Memories? - Montana Owners Club

Wagonmaster · 10-21-2005, 03:33 PM

What are the fondest memories of your oldest rv? We had a 13ft Shasta in the sixties when the boys were growing up. It was the first upgrade from a tent. We were kind of bunched up when it rained and no bathroom or shower but it was some of our best camping ever.We went to a 18 ft Aristocrat and then a 23 ft Shasta, but the first one is the one we have the most pictures of. Must be getting older because I am already old Ha. Jack Happy safe camping.

Parrothead · 10-21-2005, 03:57 PM

Our oldest isn't that old (mid 90's) but it was our first and boy did we learn a lot. I had been tent camping for many, many years and I thought I was in heaven. A bathroom just a few feet from the bed - what luxury! And I didn't have to empty it! It was a 28 ft. Prowler with one little slide (size of sofa). But we had a lot of fun in it and pulled it all over California until we decided if we were going to keep doing this we needed a bigger one and then an even bigger one (Monty). It took us about 4 hours to unhook it the first time because no one told us about backing up that inch and we couldn't undo the hitch. Lots of fun memories.
Happy trails.....................

ronstan · 10-21-2005, 04:26 PM

We also had a 13 ft. Shasta that we bought in 1968. We then went to a 17 ft. Shasta. Thought we were camping in style. Then bought a 29 ft fifth wheel. now a Montana 3295 with three slides.

jrgwdenner · 10-21-2005, 04:33 PM

We had a 21 foot Terry trailer in 1971, no air conditioner. Glen started school at Texas A & M in August and we camped there for a month before we bought a house. We had four children with Sara, the youngest, being less than 2 y. o. Every night at 2 a.m. she would crawl down from the dinette/bed, crawl across us and look out the window by our bed to see the early morning train pass by, telling us, "Choo-choo". Then she went back to her bed and fell right back to sleep. Of course, we often weren't so fortunate. How we ever survived that month, I'll never know.

Parrothead · 10-21-2005, 06:08 PM

Judy
Sara was a true train lover. Is she still? Aren't these great memories. The first time I took my youngest camping she was still in diapers. I had always had a hard time getting her down at night. That night I put her in the sleeping bag, zipped her up, folded the bag up over her and she fell sound asleep. It rained that weekend and it was very muddy. I suggested we go home, "No, I'm having fun" was her reply. But I can't imagine 4 children in a small trailer but then youth allows you to do marvelous things doesn't it. I lived in a single wide mobile home with 3 teenage girls and a baby for a year and a half. Wouldn't do it today.
Happy trails.....................

jrgwdenner · 10-21-2005, 06:13 PM

I don't know how we ever made it in the heat with all six of us either. We did a lot of swimming. And we thought we had a Prevost.

Charlie · 10-22-2005, 03:04 AM

Our first RV was a fully hard sided pop-up Apache that we bought in 1976. We mainly used it to stay at then a newly formed state park at Fairfield, Tx. on a lake that supports a coal fired power plant. Fishing was great on the lake and we went every chance we had. Our daughter had made a drawing on onion skin paper and it was stuffed in a drawer and forgotten until a couple years ago. She was eleven years old at the time and made a fairly accurate image of the trailer, crank lying on the ground and all, but left off the supports for one end of the trailer and not sure how we got it there without any wheels.

jrgwdenner · 10-22-2005, 03:26 AM

What a priceless picture, Charlie. She drew very well for her age. I can remember the day when we would have thought we were millionaires if we had a hard-sided popup. I never thought we'd have something as swell as a Montana.

drhowell · 10-22-2005, 04:42 AM

My parents had a 1940 or 50 something Pontiac woody station wagon that we slept in while camping. Only had the front seats and the whole back was one big bed. I remember the smell of the kerosene lamp that hung from a cup hook in the ceiling. Remember camping on Hat Creek near Lassen Park and catching fish. At the time we were living in Redding CA in an old 16' travel trailer. When we finally rented a 2 bedroom house and I got my own room I was in heaven.

Then in the mid 60's a friend and I went to College and lived in his parents 12' Shasta. It was one of those trailers that if one person wanted to move around the other had to be on the bed or setting at the table. Those walks to the showers and facilities were very cold especially in the snow.

After marriage we started out with a tent, then a small pickup camper, shared a 24' motor home with my parents and about 5 years ago my first fifth wheel. This year we moved up to a 2001 Montana and it is great.

HamRad · 10-22-2005, 06:31 AM

Charlie,
What a great picture and what a great memory that must bring to you. Did your daughter end up doing art work or graphic design? Looks like she had the talent for it.

HamRad

Charlie · 10-23-2005, 02:05 PM

Answering your question Mary Kay and Dennis, no she did not, however she is very creative and has done some interior decorating. Her present job is Special Events Coordinator for the Merrill Center at Katy, Tx. just outside Houston. Events are not limited to the Katy ISD, but to any school or organization in the area that wish to use the facility which is comparable in size to the Toyota Center where the Rockets play basketball in downtown Houston.

Imp · 10-23-2005, 02:47 PM

We started out with a tent when our kids were growing up and then went to a pop up tent trailer. Lots of good memories but when we moved back to Washington from Missouri it was hard to keep the canvas dry and it mildewed badly. We traded it in for more than we paid for it on a 26 ft. Sportsman. It was great but when we talked about full timing, it was way too small. We bought it before there were slide outs. Then came the Montana... the rest is yet to be...
Myrna

adelmoll · 10-23-2005, 03:08 PM

Yes, the memories are wonderful and even better is the fact that we are making new ones. Hugs to you and Bob, Myrna.
Helen & Bill

fulltimedreamer · 10-23-2005, 05:49 PM

We tent camped with our children when they were young and have many happy memories around the campfire. When we camp now we still hear the stories about the ants that found the candy hidden in the tent and other equally funny stories. As the girls got older we moved up to a pop-up that we traveled to D.C., New York, Maine, PEI, South Florida as well as many local campgrounds. After the girls were grown we moved up to a 17' Starcraft hybrid (read bathroom and shower) which we took on a 5 week 11,000 mile trip in the Western U.S. and Canada. We then moved up to a 28' Sunnybrook TT which we enjoyed very much but decided we needed more room for the childrena nd grandchildren to join us. Now we have the Monty TT and have made many more happy memories. We look forward to many more.

sreigle · 10-24-2005, 03:41 PM

Great picture, Charlie!

Excluding an old slidein camper, our first fifthwheel was a used (very) 1985 Wilderness with the coffin-sized bedroom. I remember waking in the middle of the night and sitting up, or trying to, and banging my head on the ceiling.

DHenry · 10-24-2005, 04:53 PM

My first camper was a slide-in wood framed (very heavy) old camper that I put on a 1/2 ton short bed Chevy PU. It did not take me long to figure out that I was way overloaded so I bought a 3/4 ton Ford PU. This camper was so old that it had dry rot everywhere but we had a ball in it going camping. After the camper we went to trailers, three to be exact before getting our first 5th wheel, which is our current Montana. We have kept a camping log from our very first trip and every once in awhile we look back to see where we have been and where the trip was and what the cost of the campground was. Good memories were created with all the camping trips.

Imp · 10-24-2005, 06:42 PM

Doug and Sharon.. that is a great idea about putting down costs of campgrounds etc. I am sure in 5 to 10 yrs we will look back and think the prices we are paying now are cheap!! Bill and Helen.. hugs to you too..I love your journal and I need to get going on my own. Helen, your pictures are great.
Myrna

Lije Baley · 10-24-2005, 06:45 PM

We started backpacking before we had kids; then we tent camped with our toddler and finally "moved up" to a 15 ft. Jayco tent trailer when we got too cold in the North Coast (CA) while on dive trips. It had a little heater that would burn your knees if you were sitting at the dinnette! We loved it!!!! After the kids left we bought our first 5th wheel, a 25 ft Wilderness. After 2 years we knew we wanted to upgrade and fell in love with the Montana.

Mariana

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