1974 was a big year. The Mammoth Site was founded, I graduated from high school and Woodstock the Teardrop was born. Teardrops are mini campers with a distinctive shape. We brought ours from a guy named Dale in Casper WY. He was a card carrying hippie who hand built Woody by looking at pictures and dreaming up his own details. HE had peace signs for the windows and a canvas cover for the galley with the Woodstock album logo on it. Inside there was more counter-culture paraphernalia. Rose colored John Lennon glasses, fleece fabric with peace signs, a wooden bead curtain and a marijuana pipe! The pipe went away immediately and most of the hippie decor was eventually replaced with more practical choices. We only owned Woody for a couple of years but we took him on several memorable trips. One year we took it to the Relay for Life and slept overnight in it with our size 4, adult daughter Abby, tucked in the small space between our mattress and the galley wall. Our granddaughter Beatrice enjoyed an outing with Woody at Curt Gowdy State Park. “Pappy, we're c-c-camping!” Woody always attracted attention at every gas station and campground we stayed at. He was rocking it! Unfortunately on July 20th on our way back from our Spearfish trip, the trailer literally rocked itself over just 20 minutes North of Cheyenne. We hit a construction “bump” and at 6:20 Woody was DOA on Rt 85. Between the change in road grade and the Wyoming wind, Woody turned over, detached from the car and hit a road sign. His insides burst and a trail of food, pans, towels, toothbrushes and more littered the roadside. So many kind people stopped to help us. A trucker called the State Police who came and filled out an accident report and then called a tow truck for us. The most interesting and enlightening person who stopped was a man who worked for the construction company that was paving the road. “Did you hit THE bump?” he asked. Hum.... yes we did and you can see the result. “Well, a fifth wheel and the truck went over last week in the same spot “ he said. WOW! You would think the construction company would do something. I planned to have a talk with them. When the tow arrived, Woody was flipped over, secured on the flatbed and taken to a holding area where the Insurance company would look at it and declare it a total loss. It took them a long time to figure out what the settlement would be. After all who could find a comparable for the incomparable Woodstock! RIP
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