies and need some gentle persuasion to start them moving and aid them in finding an exit. Some importance attaches to choosing just the right time for this operation and closing the exit before twilight, when it becomes a matter of indifference to the mosquito whether he is indoors or out. [157]

He will need a container in which to make coffee or boil food. The tin pail would answer, or the skillet. But we are supposing that these have been discarded. If so, the pioneer camper can make his own container from a short length of log. It can be done. It has been done. Here is how to make a dug-out coffee-pot in which coffee can be made or food boiled. Cut a small log of young maple or black birch (cottonwood or other soft wood will do) about two feet long and six inches through. Flatten this on one side. Chamfer out on this side a shallow hollow or trough one and three-quarter inches deep, three and a half inches wide, and fourteen inches long. Finish it out with a knife and hot coals. This trough or container will hold one quart of water. Cut a pouring lip at one end.

Now you are ready to proceed. First fill your container with water. Next heat six stones about the size of a hen’s egg in the camp-fire until they are red-hot. Quartz stones are the best. You will be likely to find some in the bed of any near-by stream, or in any gravel formation. Slip these hot stones into the water carefully, one at a time, and at the [160]end of your wooden pot. Six of these stones will bring to a boil a quart of water in less than five minutes. Of course, in winter with water ice-cold it will take a little longer. It will probably take you an hour or more to make the wooden bowl as described. However, the bowl does not wear out, and you can keep it for future use. On the other hand it may be more fun to make a new bowl at each camp.

To make coffee or tea put a pinch of tea or a small spoonful of coffee in your drinking cup, pour it full of the boiling water, let it stand for four or five minutes, and it will be ready to drink.

Soup may be made in one of these wooden bowls from prepared soup stock such as Erbswurst, or from any other of the prepared, dried soups on the market. To make soup place two teaspoonfuls of the powder in your bowl, pour in a quart of water, stir up, and then begin slowly adding your red-hot stones, one at a time, at one end of the trough. Ten stones will keep the soup boiling for ten minutes—stones, as mentioned, the size of a hen’s egg. In about fifteen minutes one-half of the soup will be boiled away and there will be left a pint of rich, satisfying soup.

However, we have been supposing that this pioneer camper proposes to live off the country, and that he has taken no supplies with him, unless it [161]be his coffee, tea, and tobacco. In such a case he will have to find wild food. This is more easily done than might be thought. For example, in almost every section you will not have to travel far without finding the common cat-tail reeds. You will find them along the coastal shores. They are almost sure to be growing in the swampy spots found in the folds of the landscape or in the marshes along the rivers and the margins of lakes. Wherever there is a swamp, there you are pretty sure to find some of these cat-tails. They usually stand in the muck or in very shallow water.

Dig out some of these cat-tail stalks with your hand-ax, or grub them out with your fingers. If you have a shovel along the job will be easier. Dig up some of these cat-tails and you will find running from each clump of these reeds to the next clump a root about an inch in diameter; botanically this root is called a rhizome. The root will be covered with a brown fibrous bark which can easily be stripped off. The core within this bark can be boiled like an Irish potato, is more nutritious, and tastes better. During the starvation times of the Valley Forge winter Washington’s soldiers discovered that these cat-tail roots were good to eat and partly lived on them.

After you have procured some of these cat-tail roots, slice them across with your knife into thin slices, and boil in your wooden pot as directed for soup and you will find them both satisfying and appetizing. [162]

There are other roots, too, besides the cat-tails. Alongside most streams, ponds, or swamps the arrow-leaf, blue-flowered water lily will be found growing. This grows in shallow water, and the roots, or rather tubers, lie practically on the surface of the bottom of the water, and are very easily dislodged. Being lighter than water, too, they will float up to the surface when torn loose. These tubers reach about the size of black walnuts, and may be cooked as the cat-tail roots and with equal satisfaction. The tubers of the yellow water lily are good also, but as they lie under from two to four feet of water they are not so easily gotten at.

Still another root that makes fair eating is the bulb of the wood lily. These may be found in clearings and at the edges of forests. A slightly different variety of the same plant is somewhat frequent in open fields and is known as the meadow lily. These bulbs are rather loose in formation and may be easily pulled apart. They cook quickly.

For those who like something pungent, wild onion and wild garlic will fill the bill.

The motor camper who is going it wild and living off the country can find much that is edible if he will keep his eyes open. For example, there are the berries, varying with the season—wild strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries; even elderberries and pokeberries are not to be despised. The writer is aware that some people think the [163]pokeberry poisonous, and in fact it is so characterized in some books. Nevertheless, in some sections of the country the poorer folk use them as filler for pies, and the children eat them raw without any apparent ill effects. However, they are not especially palatable, being rather tasteless.

In many localities east of the Rocky Mountains, and particularly in the Northwest after September, what is called wild rice will be found growing in shallow lakes or ponds. This is not the white rice of commerce, but its little stick-like seeds are far more nutritious, and more tasteful also, than tame rice. Two young fellows in a canoe or sharpie, one to row, while the other with a stick knocks off the rice into the boat by striking the heads, can gather a bushel of the grain into the bottom of the boat in the course of a forenoon. However, this rice takes about an hour to boil until done, and it is difficult to cook it successfully without a skillet or other metal container. If parboiled for fifteen minutes in the wooden pot already described, and then left to soak overnight, it can be cooked done the next morning in another fifteen minutes.

The wild motor camper, if he looks about him, will find many appetizing herbs which he can boil in his skillet. He can find such herbs as yellow or curly dock (which tastes like spinach), the dandelion, the young pokeberry shoots, which may be [164]treated in cooking like asparagus, and numerous other herbs, according to the section through which he journeys.

This wild camper, naturally, will take along gun and fishing tackle. One thing he must not forget, and that will be to familiarize himself with the fishing and game laws of the state through which he tours. In another part of this book general information will be found concerning the fishing and game laws of the various states, the open and closed seasons for the different kinds of fish and game, as also the fees charged for licenses to fish or hunt. Yet, as these laws are constantly changing from time to time, it would be wise for the prospective fisher or hunter to write to the State Fish and Game Commissioner for the latest information.

We are aware that in many sections of our country the fish are few and the game equally scarce. Yet there is nearly always some kinds of fish that may be found and taken lawfully, as also some kinds of game.

Then, too, there are some kinds of toothsome fish and game that the hunter or fisherman is not likely to consider. In the game line take the humble musquash. This is the only wild animal that is holding its own against man, and is actually increasing in numbers in the settled sections of this country. It is usually called a muskrat, but it is not a rat [165]and has no musk. It tastes like squirrel and is equally palatable. It is nocturnal in its habits, and about the only way to take it is to trap it. This last is not especially difficult, but the average wild motor camper probably does not know how. To catch the musquash it is necessary to use a small steel trap which should be placed in the water at the entrance to the burrow of the animal which can be located at the edge or bank of stream, pond, or lake by watching for the little tracks which the animal makes in the mud.

Another wild creature is a shell fish which the ordinary motor camper would never think of. We refer to the crawfish which is found in almost all the muddy streams of the Mississippi Valley, and can be netted, or caught on a hook. This little animal when boiled gets red like a boiled lobster, and tastes better than lobster. Of course, almost everywhere along the seashore one may find clams, mussels and the like for food. Shell fish may also be found in some fresh-water streams.

The fish or game after being scaled or skinned and dressed may be fried in the skillet, or even boiled in the sort of wooden pot already described. However, the most satisfactory way to prepare it if you are motor camping wild is to roast it on a wooden spit. The spit may be a wooden rod or stick from which the bark has been peeled. This may be thrust through the fish or game, and the roasting done in front of or over the camp fire. Fish should be secured to the spit by being tied on [166]with string or strips of bark. Otherwise as it cooks it is likely to fall off into the fire, or to the ground.

The resourceful and observant wild motor camper will discover many sources of food in addition to those already alluded to. In many parts of the country he will find the tall stalks of the Jerusalem artichoke (really a variety of sunflower), also known as the Indian potato. The potato-like tubers of this plant were eaten by the Indians who cultivated the Jerusalem artichoke for these tubers. They are good boiled, and even raw they taste much better than raw Irish potato. This plant has a yellow flower, looking somewhat like the yellow daisy or black-eyed susan, except that the central button is yellowish green.

Still another source of food for the wild motor camper are the nuts. These, of course, are not available until fall. The most easily obtainable nuts, if we may call them nuts, are the different varieties of acorns. Some of them are quite astringent, but acorns from the white oak are least so, and even those most astringent may be dried over the fire, pounded up, placed in a cheese-cloth bag, and leached by pouring water through the mass until it runs clear without any yellowish tinge. Boil what [167]remains to a mush and it will be found quite eatable and nourishing.

Late in the summer the globular mushroom may be found on grassy slopes. It is called the beef-steak mushroom. When dried it becomes the common puff-ball. Sliced and fried it is better and more nourishing than the egg plant. It is not untasty raw. When old and dry, this mushroom makes a valuable fire-punk and will carry fire for a long time. When young and fresh, it is solid white all the way through, and may be easily peeled and sliced.

Other varieties of mushrooms had best be viewed with suspicion, unless you are expert at distinguishing them. Never eat mushrooms with white or yellow gills growing out of a bulb or cup—they are deadly. [168]

The main east and west highways in alphabetical order are:

The Bankhead Highway, from Washington, D. C., southwesterly to San Diego, Cal., a distance of 3,450 miles, and leading through Richmond, Raleigh, Atlanta, Birmingham, Memphis, Little Rock, Dallas, Fort Worth, El Paso, Douglas, Tucson, Phœnix to San Diego. The colors are yellow [171]and white bands with letters B. H. on white band.

The Dixie Overland Highway, from Savannah to San Diego, a distance of 2,814 miles, and passing through Montgomery, Meridian, Shreveport, Dallas, Fort Worth, Roswell, El Paso, Douglas, Bisbee, Tucson, Phœnix to San Diego. Colors: Black letters D. O. H. on yellow and black sign.

George Washington National Highway, from Savannah northwesterly to Seattle, 3,943 miles, and going through Atlanta, Memphis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Omaha, Sioux City, Sioux Falls, Deadwood, Butte, Spokane to Seattle. Colors: Red, blue and red bands with white letter W on wide blue band.

Lincoln Highway, from New York to San Francisco, 3,323 miles, through Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Canton, Lima, South Bend, Chicago Heights, Cedar Rapids, Omaha, Cheyenne, Salt Lake City, Sacramento, Oakland. Colors: Red, white and blue bands with letter L on the white.

National Old Trails Road, New York to Los Angeles, 3,281 miles, passing through Philadelphia, Hagerstown, Wheeling, Columbus, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Denver, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Flagstaff, Pasadena. Colors: Red, white and blue bands.

National Parks Highway, from Chicago to Wenatchee National Park, 2,436 miles, passing through Milwaukee, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Fargo, [172]Bismark, Dickinson, Billings, Butte, Missoula, Kalispell, Spokane. Colors: Red and white bands.

Pikes Peak Ocean to Ocean Highway, New York to San Francisco, 3,606 miles, through Newark, Reading, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Dayton, Indianapolis, Springfield, Chillicothe, St. Joseph, Colorado Springs, Salt Lake City, Ogden, Reno, Sacramento, Oakland. From New York to Pittsburgh known as the William Penn Highway. Colors: Red and white bands. The Pershing transport route.

Old Spanish Trail, Jacksonville to Los Angeles, 2,956 miles, reaching Tallahassee, New Orleans, Lake Charles, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Douglas, Tucson, Phœnix, San Diego to Los Angeles. Colors: Red and yellow bands.

Roosevelt National Highway, Washington, D. C., to Los Angeles, 3,368 miles, via Richmond, White Sulphur Springs, Huntington, Lexington, Louisville, Vincennes, St. Louis, Jefferson City, Kansas City, Topeka, Denver, Grand Junction, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles. Colors: Orange, black and orange bands.

Theodore Roosevelt International Highway, Portland, Maine, to Portland, Oregon. Via. Montpelier, Burlington, Plattsburg, Oswego, Rochester, Niagara Falls, London, Ont.; Port Huron, Mich.; Bay City, Duluth, Grand Forks, Spokane, Seattle to Portland, Ore. Colors: White, red and white bands with letters T. R. in white on wide red band. [173]

Yellowstone Trail, New York to Seattle, 3,594 miles, via Albany, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Erie, Cleveland, Toledo, South Bend, Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul-Minneapolis, Billings (Livingston to Yellowstone Park), Butte, Missoula, Spokane to Seattle. Colors: Black letters on yellow sign.

Then there is the great highway that circles around by way of a number of the national parks which is called:

The National Park to Park Highway, which begins at Denver and returns to the starting point (4,403 miles) via Rocky Mountain National Park, Cheyenne, Casper, Yellowstone National Park, Great Falls, Glacier National Park, Spokane, Seattle, Tacoma, Mount Ranier National Park, Portland, Crater Lake National Park, Sacramento, Yosemite National Park, Roosevelt National Park, Los Angeles, Zion National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Flagstaff, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado Springs to Denver again.

The national highways running north and south are fully as numerous as those that are transcontinental. Arranged in alphabetical order, the leading ones are:

Atlantic Highway, from Calais, Maine, to Miami, 2,308 miles, via Portland, Boston, Providence, New Haven, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, [174]Washington, Richmond, Augusta, Macon, Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Palm Beach, Miami.

Dixie Highway, East Division—Detroit to Miami, 1,561 miles, via Toledo, Dayton, Cincinnati, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Augusta, Savannah, Jacksonville, Palm Beach, Miami. West Division—Chicago to Fort Myers, 1,672 miles, via Indianapolis, Louisville, Nashville, Chattanooga, Atlanta, Macon, Americus, Thomasville, Tallahassee, Orlando, Kissimmee, Fort Myers. Colors: White and red, with letters D. H. on red.

Jackson Highway, Chicago to New Orleans, 1,066 miles, via Indianapolis, Louisville, Nashville, Columbus, Meridian to New Orleans. Colors: Black letters J. H. on white band.

King of Trails, Winnipeg, Canada, to Laredo, Tex., 1,991 miles, via Grand Forks, Fargo, Sioux Falls, Sioux City, Omaha, Kansas City, Muskogee, Dallas, Waco, Austin, San Antonio to Laredo. Colors: Black letters K. T. on yellow band.

Jefferson Highway, Winnipeg, Canada, to New Orleans, 2,277 miles, via Minneapolis, St. Paul, Des Moines, Kansas City, Joplin, Muskogee, Denison, Shreveport, Baton Rouge to New Orleans. Colors: Blue, white and blue band with letters J. H. combined on the white.

Lee Highway, Washington, D. C., to New Orleans, 1,155 miles, via Staunton, Roanoke, Bristol, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Birmingham, Meridian to New Orleans. Colors: Blue letters “Lee” on diagonal white band with blue and red background. [175]

Meridian Highway, Winnipeg, Canada, to Galveston, Tex., 1,908 miles, via Grand Forks, Fargo, Yankton, Wichita, Enid, Wichita Falls, Fort Worth, Waco, Houston to Galveston. Colors: White band with red band added at turns.

Mississippi Valley Highway, Duluth to New Orleans, 1,635 miles, via St. Paul, Cedar Rapids, Burlington, St. Louis, Cairo, Jackson, Macon, Meridian, Hattiesburg to New Orleans. Colors: White and orange bands.

Pacific Highway, Vancouver, British Columbia, to Tia Juana, Mexico, 1,807 miles, via Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Portland, Salem, Medford, Sacramento, Oakland, San José, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, San Diego. Colors: Black letters on white signs.

Pershing Way, Winnipeg, Canada, to New Orleans, via Crookston, Mankato, Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, Hannibal, St. Louis, Memphis, Little Rock, Opelousas to New Orleans. Colors: Red, white and blue bands with letter P. on wide white band.

Puget Sound to Gulf, Seattle to Corpus Christi, 2,791 miles, via Walla Walla, Baker City, Boise, Twin Falls, Ogden, Salt Lake City, Cheyenne, Denver, Pueblo, Amarillo, San Antonio to Corpus Christi.

Many of these main highways have important branches which have not been indicated in this brief [176]summary. There are other important trunk line routes, such as the Albert Pike Highway from Hot Springs, Ark., to Colorado Springs, Colo.; The Alton Way (white, black and white bands), from Chicago to St. Louis, 295 miles; the Arrowhead Trail (marked with arrowhead in circle), from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles, 853 miles; and the Big Four Route (yellow, black and yellow bands), Terre Haute to St. Louis, 211 miles; and to Hannibal, Mo., 343 miles.

Other important trails for the motor tourist which are now available are:

The Black and Yellow Trail (black and yellow bands), Chicago to the Yellowstone National Park, 1,610 miles.

The Black Diamond Trail (black diamond on white band), from Springfield, Ill., to Nashville, Tenn.

The Black Hawk Trail (black head on white band), from Dixon, Ill., to Beloit, Wis., 60 miles.

The Black-Hills-Denver-Diamond Highway, from Denver, Colo., to Deadwood, S. Dak., 460 miles.

The Blue Grass Trail (white, blue and white bands), across Illinois from Momence, Ill., to Burlington, Iowa. And across Iowa from Burlington to Omaha. [177]

The Blue Trail (marked with blue bands), from Glacier Park Station, Mont., to Banff, Canada, 327 miles.

Boone Way, from Lexington, N. C., to Louisville, Ky.

Buffalo Trail, from Great Falls to Billings, Mont., 253 miles.

California-Banff Bee Line Highway, from Los Angeles, Cal., to Banff, Canada, via Spokane, Wash.

Cannon Ball Trail (black ball on white band), from Chicago, Ill., to Hannibal, Mo., 341 miles.

Caterpillar Trail (green name on orange band), from Peoria to Pontiac, Ill., 60 miles.

Chicago, Kansas City and Gulf Highway (black letters C. K. C. G. within red cross on white band). From Chicago to Galveston.

Corn Belt Route (white band with yellow ear of corn), from Effner, Ind., to Burlington, Iowa.

Cross-State Highway (white cross on black band), from Hannibal to St. Joseph, Mo.

Custer Battlefield Highway (red, white and red bands), from Omaha, Neb., to Glacier National Park, Mont.

Denver-Yellowstone Highway, from Denver to south entrance of Yellowstone Park.

Diamond Trail, from Freeport to Galesburg, Ill., 124 miles.

Dixie Bee Line (yellow letters on black band), from Danville, Ill., to Louisville, Ky. [178]

Egyptian Trail (black figure on yellow band), from Chicago to Cairo, Ill., 497 miles.

F. F. F. Highway (letters F. F. F. and arrows), from Fort Worth, Tex., to Las Vegas, N. M., 639 miles.

Fort Smith, Paul’s Valley and Wichita Falls Highway, Fort Smith, Ark., to Wichita Falls, Tex., 331 miles.

Geyser-to-Glacier Highway, from Yellowstone to Glacier National Park, 546 miles.

Grant Highway, from Chicago, Ill., to Portland, Ore., via South Entrance Yellowstone Park.

Great White Way (wide white band), across Iowa from Davenport to Omaha, 337 miles.

Hawkeye Highway (blue letter H. on white band), across Iowa from Dubuque to Sioux City, 340 miles.

Indian Head Trail, from Galesburg, Ill., to Minneapolis, Minn., 413 miles.

Kansas-Oklahoma-Texas and Gulf Highway, from Florence, Kan., to Dallas, Tex., 514 miles.

Kickapoo Trail (white, red and white bands), from Peoria, Ill., to Muscatine, Ia.

Lakes-to-Gulf Highway (black letters L. G. on white bands), from Duluth, Minn., to Galveston, Tex., 1,826 miles.

Lee Highway, from Gettysburg to New Orleans.

Lewis and Clark Trail, from Lewiston, Idaho, to Missoula, Mont. [179]

Liberty Highway (red bands), from New York to Erie, Pa., 496 miles.

Logan-Lee Highway (red, white and blue bands with L. L. H. on white), across Illinois from Rock Island to Paducah, Ky., 441 miles.

Mackinaw Indian Trail (black figures on white band), from Peoria to Bloomington, Ill., 42 miles.

Mark Twain Route, from Chicago to Kansas City, 555 miles.

Mohawk Trail (red bands), from Albany to Boston, 182 miles.

North Iowa Pike, across Iowa from McGregor to Sioux Falls.

Omaha-Lincoln-Denver Highway (black letters O. L. D. on white bands), from Omaha to Denver, 627 miles.

Omaha-St. Louis Highway (red, white and red bands), from Omaha to St. Louis, 476 miles.

Ozark Trail, from St. Louis, Mo., to Las Vegas, N. M.

Perry Highway, from Pittsburgh to Erie, Pa., 136 miles.

Park-to-Park Highway, from Yellowstone to Glacier National Park via Missoula.

Potash Highway, from Grand Island to Alliance, Neb.

Rainbow Trail, from Pueblo to Grand Junction, Colo., 238 miles.

Red Ball Route (marked with red ball), from St. Paul, Minn., to St. Louis, Mo., 487 miles. [180]

River-to-River Road (white, black and letter R.), across Iowa from Davenport to Omaha, 349 miles.

Robert E. Lee Highway, from New Orleans to San Diego.

Scott Highway, from Duluth, Minn., to Fort William and Port Arthur, 210 miles.

Southwest Trail (black letters S. W. on white bands), from Chicago to Laredo, Tex., 1,706 miles.

Utah-Idaho-Yellowstone Highway, from Salt Lake City to West Entrance of Yellowstone Park, 360 miles.

Waubonsie Trail (black, white and black bands), across Iowa from Keokuk to Lincoln, Neb.

Yellowstone Highway (yellow and gray bands, black letters Y. H.), from Denver to East Entrance of Yellowstone Park, 638 miles.

Y-G Bee Line Highway, from Yellowstone to Glacier National Park via Great Falls, 355 miles.

The National Parks and Forests, the State Parks and Forests, and the Municipal Camping Parks offer a great variety of camping sites for the motor-camping tourist. The accommodations offered in the National Parks and Forests are, for the most part, more remote than any other class of camping sites, and the facilities offered consist mainly of fireplaces, and, in some cases, of simple [181]shelters also. The State Parks and Forests are much more limited in extent than the National Parks and Forests, but they are becoming very numerous. The State Parks and Forests, however, usually do not offer much more than camping privileges, though some states—New York, for example—make some provision for campers, building fireplaces and rude shelters.

It is the municipal camping parks that are most numerous and that make most extensive provision for the comfort of the touring camper. Many cities like Denver and Los Angeles expend large sums of money in the equipment of extensive camping parks that in the course of a season entertain many thousands of campers.

These various sorts of camping sites with the facilities offered are shown in tabulated form by states in the following chapter, so that the reader by looking for a given state in its alphabetical place can see what National Parks and Forests it may have, what State Parks and Forests, and what municipalities within its bounds make provision for campers. The tabulated list will also show what accommodations are offered by each site listed.

The National Parks and Forests—Four Times the Area of New England

Few people realize the extent of our National Parks and Forests. They embrace an area of about [182]one hundred and seventy-five million acres, which is equivalent to nearly four times the area of New England.

While located mostly in the Rocky Mountain region and in the states of the Pacific Slope they are also found in some of the states of the Atlantic Coast.

There are one hundred and seventy-one separate National Forest tracts, and these one hundred and seventy-one forests are found in twenty-nine states and territories. The territories are Alaska and Porto Rico.

The administrative arrangement of these tracts is by districts, of which there are eight. The First District contains twenty-six forests situated in Idaho, Montana, South Dakota and Washington. In the Second District there are twenty-seven forests located in Colorado, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming. District Three has fourteen forests which are found in Arizona and New Mexico. The Fourth District includes thirty-five forests in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming. In District Five we have twenty-one forests which are in California and Nevada. District Six holds twenty-five forests situated in Oregon and Washington. The seventh district includes forests in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Maine, New Hampshire, [183]North Carolina, Oklahoma, Porto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. District Eight covers the forests of Alaska.

If you go into almost any city west of the Great Plains and pick up a telephone book the chances are that you will find a number entered in it for the “Forest Service.” And if you should go to the address recorded with the number you will probably find an office building in the business part of the town, within which somewhere is a glass door carrying the name of a National Forest.

There are such offices in Seattle, Portland, and Los Angeles; in Denver and Salt Lake City; in Missoula, Mont., and in Tucson, Ariz. Also there are National Forest headquarters in dozens of little places of which you may never have heard.

Besides trails suitable for foot passengers and pack animals there are within the Forests other hundreds of miles of roadway fit for automobiling. Much of this mileage has been built by the Forest Service, usually in coöperation with local (county or State) authorities. But, however financed, the finished roads lie far and tempting through the forests. Thither the camping tourist in his automobile may take his way and linger for days and weeks at a time. The mountains, streams, and woodlands are laid open to many thousands of persons in this way, and no one counting their crowding procession can doubt their appreciation of the opportunity.

A typical example of this provision for public [184]service is found in the Park-to-Park Highway running between the Yellowstone and National Park and Glacier National Park, constructed by Forest Engineers and passing over the Great Divide and through the Beaverhead and the Bitterroot Forests. The most famous example is certainly the Columbia River Highway which, though not designed or built by the Forest Service, passes for miles through the Oregon National Forest.

Along these automobile trails camps are in strong demand. Many trail tourists do not mind patronizing the hotels a part of the time, but for the rest they greatly prefer the tent and the camp fire. To meet their needs the Forest Service has laid out and equipped a large number of camps. These are always located where good water is available, and usually a practicable wood supply is an item of the equipment. Simple provisions are made for sanitation, and cement fireplaces are often installed. Sometimes telephone service is made available. Such camps are extensively used by travelers, especially along the more popular through routes. To a certain degree they prove a protection for the forests, since the camp fires of the tourists, instead of being set in out-of-the-way and dangerous places, are made in safe areas. It is found, moreover, that the campers, once their interest and coöperation is aroused, become a volunteer fire guard of no mean efficiency. In hundreds of instances these tourists report incipient fires or assist in putting them out.

The number of visitors to the National Forests [185]now mounts up into millions. Of these over three and a half million last summer were motor tourists.

National Parks. In addition to and distinct from the National Forests there are a list of notable National Parks, some of them, as, for example, the Yellowstone, of vast extent. These parks for the most part ask motor visitors to register. Campers are required to register. The registration of cars for the season of 1922 reached a total of 198,515 cars and 695,614 motorists. This number has since had a considerable increase. The figures just given are those reported by the Director of the National Park Service.

The National Parks are Hot Springs, Middle Arkansas; Yellowstone, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho; Sequoia, Middle East California; Yosemite, Middle East California; General Grant, Middle East California; Mount Rainier, West Central Washington; Crater Lake, Southern Oregon; Wind Cave, South Dakota; Platt, Southern Oklahoma; Sullys Hill, North Dakota; Mesa Verde, Southwestern Colorado; Glacier, Northwestern Montana; Rocky Mountain, North Middle Colorado; Lassen Volcanic, Northern California; Grand Canyon, North Central Arizona; Lafayette, Maine Coast; and Zion, Southwestern Utah. There are two others, Mount McKinley, Alaska (2,200 square miles), and Hawaii (118 square miles). They are [186]both inaccessible to the ordinary motorist. The largest of these National Parks, as already noted, is the Yellowstone with 3,348 square miles—about a thousand square miles more than make up the state of Delaware, which has an area of 2,370 square miles. Lafayette Park, which consists of the group of granite mountains upon Mount Desert Island, has only eight square miles of area. The other larger parks are Glacier, 1,534; Yosemite, 1,125; and Grand Canyon, 958 square miles. The total National Park area to date is 10,859 square miles for the nineteen parks.

Most of the National Parks, like the National Forests, have numerous motor trails, with frequent camping sites along these trails, many of which have considerable equipment and offer convenient facilities of various sorts to the motor camper.

One thing for the motor tourist to ascertain when planning to visit one of the National Parks is the dates at which the parks open. All the National Parks are open during the summer months of July and August.

The usual dates of opening and closing as officially announced are as follows: Crater Lake Park, July 1 to Sept. 30; General Grant Park, May 24 to October 10; Glacier Park, June 15 to September 15; Lassen Park, June 1 to September 15; Mesa Verde Park, May 1 to November 1; Mount Rainier Park, [187]June 15 to September 15; Rocky Mountain Park, June 15 to October 1; Sequoia Park, May 24 to October 10; Wind Cave Park, South Dakota, June 1 to September 30; Yellowstone Park, June 20 to September 15; Zion Park, May 15 to November 1. Other National Parks not mentioned above are open all the year.

We come now to The State Parks and Forests. Most of the states own more or less extensive areas of land, much of which is in forest. Most states, too, have a forestry department. Where states have state-owned land there is usually no objection to campers using it temporarily. In many states, however, and particularly where provision has been made for the accommodation of campers, a permit is required which may be obtained from the local official of the Forestry Department. There is usually no charge made for the temporary use of a state camping site.

The following states have state lands which are available for motor tourist camping:

Alabama has state-owned forests which are in the control of the Department of Conservation, but has no State Forester and has no information relative to the state forests.

Arkansas has a Tourist Division of the Bureau of Mines, Manufactures and Agriculture, which issues a sumptuous booklet entitled “Playgrounds of [188]Arkansas,” bearing the invitation, “Let the State of Arkansas Help You Plan Your Vacation Trip.” This work gives valuable general information about the state and its climate. It is also copiously illustrated, and mentions the resorts that have camping parks for motorists. Obtainable on application to Tourist Division, etc., State House, Little Rock, Ark.

Florida is hospitable to motor tourists and has four State Parks. They are the Royal Palm State Park; the Natural Bridge State Park; the Port St. Joe State Park; and the Dade Memorial Park.

Illinois has a few State Parks under the supervision of the Department of Public Works and Buildings. These parks are mostly of a commemorative character and offer little in the way of accommodations for the motor camper.

The largest of these parks is Starved Rock Park, on the Illinois River, with an extent of approximately nine hundred acres. This park has much scenic beauty and is equipped throughout with artesian water, electric light and a sewerage system.

Indiana is interested in motor campers and issues a pamphlet entitled “Automobile Camps in Indiana,” which lists both the State Parks available for the camper and also the municipal motor camps. Obtainable on application to Department of Conservation, Indianapolis. The State Parks apparently number only five, of which the largest, the Clark County State Forest, is a tract of 2,800 acres.

Iowa has a Board of Conservation which maintains [189]sixteen State Parks, the largest of which, Backbone Park, has an area of 1,279 acres and is situated on the Maquoketa River. Lacey-Keosauqua Park is nearly as large—1,222.1 acres. These and several other of the larger parks are in the care of custodians who look after the requirements of campers.

Maryland.—The Maryland State Board of Forestry issues a pamphlet under the title “The State Reserves of Maryland, A Playground for the Public.” The most important of these reserves are the reserves of Garrett County on the crown of the Blue Ridge in the western part of the state, a reserve embracing about 2,000 acres. Permits are issued to campers without charge upon the applicant signing an application in which he agrees to abide by the regulations laid down by the Board.

Massachusetts has fifteen State Forests aggregating 50,000 acres. The greater part of them are not of much benefit to motorists, as they are not located on state highways, and many of them are in fact almost inaccessible to motor cars on account of the condition of the roads. There are three forests on the main highways, the Mohawk Trail Forest, the Erving Forest and the Otter River Forest. Improved camp sites in these forests await a legislative appropriation for the purpose. Massachusetts has five State Parks which are owned by the state, but maintained by the counties, and so under county jurisdiction. These are the four mountain parks: Wachusett (1,200 acres), Greylock (8,000 [190]acres), Sugar Loaf (150 acres), Everett (1,000 acres), and Tom (1,600 acres).

Michigan issues an illustrated pamphlet entitled “The Parks of the People,” which are under the control of the State Department of Conservation. There are twenty-three of these State Parks, mostly of modest size. The largest of these parks is the Hanson Military Reserve with an extent of 15,000 acres. No other exceeds several hundred acres. The appointments of the Michigan State Parks are excellent for campers. All State Parks are equipped with such conveniences as are necessary to make the camper enjoy his stay. The bathing beaches have public bath houses equipped in such a way that the bathers may place their belongings under lock and key. Outdoor fireplaces constructed of concrete will be found in all the park sites. An ample supply of good drinking water is also provided. There are also receptacles for waste paper and other rubbish, as also sanitary convenience stations. Michigan is not only surrounded on three sides by water, but, with a single exception, is said to have more small lakes than any other state. All of the State Parks are accessible by well-built state highways.

Minnesota has an area of some 350,000 acres in what is known as the “New State Forests.” With the advent of good roads and the increase in the number of automobile tourists a number of good camping grounds have been established in the Forest. These grounds are easily accessible and have a good supply of wood and water. The State Forester [191]warns campers that “it is unlawful to burn in this state when the ground is not snow covered without first obtaining a burning permit from the local Fire Warden or other authorized Forest Officer.”

New Jersey has state forests exceeding 17,000 acres in extent. The largest of these is the North Jersey State Forest of 7,200 acres. There are six others of lesser size. Camping privileges may be secured in each of these, without charge, upon application to the local forester. All these forests are fairly accessible by automobile.

New York has an imperial system of State Parks and Reservations. There are some thirty-three parks administered in various ways which are mostly of a commemorative character, such as Washington’s Headquarters at Newburgh, and a number of battlefields. The largest of the parks is the Palisades Interstate Park of 30,000 acres along the Hudson. The Conservation Commission of the State of New York administers the extensive forest preserves of the State. The largest of these, the Adirondack Park, embraces an area of nearly three and a half million acres and is slightly larger than the state of Connecticut. The Catskill Park has more than half a million acres, more than a hundred thousand acres of which are owned outright by the state. There are some seven forest tracts owned by the state. In these forest reserves, particularly in the Catskill Park, the state has constructed many trails, and along these trails there are many camping [192]sites, but usually not much more is provided than a fireplace.

North Carolina has one State Park which is reached through the property of the Mount Mitchell Development Company and is named the Mount Mitchell State Park. This park comprises 1,200 acres of rough mountain land, including the summit of Mt. Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi River. This park is accessible by motor, and the company owning the road makes a toll charge of $1.00 per person for all automobiles using the road. The company also rents tents at the end of the road which reaches the park.

Oregon owns 78,000 acres of woodland about equally divided between the eastern and western sections of the state. Little attention has been paid to providing camping sites in these State Forests, as many of them are inaccessible to motorists. However, a number of wardens whose districts include popular camping regions do erect fireplaces and devote some time to fixing up suitable camp grounds and keeping them in order for tourists.

Pennsylvania. The Department of Forestry of the State of Pennsylvania has developed and equipped eight public camp grounds in the State Forests for automobile tourists who carry camping outfits with them. All that is asked is that the camper be careful with fire and that he leave the camp as he would like to find it. These eight public camp grounds have been equipped with a space for [193]tents, a fireplace, a supply of pure water, two comfort stations, four garbage containers, four tables and eight benches. Where public camp grounds are adjacent to state-owned telephone lines, public telephones are installed.

Rhode Island issues “A Guide Book to the Reservations of the Metropolitan Park System of Rhode Island” which is illustrated and describes eighteen parks, the largest of which is the Lincoln Woods reservation with 458 acres. In most of these parks shelters and fireplaces have been located for the use of such camping parties as have applied for and received permission for such use.

South Dakota prides itself on its State Park among the peaks of the Black Hills and issues an illustrated pamphlet setting forth its beauties. The park is eight by twelve miles in extent and has an area of 61,440 acres. The park is called the Custer State Park.

Vermont has a list of thirteen State Forests ranging in size from the Groton Forest, 15,000 acres, down to the Arlington Forest of 225 acres. The only forests of more than a thousand acres, however, aside from the Groton, are the Mansfield, 5,000 acres, and the Putnam, 1,400. No provision has been made by the Department for campers.

Washington has a State Parks Committee which reports that “camp sites, not including those maintained by various municipalities throughout the state, are now being established through four [194]agencies, namely, the State Forestry Department, the State Parks Department, the Washington Forest Fire Association (an association of large timber land owners), and those established by private land owners.

“Camp sites prepared by the State Forestry Department are generally upon lands leased by the department, such lands being situated upon public highways and usually adjoining running streams of pure water, fireplaces and free wood being provided. There are twenty-one of these sites, mostly in counties in the western portion of the state. There are sixteen state parks, upon some of which camping sites have been established, and others will be provided.”

Wisconsin has eight State Parks, with the establishment of four others under consideration. The largest of these parks is the Peninsula State Park of 3,400 acres fronting on Green Bay. The state issues an illustrated pamphlet describing these parks, but no mention is made of camp sites, though probably such exist.

The rising tide of motor tourists has led most municipalities from the Middle States westward to lay out camping parks. In many cases no fee is charged. Mostly, however, there is a small charge per day, averaging probably not more than fifty cents.

California leads in the number of these motor-camping sites provided by municipalities. But while the California camping parks exhibit every quality [195]of attractiveness, they cannot exceed the appeal of many of the camping parks of the Rocky Mountain States, or even of those farther to the eastward.

Take the camp at Boise, Idaho, as an example of an attractive motor park. In Boise the camp is situated at a natural hot water spring—a spring, by the way, which furnishes heat sufficient to warm practically all the business blocks and residences in the city. Thus this camp has hot water service. Practically all the equipment is electrically operated, including stoves, laundry machines, etc. The land of the Boise camp is city owned and loaned by the city council. The Chamber of Commerce took hold and got the coöperation of the rest of the city. Power and light were furnished free by the utility corporation. Materials were donated for construction and the labor unions gave their labor for the construction of the buildings and equipment.

The Salt Lake City camping park is another example of a most attractive camp site. The camp comprises eight acres and will accommodate 400 cars. It is equipped with water, sewers, arc lights, a wash rack for cars, free firewood and a commissary building at which tourists’ larders may be replenished. Signs posted on the fence invite the tourists [196]to stop and rest as guests of Salt Lake City. Hundreds of tall shade trees help to make the place an ideal camping ground.

Practically every community of any size along the Lincoln Highway west of Omaha offers to the motor tourist the use of a camp site, if it is only an open lot in which the tourist is free to park for the night. No accurate figures can be compiled of the number of motor campers, partly because many never register or use the more popular municipal camping parks, and partly because even where registry is required there is no central bureau to which the figures can be reported. Even were it possible for one to visit the two thousand or more camping sites of various kinds that are used throughout the country he could not obtain any accurate figures of the number of campers entertained.

 Courtesy of Denver Tourist Bureau

Children of six states playing at the famous Overland Motor Park, Denver, Col.

But take a single park in a city along the Lincoln Highway, the city of Cheyenne, Wyoming, and one can get a little idea of the vast multitude taking to the open road at the height of the camping season. A visitor to this camp ground of forty acres on the edge of a little lake near this city on July 28, 1921, at the peak of travel for the season made a careful census of the cars in the park on that day and found a total of 763 cars and 2,540 people from thirty-two states. In addition to the people camped inside the forty acres, it was estimated that about 500 more people were outside, unable to get in. Of course, Cheyenne is a crossroads community where a main north and south road from Denver to the [197]Yellowstone crosses the Lincoln Highway. However, many other popular camping parks turn thousands away because of being taxed to the limit of capacity, and this despite the fact that many motor campers avoid the crowds at municipal camping parks and always prefer to camp in more secluded spots.

One of the most noted camping parks is Denver’s quarter million dollar automobile park. This park includes some seventy-five or eighty acres covered with fine groves of cottonwoods, maples and other trees. It was formerly the Overland Country Club, and is now called the Overland Motor Park. The former clubhouse, a three-story building containing twenty-four rooms, was remodeled for the convenience of tourists. The first floor contains a modern grocery store and meat market, kitchen, grill and lunch counter, steam table from which prepared foods are dispensed, billiard room, barber shop, men’s showers and comfort station and a laundry room, containing eight tubs for women campers. Both the laundry room and the showers are equipped with hot and cold water. On the second floor are located a large lounging room, equipped with a phonograph, where visitors may dance, a restaurant and soda fountain. The balconies of the building are also fitted with tables and chairs where refreshments may be served. On the third floor are located [198]the rooms of the concessionaire who handles the commercial features of the house, and the women’s showers and comfort station and lockers.

The campers register at the gate and are given written permits to occupy a certain lot in the park for a period of two weeks. After the expiration of this time, if the grounds are not crowded, the permit may be renewed. The city engineers have surveyed 800 camp lots, each 25 by 35 feet. These are marked by posts driven in the ground and numbered. The camp area, however, may be extended to any required size upon short notice.

Pipes have been extended from the city water mains, so that no camper is more than 150 feet from a water hydrant. The camp is also lighted by powerful incandescents from the city lighting system. Several strictly modern comfort stations have been erected at various points in the grounds. Overland Park was at one time the site of an interstate exposition, and several of these exposition buildings have been utilized in the scheme of development. One of them houses an automobile repair shop and a garage, as well as a moving picture theater seating 400 people. At the entrance of the park is an automobile filling station, where gasoline, oil and motor accessories may be obtained.

It is obvious that a great many of these accommodations are put in for the convenience of the camper, but must be conducted as concessions. However, the free service the camper receives includes the following: Camp lot, water and electric [199]light, hot and cold showers for men and women, sanitary conveniences, laundry, lounging and dancing room. The grounds are well policed night and day by park authorities.

So much for a motor-camping park in and conducted by a great city. However, the great Overland Camping Park of Denver does not surpass in completeness of service some of the parks maintained by small localities. Take an example. Alhambra is situated six miles northeast of Los Angeles and three miles from Pasadena. Alhambra boasts that it has the most complete auto camp in California, and California is the land of auto camps. It is situated for rest and comfort in a clean and sanitary location amid a stately grove of eucalyptus trees. The entire camp is well graveled, smooth, level, no mud, no dust, no fog, electrically lighted, under police protection.

The camp has an amusement hall, inclosed, with new player piano and fine dancing floor for the free use of guests. Also free to campers is an electric laundry room with concrete floor, hot and cold running water, sewerage, large new electric washer and wringer, other washers, tubs, drying rack, ironing boards, electric iron connections, etc.

Further, the campers have free use of community kitchens, inclosed, new, sanitary, with water, screens, electric light and gas stoves for cooking. There is open plumbing. There are free shower baths, with hot and cold water. There is also a free rack and hose for cleaning autos. There is no time limit. [200]Each car is allotted a space twenty feet square, and the charge for camping space is fifty cents for each twenty-four hours. This appears to be the only charge.

These camps just described are but typical of a multitude of other camping parks, many of which are quite as attractive as those mentioned.

Most municipalities court the motor camper, and when the contrary is the case it is felt as a fault. One chamber of commerce secretary in an Indiana town writes, “We have no motor camp site. We are made up of a bunch of retired farmers, the most unprogressive lot of folks on earth.” The secretary of a Pennsylvania municipal commercial club gives the information, “This darn town don’t seem to want visitors as far as I can see.”

No doubt some motor campers are undesirable. One communication to a sporting publication says: “It is difficult to believe that people of even moderate intelligence can be as unsanitary as are many motor campers. Many auto campers pay no regard whatever to the game laws. Many auto campers steal. It is stealing for melons, corn, potatoes, and other vegetables and fruit to be taken from the fields.”

Two scenes from the camp site at Alhambra, California

The above is one side of the picture and a very small side. Most motor campers are decent, kindly folk whose presence is appreciated by the communities that they visit. Many places have found their motor-camping parks veritable gold mines. Aberdeen, S. D., reports that during the recent season [201]tourists spent over $175,000 in the town. The great profit that may derive from the wandering motor camper who proves to be an angel not at all disguised may be seen from a report rendered to the American Automobile Association a couple of years ago to the effect that in a single season 460,000 tourist cars had visited the state, and that their occupants had spent in the state a sum of not less than $40,000,000.

As indicated above, much of the tabulated information is new. In addition to the questionnaire already alluded to much information relating to motor-camping sites has been obtained from state and national sources. Use has also been made of lists of municipal camping parks already published, and corrections made in the information supplied from such sources when necessary.

At a recent convention held at Long Beach, Cal., which was attended by representatives from about a hundred towns and cities in Southern California, it was decided to draw up a list of facilities which each motor camp ground should give to visitors, and also to draw up a list of rules which the visitors, as a return courtesy, should abide by.

It was decided that each municipal auto camp must have showers for men and women, it must have gas for cooking, telephone service, public comfort stations, water, and electricity for lighting. [202]

There is coming to be a new development in connection with motor touring which is designed to meet the requirements of those who desire a little more luxury than can be had in ordinary camping, but who do not care for either the formality or the expense involved in putting up at the average first-class hotel.

To meet the demands of this class what are called Motor Inns are springing up in hundreds of localities, some of them being operated on the chain principle, thus securing uniformity of operation and standardized service and equipment.

One of the most complete of these motor inns is one that is in operation at Los Angeles. Like others it combines in many respects the features of both an automobile camp and a hotel. The plant consists of an office, a community building, and a group of bungalows, numbering at present some fifteen. Each bungalow has four bedrooms fitted up for two persons, many of the rooms with private bath. These rooms rent for $1.50 and $2.00 per night, accordingly as they are without or supply baths.

This inn represents an investment of about $90,000, and one of the same scope and cost, the second in a chain that is to dot the state, has been established at Fresno.

The California motor inns for the most part consist of a group of four apartment bungalows, [203]garages, main building, and pavilion on spacious landscaped grounds. Usually the bungalow apartments consist of a single room with toilet and bath. Thus under one roof there will be but eight persons, at most, housed at one time.

The price of entertainment also includes a garage for the car, and the use of the kitchen and its equipment, such as gas stove, sink, running water, tubs and the like. The kitchen is located in the community house. The rooms are as large as one finds in first-class hotels. Those without private bath adjoin so as to provide toilet and bath between the two rooms.

The community building provides a well-furnished reception room, and also a dining-room with tables for the guests. The motor inn is really a first-class hotel with a large degree of self-service.

Ample furniture is supplied for both the bedrooms and those in the community house. Naturally, however, kitchen utensils and dishes are not furnished for the guests. In effect the guest continues to be a camper, but a camper with hotel conveniences. [204]