By Martin Gollery:
“I was on Staff at Campo in 1980. Just North of the border. Dave Hergesheimer was the Construction Guru – he was in my Dad’s youth group way back in the ’50s! We drove these big Oldsmobile station wagons that got about 10 miles to the gallon when they were going downhill. Mine was called the White Whale. Some of the dirt roads were cut into the desert over the years and the cars could barrel along the track at high speeds- until you saw a cow. This inspired the notorious ‘Cow Song‘ that I made up over the summer. This song could be heard on the CB radios as the staff traveled back and forth!I wound up with strep throat, which is really bad when you want to lead singing. The res had a Physician’s Assistant, so I went and saw him in the morning. Sadly, the supervising physician passed away during the night, so he could not help me legally. The Nurse, however, could look at my throat, so the PA told me what the Nurse would likely say. The nurse said, ‘Yes, what he said’ and sent me to Mexico where I could get antibiotics over the counter. Still, I was very happy when Saturday came and I went straight to bed when the campers left! Thirty minutes later, they were back again. ‘There is a brush fire up the road!‘ I struggled out of bed, grabbed some shovels and other gear, and we went to fight the fire til the firetrucks arrived.
The Campo road was Highway 94, and it was quite dangerous! People had bumper stickers that said ‘Pray for me, I drive Highway 94‘. The were curves above some terrifying drops! We went to a junkyard to buy parts for the truck, and saw a ball of wrinkled metal that used to be a car. I asked the guy what had happened to it. He shrugged, and said, ‘Flying without a license‘! The squirrels there were suicidal. They would wait all day for you to drive by, then run out right in front of you! We wanted to get a squirrel stamp for Gary, our site director, so that he could keep track of the number of squirrels on the side of his car, like a WWII ace pilot.”
By Richard Chute:
“My memory for dates is not what my brother’s is, but wasn’t 1980 spent in Sawyer’s Bar under site director Janet Gollery McKeithen? I remember a little school in the crick of the road, stewing bear meat, and hitching a ride back from a wild trip to Yreka with a dying station wagon.”
By Janet Gollery McKeithen:
“So, we did help out with the bear. There was no electricity in Sawyers Bar, so when there was something that big, it had to be shared. We helped out by taking our share… but didn’t have time or whatever to mention to the group that they were eating what tasted like chicken.
One week-end the staff decided to try to make it to Yreka to church, and got in an old truck. It went slower and slower and slower. One staff member jumped out to lighten the load, then another, then another… then I was driving and everyone else was trying to push the truck up the hill and over to Yreka. We finally gave up and had our own church.
Nobody seemed to have there own showers in their homes. Because everybody had their own family bathing spot in the river. It was good when we discovered that and stopped dropping in on people mid-bath!”