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Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Teenage Hall of Fame!

Thanks to Amy and her blog about the Ice Cream Truck (http://icouldcrybutidonthavetime.wordpress.com/2010/07/11/good-humor-gone-bad/)
I began to reminisce about my child hood...

For much of my youth we lived in a campground... Yes you heard me right and no it's not a typo or some nick-name for a quaint "trailer park". No It was a Campground; as a matter of fact if you still have your doubts you can check it out for yourself; it's called Riverview Campground in Loveland, CO and if you're a Good Sam Member you can get a discount if you stay there!!

Anyway, living in a campground wasn't bad for a pre-adolescent boy; however it does provide a hint at our financial status as a family. We actually upgraded from a tent to a Silver Streak trailer in the summer of 1980.
My parents room was the dining room and my room was on the left side of the main hall and my sisters was on the right. We weren't the only ones that lived in the campground year round; no believe it or not there were several families that called Riverview Campground home. One day myself and one of my friends, Michael decided to go hang out in the arcade. No we didn't have any money to play the games but we had very good imaginations and pretended to play the Zaxxon. Then our wandering, youthful minds discovered that our skinny prepubescent arms could fit under the air hockey table and into the change box, which didn't get emptied too often apparently. CHA-CHING!! The gates of  Ms. Pacman and Zaxxon had been opened and were mine!! Muwahahahaha!!!

Things were going along just great and I was slowly inching my way towards getting my initials on the High Score list. Which up until today was reserved for the rich tourist kids that could throw away $20 worth of quarters without blinking an eye. Michael walked up behind me chewing on a slim jim; I hadn't noticed but he decided to use his new found wealth in a different way; in the campground store.

Unfortunately for me, i'll never know what it's like to have my initials brandished in lights for all passer-throughs to see and gawk at in total amazement. Just on the cusp of gaining near deity-like status a cold, bony hand grabbed my shoulder and yanked me away from the machine without warning!! Apparently Michael didn't think it would raise a flag when he paid for his candy bars, and slim jims, and soda pops all in quarters!! Oh did I mention that the store was attached to the arcade and when the cashiers (who coincidentally was the manager and owner) curiosity was peeked just needed to watch us through the window. She also knew our parents and also knew that we lived on a budget of pennies not quarters!!

So for the summer we were banished from the Arcade and sentenced to pick up rocks in a large open field on the "undeveloped" part of the grounds. For the record upon us completing out punishment of hand picking rocks and stacking them onto a flat bed trailer, we witnessed the managers son drive the trailer to the other side of the field and dump them; apparently in preparation for our next punishment.

I never picked up rocks at Riverview Campground again and I never got to see "NES" flashing like a Legend in the Teenage Hall of Fame!

2 comments:

  1. wow, on so many levels. but that punishment surely sounded like something out of a Roald Dahl novel... holes perhaps.

    thanks for the link love

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for visiting Amy; and for the memories, I think!

    ReplyDelete