TOURING 
WITH RAYMOND SPEARS 
By RAYMOND SPEARS 
F ROM end to end of the 
country in all directions 
there are places which 
invite automobile tourists to 
municipal, private, public and 
other prepared camp grounds. 
Many, perhaps most tourists,, 
arrange their journeys to bring 
them at evening, or camping- 
time, to these places where 
camping is authorized. One 
expects to find here water, firewood, 
and various conveniences. 
On the main trails the use made of 
these specified grounds is astonishing-. 
Hundi eds of cars roll into Denver’s 
Rocky Mountain Lake Park daily. The 
authorities were obliged to survey it, 
and allot the tourists to certain lots, 
there to park their cars, pitch their 
tent and confine themselves. Also, in 
order to prevent long stays, the park 
had a limit on the length of time one 
might occupy a lot in the park. 
There are places and regions where 
the municipal parks are well outside of 
the communities; in others they are on 
a main street, and just over the fence 
from the passing- side-walk throngs. 
To cross the United States in an auto¬ 
mobile, and come to these free, or 
rented, camp¬ 
ing ground 
privileges is to 
meet every 
kind of condi- 
t i o n, from 
foul, uncared- 
for places to 
such delight¬ 
ful memories 
as the great 
timbered for¬ 
est and open 
that is the joy 
of the outdoor 
wanderer. 
The Westhas 
always had 
camp grounds 
for the tour¬ 
ists. On the 
great highways that lead into the El 
Dorado lands, into the homestead re¬ 
gions, into the countries where the real 
estate agents and the boomers have 
Those who have been auto camping and the 
thousands who are looking forward to the day 
when they can explore this wonderful country 
cannot fail to profit by reading these instruc¬ 
tive articles which are replete with the experi¬ 
ences and suggestions of one of the most ex¬ 
perienced auto campers of the day. 
Water for horses, men and cooking— 
and we found these old camp grounds 
available in the many forms from the 
Missouri westward. 
East of the Missouri the sudden rush 
of travelers in gasolene vehicles found 
the country almost wholly unprepared 
for them. There are to this day thou¬ 
sands of communities where tourists 
are utterly unwelcome, where store¬ 
keepers receive their trade with surly 
disdain, and where the camper in an 
automobile is regarded as a species of 
Gypsy, a potential chicken thief, and it 
must be said that many an automobile 
camper is a thief, stealing- fruit, vege¬ 
tables and other unprotected produce, 
and also a vandal, breaking into school- 
houses, maltreating all kinds of public 
property, and private property with 
is treated as though he was 
unfit for local habitation, he 
goes on and when he comes 
to a community that has a 
camp ground in the corn ox- 
wheat belt, he- stops right 
there. He goes to the local 
stores and buys provisions for 
a week. He may even go to 
the local garages and spend 
$50 or so having his car 
shaped up for the miles ahead. The 
average tourist, on a two weeks’ or 
month’s tour, will spend $10 or more 
per day per car. The transcontinental, 
done in thirty days, means $300 to $500 
—all spent somewhere along the way. 
It is done for much less—$100 for a 
car of two or three people—and I don’t 
know how much it can be made to cost, 
with chauffeur and guide, truck with 
an outfit, and a car giving four or five 
miles for a gallon of gas. 
New England is awakening- rapidly 
to touring camp demands, and there are 
beauties operated by communities, and 
fine places on farms and in private 
woodlands. Inquiry at garages reveal 
these. Care must be taken in the forest 
regions not to transgress the forest 
laws, and I understand that a fire built 
along the road 
in Massachu¬ 
setts any¬ 
where means 
a fine, no mat¬ 
ter with what 
care it is at¬ 
tended to. But 
everywhere I 
went there, on 
a ramble of 
fifteen hun¬ 
dred miles, we 
found delight¬ 
ful grounds in 
New England. 
In Maine 
the highways 
lead to lakes 
and streams, 
and beside the 
road one may swing his hammocks, 
the old prairie schooner travelers, the 
horseback wanderers, the very walkers, 
and then the bicyclers found themselves 
allotted definitely to certain generally 
excellent camping places by some 
spring or other source of water. 
Page U37 
shameless disregard of his own recep- 
tion, when he returns (this type never park his car, and pitch his lent Ir 
sr iKt* r “?■ the western 
x i espass signs greet of camping between the road and thx 
every passer-bv at . .. .... .. dnu iru 
In 
their beckoning hands ever in the air evorv . k° respass f reet of camping between the road and th< 
the old prairie schooner travelers, the’ and pleasantest I Sf f . is P^tty feasible under beauti 
and pleasantest camp sites anywhere 
in the country. 
In self-defence from these raiding 
petty scoundrels, laws have been passed 
to protect public and private property 
in a number of states. When a tourist 
ful trees. The White Mountains, the 
Berkshires, the Green Mountains—the 
casual tourist need never camp with an¬ 
other party, and yet never lack for side- 
road “accommodations.” Thousands of 
(Continued on page 478) 
