Eugene register-guard., August 23, 1962, Image 21

I
Swansons Take to Trail Via Osmobile
By EDNA RAMP
Of the RecUter-Guard
Camp-out time and the Dick
and Sallie Swanson gang takes
to the trail. But they do it in
style:
In their Merry Osmobile!
The "contraption," ingenious
ly constructed from old lawn
mower and garden tractor parts
strung .together with electric
conduit pipe, is already the vet
eran of dozens of family and Boy
Scout outings.
"It's also in use the year
'round for hauling kids in the
neighborhood," put in good
natured Dick Swanson, who's
found that the sound of the
Osmobile motor has an effect
not unlike the Pied Piper's
magic flute. Youngsters come
running from blocks away to
pile into the cart and be wheel-
ed up and down the street.
Dreamed up by Dick after
scout-mastering a group of boys
on a 50-mile Skyline Trail trip,
the rig was built by Alfred L.
Oswalt, father of one of the Boy
Scouts.
AH Aboard
"It holds all this camp stuff,"
reported five-year-old Jeffrey,
who's more informally known as
"Shave" (abbreviation of "Dad
dy's Little Shaver"). He was
wielding a canoe paddle and
climbing into the Osmobile,
eager to give a demonstration
on "how much it will carry."
Aiding and abetting was
brother, Mark, just one year
younger, and called "Dude,"
which started out as "Marksee
doodles" and got cut down to
size when Mom found the long
handle a bit cumbersome for
quick calling.
Joining the gang atop the
Osmobile was Susan, who's "past
2Vi" and calls herself "Tu'an,"
since her alphabet was missing
the "S" when it arrived.
"She does answer to the name
of Pooh," Sallie Swanson in
formed us. "We always read
'Winnie the Pooh' to the boys,
so when Susan arrived they
named her 'Susan the Pooh'
and you see how long a long
name lasts in this family."
Heavy Load
Pooh flashed her smile that's
like the sun coming out on a
cloudy day and stretched out a
pudgy hand to help Gigi, the
Swansons' "hound dog," keep
her balance on the by -now
crowded Osmobile. Gigi thanked
her with a slurp of a long pink
tongue.
This mutual admiration so
ciety was a few weeks forming,
for when Gigi first arrived at
the Swanson home in Decem
ber, she was fond of nipping re
treating little girls. From a van
tage point of a high chair, with
her legs carefully curled up
under her, Susan announced to
all comers she was ready to give
Gigi to anyone who'd take her.
But everyone's on the best of
terms now and Gigi even prac
ticed snuggling down in Dude's
sleeping bag at home in prepa
ration for camp-outs. One of the
favorite spots is Rosary Lakes,
up past Oakridge, where the
Osmobile's mighty handy for
v- ; -.'"5
V,'rl
MEET THE DICK SWANSONS
A-Camping They Go in Their Merry Osmobile
(Register-Guard ptiotoi by Mlrko Pllncr)
packing in gear, kids and dogs.
"It holds between 500 and 800
pounds," Dick said. "And it's
often so mounded over another
person travels ahead to call back
steering directions."
A three-horsepower motor
from an old lawnmower, its 4,-
000 RPMs geared down, takes
the Osmobile and its load over
any type of terrain, the garden
tractor tires absorbing some of
the shock. It will travel about
iVi miles an hour top speed, as
fast as a man can comfortably
walk, according to Dick.
Honeymoon Camp
Sallie jogs right along beside
him. Camping's been part of
every summer since the first
year of their marriage when the
two of them manned a forest
lookout station atop Pelican
Butte, which rises above the
meadows along the west side of
Upper Klamath Lake.
"We traveled two miles
through 10-foot snowdrifts on
July 3 to go in," Sallie recalls.
"The snow finally melted on
Aug. 27 and we left camp Sept.
1 for Dick's senior year at Uni
versity of Oregon."
That was back in 1955. They
lived in a basement apartment
on 13th Avenue and Dick drove
a school bus to help pay for his
degree in business administra
tion, working summers in the
forestry service as he had done
from the time he was a fresh
man in high school.
Sallie knew him way back
then. In fact:
"Our families live just five
houses apart in Klamath Falls,"
she explained. "Dick was my
brother's friend, but I was just
'Mike's little sister' until I got
in high school then he discov
ered I was a person."
Western Jam Session
Back in Klamath Falls days,
when Dick's hobby was camping,
Sallie's was singing Western
songs, which she still does
and with a very convincing
twangl Her friends dubbed as
her theme song: "Sally Let Your
Bangs Hang Down" the first
song she learned and still one
of her favorites.
"I just grew up with cowboy
songs there in Klamath Falls,
Sallie reminisced. "I guess I al
ways sang them. All our chil
dren do too they know them
better than nursery rhymes.
One of Dick's University of
Oregon graduation gifts was
guitar from Sallie's folks so
he could accompany her west
ern ballads. Now the whole
family joins in the "sings" and
friends come from Klamath
Falls, Prineville, Cottage Grove
and all over the state just to
sit around the fireplace in the
Swansons' living room for a late-
late jam session, Western style.
The word on these "fun ses
sions" really got around and the
last time one of Dick's bosses
(the vice president of the insur
ance firm, no less) visited in
Eugene, he asked if he could
sit in."
"And he did, too!" says Sallie,
still amazed.
Good Scouts
Boy Scouts activities keep
Dick Swanson busy. He was
scoutmaster for Troop 67 for
five years (there were nine in
the group when he took it over
and 60 when he left and they
all had tears in their eyes at the
farewell potluck dinner). Dick's
new job is leader for an Explor
er Post to be organized in Sep
tember and he's camp chairman
for the Toshnik District.
He put his camp know-how to
good use in May when he head
ed up the Boy Scout Camporce.
Sallie and the three youngsters
hiked in the half-mile to watch
one of the programs Susan did
fine going in but was completely
done in on the way out.
The family also goes to the
Lake of the Woods cabin they
share with the Klamath Falls
grandparents and Erma Bell
Lakes, where the whole gang
walks in the nearly two miles.
There's fishing, loo Jeff likes
to hold a rod but Mark prefers
to throw rocks. As for Sallie:
"I mostly chase kids!"
And there are some days like
that when "all I get done is
stoop down lo tie shoes and
wipe noses. But mostly, bailie
and Dick agree:
Its fun to have your family
while you're young and grow up
with them!"
' ' ft V
1 u " '"f
i . -'4v r A lit
im4 ' mJL . - i.
DUDE, POOH, AND SHAVE
They Give Their All for Art
''i . -;..
-,.4 V 1
DICK, SALLIE AND AUDIENCE
Jam Session, Western Stylt
HOMI MWIMW
' ' 1
SUSAN SWANSON f
Up Above the World So High
j
SECTION C
THURSDAY, AUGUST 23, 1962
Coast to Coast
Busmobile Pays Off
For Family of Eight
BRYN ATHYN, Pa. (UPJ Let's say you live in Oregon and
want to take your wife and six children to Pennsylvania for
a vacation.
Let's add that your budget is limited.
This apparently insoluble problem has an answer. And
Wayne Reams of Enterprise, Ore., found it.
Reams, his wife, Carol, and their sixx children had wanted
for several years to visit Mrs. Reams' parents in Bryn Athyn,
a suburb of Philadelphia. But funds were very limited.
So Reams ,a master mechanic in an Enterprise auto agency,
decided he would build a modern version of the covered wagon.
He. started with a 1946 school bus which he bought for $300.
He then worked for two months in his spare time. The result:
cross-country transportation for eight.
With the expenditure of $100 for materials, this is what ha
did, for a journey of nearly 6,000 miles.
The driver's scat was dressed up with a regular car radio
for entertainment and a short-wave radio for communication
on an amateur band.
Lucky No Flats
Right behind the driver's seat he left two of the bus scats,
one of them for his co-pilot, Mrs. Reams. Across the tisle he
installed storage cabinets and a shelf for a two-burner gas
stove. Behind these cabinets he built a dining table with facing
seats which can be converted into a double bed with the mat
tress carried on a rack on the roof; on the other side of the
bus, i clothes rack. In the back, a double bed. A pair of cribs
for the youngest children, curtains, ventilato invents in the
roof and an outside ladder to reach the roof plus a coat of
paint completed the job.
The Reams' loaded the bus with groceries and Roxy, 15;
Sally, 14; Laine, 10; Bobby, 6; Shirley, 3; and Karen, 1, and
headed east.
"We had no breakdowns, no flats, no engine trouble. The
only repair work consisted of putting in a dimmer switch on
the headlights," said Reams in an Interview here at the half
way point of the round trip.
They'd start about 10 or 11 a.m. and drive until midnight,
stopping for lunch and dinner and breaking the trip whenever
Roxy, a camera fan, decided she wanted to take pictures, or
whenever they came to a spot of tourist interest.
At night they stopped at motels, renting a single room with
double bed for mom and dad. The kids slept in the bus after
everybody showered in the motel.
Mrs. Reams said she was able to cook a good breakfast for
her gang: bacon and eggs plus hot cakes for her husband. At
noon they sandwiched, and for supper she cooked a simple one
or two dish meal. They used paper plates, cups and napkins and
the silverware was washed In the motels at night.
Games on Board
Reams said he saved money on gas by filling his 63 gallon
tanks at truck discount prices.
How do you entertain six children on a long trip? It isn't
easy, said Mrs. Reams.
"We had games and cards on board," she said. "Each child
brought something special along for entertainment. Sally
amused herself by collecting license plates she found 48 of
them. Roxy took pictures.
The Reams family returned to Enterprise by way of Canada.
Would they do it again?
"Sure," was the chorus of eight voices.
"We're going to keep the bus for another long trip or for
short camping trips," Reams said.
"Or as i place to put the kids when wa hsvt company."
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