[speaker002:] how did you first get involved in camping
[speaker001:] oh I guess uh it's hard tell I guess probably I didn't do much as a kid because we grew up on a farm and my whole life was camping uh but uh
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] later on uh later on I think when my oldest daughter got involved she and I got involved in Indian Princesses we used to go up at Possum Kingdom and do a lot of camping at Possum Kingdom
[speaker002:] uh-huh are you a native Texan
[speaker001:] no no I'm I'm New England Massachusetts
[speaker002:] oh okay I guess I grew up uh camping my folks were big campers from day one as far as I can remember we grew up in southern Oklahoma and they were uh we were always hit Texoma or
[speaker001:] oh okay
[speaker002:] some camping area all of either Texas or Oklahoma
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and I was involved in Boy Scouts as a young kid and we were camping uh seem like every other weekend we would go somewhere I when they talk about the definitions of camping it kind of struck me as funny my brother and sister-in-law who live in Arlington and go camping uh a lot during the spring and summer and fall but their idea of camping is a little bit different than mine they have a fifth wheel trailer that they pull that has you know two bedrooms a TV and microwave and stove and all that kind of stuff and he pulls it with a big pickup
[speaker001:] yeah that
[speaker002:] when I when I when I go camping I usually take a sleeping bag and some cooking stuff and that's about it
[speaker001:] yeah that's they yeah kind of cheating isn't it
[speaker002:] well it's not like leaving home when you take it with you the whole idea is to get away from it
[speaker001:] no hum yeah oh sure speaking of uh southern Oklahoma uh you go up into the Arbuckle Mountains at all camping up in there
[speaker002:] I have been and uh some of the boy scouts have been up in there they have got some great hiking trails and camping areas up in there
[speaker001:] yeah we went up to uh I talking about being an Indian Princesses I was actually in it seven years with two daughters four with one three with the other and with my second daughter we camped up at Camp Classen one time
[speaker002:] um-hum I'm not familiar with that one
[speaker001:] and uh well it's right uh you know I'm trying to think where it is it's not too far over the border and it's up in the middle of the Arbuckles and it's near Turner Falls
[speaker002:] yeah oh yeah
[speaker001:] and uh uh that is just absolutely when you consider how flat everything is here that absolutely beautiful company to uh country to camp in
[speaker002:] boy that's a fact yeah well a lot of my camping was up in the Arbuckles as I was growing up there's a place that used to be called Platte National Park up around Sulphur and Davis and and not too far from Turner Falls
[speaker001:] uh-huh yeah
[speaker002:] they have I have heard they since changed name of the park to something else but it was one of those parks with uh a natural uh spring fed river that flows through the camp sites you know all along the river the water was real cold because it was spring fed but just like I say it's a beautiful area lots of hills to go camping in
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] uh dad never believed in tent camping uh we had some old army cots that we would sleep on uh come good weather or not a many of times we were sleeping out under the stars and it would start raining and we would all wind up in the car and that got pretty cramped sometimes a lot of good memories in in in camping you know it helps you unwind and get away and forget about TI and everything else back home I guess
[speaker001:] uh-huh oh yeah uh another thing how about uh have you been to the Texans Texoma side
[speaker002:] no I haven't I've never been up there
[speaker001:] oh for goodness sakes that is that is just really nice we kind of you know I've been at TI thirty two years and in my young single days I used to camp there a lot then I sort of forgot about it for twenty years and uh
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] uh two years ago my children started asking they say picture of it over at Texans and we started going there again we sort of rediscovered it
[speaker002:] well that that's true I've never thought I've heard about it countless times but never thought about going up there
[speaker001:] yeah and uh it got a lot a lot of campsites you know there's uh uh concrete pads that you can put tents on there's places to pull in RVs and plug them in up uh there's even two and what we we used
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] they have got two log cabin shelters that are basically uh four walls and a roof log cabins with a concrete floor and a picnic table in them and a ceiling fan and screened uh windows
[speaker002:] well
[speaker001:] so you can kind of go in there and just bring your sleeping bag
[speaker002:] well that would be great there pretty cold
[speaker001:] and sleeping bags and air mattresses you can camp on the floor you got a roof over your head
[speaker002:] shoot let come what may
[speaker001:] yeah let come what may
[speaker002:] and they're fairly close to the water aren't they I mean they're right on the late
[speaker001:] yeah they're very close to the water within like uh a hundred yards
[speaker002:] they they got a place where you uh can keep your boat while you're there for the weekend
[speaker001:] yeah yeah they've got a place where you can keep your boat you can they've got the dock that you can tie up tie up and it it's uh it's in a protected area
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] so and I I've got a son
[speaker002:] that
[speaker001:] really started going about seventeen he's seventeen now he was he was fifteen then but uh I've got a son son and both daughters like to go and uh they have got a a dock down in the protected area
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] where the fishing pretty good and uh
[speaker002:] oh yeah
[speaker001:] you know we'll we'll leave him down there at ten o'clock with his fishing pole and sometimes go after him if a big storm comes up
[speaker002:] yeah so it's time to quit
[speaker001:] but you know he can walk back to the little cabin in about five minutes from there but it's it's a ninety nine acre I think it's a ninety nine acre in fact they have acquired some more now that they are going they're going to clear but it's a long term lease from the corps of engineers
[speaker002:] that's great I'd forgotten all about the Texan side and that's but you got to be a member of Texans to use it
[speaker001:] yeah yeah you you've got to be a a Texas member but if you are a master member of Texans the membership to Texoma is free
[speaker002:] yeah oh that's outstanding
[speaker001:] uh you can you can get a family membership do you your family camp at all you you camp with your family how how what
[speaker002:] oh yeah I've got a boy that is uh thirteen and the girl is eleven the boy had learned to uh ski oh probably two years ago he's a slalom skier now and the girl's eleven and she just now started to learn to ski
[speaker001:] oh boy yeah what kind of a boat do you have
[speaker002:] I've got a sixteen and a half foot Bayliner it's inboard outboard just a ski boat it's about the right size for us
[speaker001:] uh-huh yeah when I was yeah in my young in my young single days I had a uh Turbocraft are you familiar with that
[speaker002:] yeah I know them
[speaker001:] yeah I had a uh a uh sixteen foot hundred and nine horse power cylinder one and I I had that for two or three years and then I traded it for a eighteen foot uh two hundred and twenty horsepower V eight
[speaker002:] you bet goodness
[speaker001:] and uh oh that thing eat gasoline uh we could suck up thirty gallons in an afternoon of skiing
[speaker002:] yeah I expect it would yeah but boy it would move you across the water though
[speaker001:] yeah it will move you across the water and it would pull three slalom skiers without batting an eyelash
[speaker002:] that's what you want plus out on Texoma you have got all that you know mass of water to get across
[speaker001:] yeah yeah p lus it it planed in about two inches of water so you never dragged on anything because there was was nothing under it but unfortunately what I did was and I I guess what what happened when I was single I had it
[speaker002:] outstanding
[speaker001:] and my wife and I skied a lot when we first got married and the children came along when they're real little they can't really participate and I guess I was paying more on insurance and maintenance than I was getting out of it and I sold it
[speaker002:] uh-huh  you're right
[speaker001:] and never had a chance really to get back to boating again
[speaker002:] absolutely that's what happened to us we had a boat for several years in early marriage and along came the kids and it kind of sat there
[speaker001:] yeah yeah
[speaker002:] so we wound up selling it and it's been about uh I'd say eleven years uh since we got back into boating now they are big enough to
[speaker001:] yeah you rediscover rediscover you rediscover it when the kids get old enough to do it yeah
[speaker002:] you bet plus they can help now too they don't go along for the ride
[speaker001:] yeah yeah right where do you
[speaker002:] well I guess that's our uh five minutes uh so we'll yeah call this thing to a halt I appreciate talking to you Bill
[speaker001:] oh okay okay I just I can I just let me ask you one more question where do you ski
[speaker002:] sure uh well I had only had the boat two years now uh most of the time we either go out to Lavon or uh we have been going up to Arkansas uh she her parents live up on Beaver Lake in northwest Arkansas real good it's uh
[speaker001:] uh-huh um-hum
[speaker002:] dammed up the uh White River real pretty in Arkansas lake but we are hoping to explore a lot of the lakes around Texas and just stay close to home
[speaker001:] yeah yeah I'll tell you I I would recommend too Texoma is nice because there is no many places you can ski there
[speaker002:] oh right yeah
[speaker001:] and uh in the Texans area has two nice launching ramps
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] one of them is in a protected cove and the other one is okay if the lake is calm it's out more in the open uh the other place that I would really strongly recommend is Possum Kingdom
[speaker002:] yeah well I have heard a lot about Possum Kingdom
[speaker001:] and that is absolutely the prettiest that when I learned to slalom ski it was the only place I didn't mind swallowing and boy I swallowed a lot a lot of water learning and the only place I didn't mind swallowing half the lake and I didn't feel grungy about it like I did at Lavon
[speaker002:] oh yeah it's not over crowded
[speaker001:] ah no it's not over crowded it's uh it it far enough away so it's not over crowded and it's surrounded by cliffs so no matter how much wind it is there is always a big portion of the lake that's calm
[speaker002:] yeah see that's one of my biggest gripes about Texoma as many times as we would go up there it's it's so rough
[speaker001:] yeah its too open yeah and there's uh they have got some forty to fifty foot high cliffs around Possum Kingdom and you just get up and ski uh adjacent to those and uh and it doesn't make any difference how windy it is you don't notice it
[speaker002:] that sounds oh no well that sounds like a good place to start out this spring I am looking forward to it
[speaker001:] yeah oh okay well you ready to wind up hey nice talking to you my friend yeah good night bye-bye
[speaker002:] all right thanks a lot Bill nice talking to you good bye