Show iva el M dickman t xa P xa s au in T af lie ie ind kids are going in 0 t 0 r gyp lg ing t this 11 18 summer hummer thousands are already on off their way and the rest are getting tin ready gready to start by midsummer the scenic west will be alive with motorists its a good guess that halt half of them will III start out with a camping equipment and a solemn vow to camp by the road eter some of them will keep the vow they swore but many will fall by the wayside instead of camp and the john johnny ny on the spot hotel will get their hard earned dollars others of the gypsies will run on a 50 50 schedule ramp camp when hen the camping Is good and the hotel for them at other times of course the first hundred or so miles ore fire the hardest on middle west gypsies cyp for the nearer they get to the the more numerous and pretentious tent ious are the auto camps pretty soon they get into a country where every self respecting community offers a really comfortable camp with running water wood fireplaces electric lights an everything every thin while there will be motor all over the and the rush will undoubtedly be to the national parks of the and beyond the fame of the delectable mountains Is abroad in the land to the people of the sunbaked middle west the thought of a land where there they will sleep under blankets is impelling and actually to need a sweater morning and evenings and trout streams that are lee ice cold I 1 and everlasting snow in sight on off the mountain slopes just the thought of these things along about the middle of july Is enough to pack em cm in the old flivver and start em due west on the lincoln highway or some other transcontinental road the folks up north who see snow every winter the faintest idea of what snow in midsummer means never see it why the sight of 0 it Is worth the whole trip from louisiana or texas one august day at the foot of longs peak in rocky mountain national park a car carrying a texas license come came along with mith four husky young texans in it one jumped out and came up to my tent ile he asked me politely if I 1 could tell him what hot was that white patch up on oa the mountain pointing to the everlasting snow on the farther side of bout boul det denfield deni field old about a thousand feet below the summit I 1 told him how come lie he wanted to know I 1 explained could an body get to it I 1 said lie he could walk malk right to it and roll in it he asked how bow tar far it was I 1 told him that it was just about five miles with a climb of feet and gave him details to of the trall trail then lie he let out a yell a texas yell and dashed back to the flivver then followed an exited excited r confab all four talking at once T then ben away went the flivver full speed ahead for the slope of longs snowbank or bust fellows like that should start a little littie ittle ittie earlier to get around to the winter sports bud and ski tournaments in mount rainier along alone about the fourth of july I 1 this motor Is no guess ae C mtv mewl IRK work ahe figures ot of national N park attendance show more than n million visitors last summer and this season the figures most likely will run to a million and a ut these about 70 per cent travel in their own on cars and a good big percentage ire are fixed for camping the national park service says in its 1920 annual report final travel figures figi ires reaching a to I 1 lal al of visitors show a healthy add substantial growth of american tourist travel in america this travel has now reached a proportion where it must be seriously considered as an economic factor in our national life surely travel of this proportion Is not dot horn born of merely a restlessness on the part of our fellow citizens to be going somewhere just for the going but denotes a deeper feeling pride of country a desire to see add know their land and to make that use of their national parks for which these playgrounds were created just as the rail lines brought people to the parks from every state in the union and from yany many foreign countries so were motorists recorded traveling eling in private cars from every state and from canada and mexico more than half of these carried their own supplies ande and camp amp equipment and enjoyed their playgrounds in their own 11 w A ry ay the plain truth of the matter Is whisper W it that the camping out folks at the peak of the season often fared better than the stay at a hotel folks for the simple reason that things got decidedly jammed up in august at several of the principal parks rocky hocky mountain for example had visitors its the nearest to the travel and population center and 50 autos and hundreds were turned away for lack of hotel accommodations of course the motor gypsies turned away theres always room tor for them in its square miles this dear therell be more hotel accommodations rind and likewise bigger auto cumps camps as in all the principal notional national parks this motor inetor Is increasing like an forest tire fire and why not it appeals so many ways in the first place its cheap I 1 have run across many an outfit that were having the time of their lives on lighty little money one old farmer from nebraska put his case in a nutshell thus here we are me and my wife and our five children ive been wanting for years to show em this country but stand the expense now ive got or a car and its all right traveling this way wont cost much more than staying slaying at home and a good lime ilme well say but dout dont fool yourself into thinking that its a question of mere dollars and cents with all the gypsies see the most expensive cars as well ns as fl ivers and in them will be people who naho dont have to count their dollars the idea you see Is based upon one of the oldest and unda funda mental instincts of the race the call of the open road for joy is the law of the open road and glad are its wais ways its laughter fra away with your town wrought weary load come hit the tall fall with me and in this matter of gypsy ing weve got the gypsy beat to a frazzle aho ah mileage that can be covered Is limited only by the length of vacation time A I 1 know of one family last summer that started front from philadelphia june ja and returned september 11 they visited rocky mountain they climbed rikes peak they saw the petrified forest on the way to los angeles over the tha santa fe trall trail from san francisco they went to the yosemite and thence back home over the lincoln highway just about miles camping at alf ways except when conditions were toe toc unfavorable conditions in this year of 1921 and the trend of public opinion warrant the prediction that it will be only a few years before an american motor gypsy ni ill be able to start at the atlantic coast and make the roundtrip round trip to the pacific on good roads and cagan ing by the rond roadside side in comfort on public ground national state county municipal and local parks that Is the keynote of the campaign begun last summer at the national conference on parks at des moines it is a shame to talk about making money in connection with motor gypsy ing and trout streams and snow clad peaks but here goes suppose every one of these gipsies who visited the national parks scattered an average of along his route that means american doil dallara lars kept at homo home and put in circulation and business for all sorts of people along the read gilad do a little figuring for yourself you relf along this line guessing at the number of motor gypsies there were in addition to those who nho visited the national parks the best thing about all Is that the tha people are beginning to get it through their heads that the national parts parks belong to them and they are beginning to use them and maybe it it a good thing for the people and country maybe it make for acquaintance and mutual respect and democracy I 1 I 1 saw in the big thompson canyon in rocky mountain national park 1 1 I bunch of several cars different makes front from several different sections of the country and carrying several different kinds of families well the women were mere getting lunch ready and the children were playing together and the men were whipping the hig big Thomp thompson sou close by for trout kaough said this 1921 civilization of ours la Is pretty complex maybe too complex to be sane safe and sober nature Is 1 the best antidote for a godl many of its ills and by automobile the wo worst rs t way in ilia file world to get fairly close to nature |