39 years ago we were on vacation in the US with our Scotty travel trailer. After a July 4 weekend in Vermont we headed south down US Route 7 to Connecticut. July 7 found us near Hartford where we camped in this State Park.
Our neighbors were a couple of older couples from CT who were friendly and informative. One of the guys was a retired long haul trucker so he had quite a few laughs at my feeble attempts to back up and park a 13 foot travel trailer. To his credit he gave me some pointers which I remember to this day – not that I plan to back up a rig anytime soon.
The 1970s were still the heyday of AM radio – no Sirius XM back then – and we listened to the legendary Bob Steele on WTIC Hartford. It turned out we were in Hartford on a special day – July 7, 1977 or as Bob described it “seven seven seventy-seven.”
Bob Steele started at WTIC in the 1940s so he had been at the station to celebrate 4/4/44, 5/5/55, 6/6/66 already. So 7/7/77 was a big deal. I believe he celebrated 8/8/88 and after he retired the station had him back for 9/9/99. Amazing guy.
So on 7/7/77 what did we do? Went shopping at K-Mart and got a screened in tent to put around the picnic table. No bugs and we had a lot more space to eat. I believe the manufacturer – Camel Tents – went out of business in the 90s when a major sporting goods chain purchased them. But it was a great unit.
So many years, so many memories.
