Four Ohioans Travel at $1.00 per Day Each

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:

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]]

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CHAPTER III

THE WEEK-END CAMPER

Week-end Wild Men—Numerous Camping Sites Near the Large Cities—Camp Sites Near New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, Boston, Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles—The State Forester—Clothing—Bed—Bedding—Expense—Food—Fire and Fuel—Tools—Tents—Hammocks—Medical Kit—Children—Church.

Probably every dweller in civilization, whether of Main Street, Zenith City, or the metropolis, dreams of breaking loose some time and getting back to “fundamentals.” He wants to get off somewhere at the end of things, near the “jumping-off place.” Or he pictures himself on some long canoeing trip in Labrador. Perhaps his fancy turns to summer time in Alaska, or to the mystic beauties of central Asia. At any rate he wants a change. He wants primarily wild country and fresh air. He wants to shake off confining routine.

But this dweller is an ordinary sort of chap leading an ordinary life. He has perhaps but two weeks’ vacation during the year, which he finds have, somehow or other, been scheduled for visits to his own folks and to his wife’s relatives. So he puts away his dream of the wilderness and lives with a sense of being thwarted.

To-day, however, thousands are finding that they [[16]]can be week-end wild men. All they need is to step into a motor car, make certain inquiries, and they will soon be finding their way off the beaten path into the longed-for wilderness. Within the week-end motoring distance, within a distance of seventy-five miles, and usually much less, of the biggest cities of the country may be found wide deserted areas where man can commune with the stillness and the stars.

Falls at Stony Brook, Stokes State Forest, in Northern New Jersey

Pine forests in Southern New Jersey. Camping sites are available both in the North Jersey and the South Jersey State Forests

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