You looked a bit "Screech"ish [saved by the bell]

I'm the one reading the paper. My grandfather is next to me asleep. This would have been around 1980 or so.

It was our 2nd VW Bus. The middle seat was easy to remove for camping trips. My dad had built a platform and also mounted a couple of supports so a sheet of plywood could rest on the front seat backs and a removable rope that stretched across the inside of the bus to those supports. Each night, we would install the rope and pull the sheet of plywood down off the roof rack. We had home made foam mattresses. We could easily sleep 6 in that bus, assuming 2 were kids and would sleep down in the "sweatbox."

Those were good days. We crossed the country 3 times in a VW bus and saw a lot. At night, if there was no campground around, we'd pull off into some deserted dirt side road. We were very self contained.

Sometimes I feel like I'm depriving my own kids because we don't do stuff like this with them. But I don't have summers off like my dad did, and I think people today would shoot you if they saw you parked by the side of the road overnight. Or at least call the cops.

Thats really cool glatt! You're not deprivin' your kids, everyone grows up with different experiences and memories. You do your best and that is what counts.

Thanks. It was always a lot of fun. We had a lot of adventures.

Look at you reading your paper, in your Fievel Mousekewitz hat. That's an "oh hai" shot if I ever saw one.

It's like Little Mr Sunshine! ;)

Actually, thinking back, there is no way it would be a newspaper. Those were rare when camping. It was probably a MAD magazine.

Har! look at that old Cornflakes box at the back. Cute.

...

What, me worry?

BTW, I like the "triple stack" sleeping arrangements. It's like Jenga!

Studying the photo closely, it looks like the Sunday Comics from the newspaper, disguising the smut magazine behind it.

What secured the upper bed platform to the roof? Duct tape?

It was pretty clever. A hinge was screwed up into the roof truss on each side of the bus. The other side of each hinge was tied to a rope, and the rope stretched loosely across the bus like a hammock. The plywood was supported on one end by the rope sling and by the front seat backs on the other end. During travel, you would just pull each hinge pin, and the rope could be removed with the attached hinges on each side.

From your posts, we can deduce that your family was clever, fun, and close. You're a lucky guy to have those memories.

And, yes, you should be doing the same with your kids and relatives. (Yeah, I know. Easy for me to say. But I bet you'd have a ball.)