Choosing the Camp Site
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.
Water Supply
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.
Games
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.