You've heard some of this before, but I want to get it in order.

When I was a young man, I loved to travel, but I had never been west of the Mississippi River. I'd been across the Ohio, but only a few miles. I'd been to Ft. Lauderdale and Virginia Beach, but hadn't seen South Carolina or much of Mississippi or Washington, D.C. or NYC.

Then one day in 1963 my wife said that it looked like the only way we could afford to travel was to camp. We bought a 9x9 tent and with two kids and a baby, we took off for the mountains in our 1960 VW bug. Not having a stove, we cooked on a fire, and used a flashlight instead of a lantern. It was fun and the kids liked it. It was cheap, too.

After a few trips the bug was replace by a 1964 VW Microbus and a Nimrod Capri camper. Still not much room, but less work and more comfort. The largest kid slept on a cot in the space between the beds. We even bought a gas stove and a lantern. It was Myrtle Beach,Key Largo, Cape Cod, and state parks all over Tennessee. Then in 1969, with four kids age 4 to 12, we headed west.
We went to Colorado, where the bus blew an engine and was replaced by a '68 Chevy. Then on to Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Carson City, Yellowstone, and then home by way of South Dakota and St. Louis. It took five weeks and less money than you think.(Unless you count the $1200 life savings we blew on the Chevy) We still talk about it at family get-togethers. It was really the trip of a lifetime.
Howard