April 14, 2020
Stories of our youth from Ed Clark of the Henry Jackson line.
When I was about seven years old my family took a summer trip to Myrtle Beach (early 1960’s). We vacationed with the Townsends, friends of my Mom and Dad. There were six kids between us. This was before there were freeways between Parkersburg, WV and SC. We had a Dodge station wagon and a Shasta trailer. The drive across the mountain roads of WV in the back of a station wagon made for urgent stops for motion sickness. In those times we packed sandwiches and ate at roadside parks along the way. These were basically gravel pull off areas with picnic tables. We drove about 12 hours to the edge of SC and then to a Myrtle Beach campground the next day.
I remember the hot sand on the beach, dunes topped with sea oats, and the public fishing piers. All this was unique to hillbilly kids. The Coke and ice cream vending machines back at the campground were welcome relief from the heat. We cooked hot dogs and told ghost stories around the evening campfire. We kids played board games in the trailer at night while the adults played cards. There was no air conditioning and it was early July, but being a kid it wasn’t an issue. I can’t imagine Myrtle Beach in July without A/C today.
The next year we went to Cape Hatteras. Our daughter and her family live near there today. It is such a beautiful place – then and now. Other times of the year we took fishing trips to the mountains of WV and PA.
My wife and I now live in east TN, an hour from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I drive the backroads and take nature photos as time allows. The mountains still call me.
Submitted by Ed Clark