Scruffy and Taters Days Gone By

Years ago (in the late 70's) we did something called Camp-A-Float on Lake Quachita in Arkansas. The Camp-A-Float company secured our trailer on a barge, and hooked us up to their on-board sewer and fresh water systems. Then they put us in the lake. It was so much fun, we went out twice.

We cruised around during the day, pulling into coves to explore. The water was crystal clear and warm. There were little fish that liked to nibble on our freckles or other little spots on our skin - that wasn't nice. At night we tied up to trees in small coves that were away from the wind. At least one night it stormed. That was awesome - and scary.

Since it was warm and we didn't want to heat up the trailer without having a/c, I did most of our cooking outside on a Coleman Gas Stove. Some of our meals were things I prepared at home and froze.... chili, stew, spaghetti and meatballs. These all were packed tightly in a cooler. We also had the usual hot dogs and hamburgers. Back then we could buy canned bread dough that made a pretty tasty loaf baked in our folding camp oven that fit over a burner on the Coleman stove.

Our first trip during Easter vacation, my mom and dad were staying at a resort. The resort was on a lake that adjoined Lake Quachita. We picked them up one day and had fun cruising around the lake.

Our second trip was a year later in the summer. One day while we were out cruising, we came across a family in distress. The propeller on their boat had broken. We towed them into the marina... they wanted to pay us for our "good deed" but we wouldn't hear of it. The next day we were quite surprised when they pulled up to our houseboat. They offered our son skiing lessons. Their kids were about the same ages as ours and got along very well. It was fun watching our son learn to ski.

I looked up Camp-A-Float recently, and they are no longer in business.

Here are some photos. They are old and the quality is poor. I should have scanned them a few years ago, and can see that I'm going to be busy scanning all of our old family photos. I used Olympus Master 2 (our photo editing software) to "fix" them a bit.

Tater











I found some photos of the Camp-A-Float we had for our second CAF vacation (summertime). Here is one of them:


For the summer, we had a CAF with a fiberglass awning. That wasn't enough in the hot sun, so we draped our big orange all-purpose canvas between the trailer and awning.

Thanks for your Memories. Sure wished they were still in business, I would love to take the new 5th Wheel around Lake Quachita in the Fall for the Colors. Jim

That is absolutely cool. Never have seen something like that before. Is that the young scrappy in the green shirt ?

Too bad they're out of business, I'd give it a try in a heart beat!!

Great photos Tater.

TC

That is by far one cool adventure.
Would have loved to try that.
Happy Camping to All

I expect the liability for something like that is through the roof these days. That sure is cool though. Very cool!

That is real cool to see. Ya, that was back when the word liability was not used much. Just seeing the pics, brings back childhood memories. My Grandparents lived on a 26 chain of lakes in Northern WI. We used to see actual house boats all the time back then. Never saw one though that you could put your TT on. Way cool.

Yes, Phillip, that's a young Scruffy. The beard is gone now.... and his hair has thinned. He's not getting older, he's just getting better. Better at what, we haven't figured out yet.

I added a photo to the first message. It's at the bottom of the page and is a summertime photo. All of the rest were taken during our spring trip.

Tater

I see ya'll had one of the first experimental models of the Wildcats.

Last summer when we were at lake lanier in Atlanta I was looking at some of the house boats on that lake. They are unbelievable.
Look like a presidential penthouse suite mounted on a boat.

Phillip,

Prototype or Wannabe. That little Prowler served us well.

We've seen houseboats that looked like shantys and some that are pretty little homes. There was a show on either The Travel Channel or HGTV that had houseboats that were huge all-year residences. I don't think people took them out on the open water, they were secured in large docks, and had city hookups. I guess they just like to be rocked to sleep at night.

Tater

Anybody want to start a new thread of their own Days Gone By? We'd love to read about other memories.