Camping. Tolley style.

Oh, where to begin? Everything about our camping trips was like a Three Stooges comedy bit, and you know how much Tolleys love comedy. Every trip was different, but every trip shared some similarities...

Like getting lost. We always had a map, but we always missed the exit we needed. That's where the phrase, "see America unintentionally" came from. Grandpa wasn't afraid to ask for directions, but sometimes it took awhile to find somebody to help us.

And then the dog would yak. We could drive for miles, but as soon as we slowed down and made that last turn into the campground the dog would lose it. All over the back of the station wagon.

Our camping spot was always located in the lowest elevation of the campground. What does that mean? it means that if it should rain, we would be sleeping in a puddle of water. How do I know this? Because it always rained when the Tolleys went camping. The rain didn't stop us from having fun, though. Thanks to Grandmas craftiness, she would make us raincoats out of trash bags and send us outside to play.

One of these times it was raining so bad that the dog dish floated by the camper. Grandma decided that it was too much to play outside, so we came inside the camper to wait out the storm. All six of us. And Uncle Jim's joke book. In a popup camper.

Now, Uncle Jim was pretty little. In fact, I believe that this was the first trip that he was allowed to pack his suitcase. And what he packed for 3 days of outdoors fun was three socks and his "1,001 Jokes" book. That was all. 

So, imagine all of us wet kids and dog hyped up on kool aid and zinging off the walls of the tiny camper while Grandma and Grandpa tried to catch up on some reading. And out comes the joke book.

Now this book contained 1,001 of the worlds worst jokes and Uncle Jim proceeded to tell them all. The one that I remember best is:

Man:  Doctor! I bit my ear!

Doctor:  How did you do that?

Man: I stood on a chair.

And it continued to rain. At some point, Uncle Jim ran out of jokes and started making them up. Then changing the answers when we guessed them Pretty soon it went something like this:

Jim: What did one man say to another?

John: Hi (a previously correct answer)

Jim: No

Laura: Bye (another previously correct   

                        answer)

Jim: No

Carrie: What time is it? (a good guess)

Jim: No

Everybody shouting: WHAT DID ONE 

          MAN SAY TO ANOTHER?

Jim: Nothing. They didn't know each other.

At this point, Grandma and Grandpa left our increasingly way too small camper and went to read in the car. I don't believe that they came back till the rain and our sugar buzzes stopped. 3 days later.