[at-l] Hiking parents

[lorac4491 at linkamerica.net (Coosa Donaldson)]

>>>Canvass time: How many on AT-L had hiking parents? 

Maternally: Henry & Humphrey DeBohun (father and son) hiked in full battle regalia to Bannockburn where Henry got cut in twain by Robert the Bruce.

http://www.braveheart.co.uk/macbrave/history/bruce/banseq.htm
The main bulk of the English van had crossed the Bannock Burn and taken up position facing The Bruce's division. A young English Knight, one Henry De Bohun, spotted a lone figure riding back and forth along the Scots lines. Moving closer, he noticed that the man carried no crest upon his helmet, but a crown. Seeing that it was none other than King Robert himself, Bohun realised in his quest for glory, that he could end the battle in one go. 

Moving from the English lines De Bohun, fully armoured and riding a heavy cavalry horse urged his beast to a gallop, and lowering his lance he aimed straight for the King. Robert, armed only with a battle axe and on a smaller horse, held his ground however until the last second. Just before De Bohun hit him, Robert quickly moved his horse aside and in one blow split open both the young knight's armor and body with his battle axe.

Whew. 

Much much later, Squire Boone, brother George and sister Sarah, took a boat to the "new world" from Devonshire, England and hiked into Pennsylvania settling in various areas near Philadelphia.  In 1750 they hiked from their Pennsylvania home to the Yadkin Valley area of North Carolina.  Of course we all know how Daniel and the family, including MY ggggggrandparents hiked to Kentucky through the Cumberland Gap.  (That would be Samuel Boone and Sarah Day Boone.)

Toss in here that I am directly related to Pocahontas of the Powhattans.  AND that one of my ggggrandmothers was a full-blood who passed for white.  I THINK it was Quapaw but I'm still doing my research.  Those forebears were definitely hikers and "campers" by our modern terminological use of the word.

Then some of Boone forebears hiked South to Columbia, Tennessee, and settled at Bear Creek.  My greatgrandfather fought in the War Between the States.  He hiked in full (?) military regalia during the war.  After being mustered out in South Carolina, hiked home across the Smokey Mountains (or perhaps South of the Smokies) before marrying my greatgrandmother.  My grandmother (one of 23 children of whom 22 survived childhood) moved to Brewton, AL, with two sisters, to sew at TR Miller department store.  She met my grandfather there.  (HIS forebear was with George Washington at Yorktown, VA, when Cornwalis surrendered.  He too hiked in full (?) military regalia.)

My mother's idea of "camping" is a motel without a swimming pool.

Paternally:  My Greatgrandfather was born in Wigtown, Scotland, immigrated to the USofA after 1865 and became a naturalized citizen.  He lived in or near Buffalo, NY where my grandfather and father were born.  My grandmother's relatives were all well-to-do Berliners until Hitler.  They fled to the USofA where she was born.

My father says he did all the "camping" he ever wants to do in Basic Training for WWII.  He agrees with my mother's idea of "camping."

ME:  I never camped or hiked until I was 24 years old.  My son learned to walk at a campground in Williamsburg, VA.  I upset my parents by purchasing a tent with money they'd sent for my birthday.  After age 28, camping and then backpacking and hiking were the ways I cleared my head.

Children:  Daughter: we camped and hiked until the extension cord to the curling iron was too heavy to carry.  She and her husband and 2 children camped in a tent, then a travel trailer, and now they stay home since they have a pool in their backyard.
           Son: he enjoyed camping and backpacking and hiking so much that he became "rappel-lant."  He and his buddies will hike into a place to rappel, set up a camp and spend their time hiking up and rappelling down rock faces.  He takes his wife and 3 children on short backpacks to campsites on the Pine Mountain Trail.  His favorite past times though are fishing and hunting (bow, rifle, shotgun).

So, let's see.  In one historical summary, I've touched upon large families, hunting (gun-related), consumerism (travel trailer then swimming pool), wars and battles (killing for a cause), Native "Americans" who were here before anyone from Western Europe showed up, and a few other "topics of interest" -- and this is just from one shortened summary from one person.

Do my grandchildren hike?  Nope.  I scared the oldest when we hiked to Thomas Knob Shelter a few years ago.  None of the others wants to try hiking with Nana.

BUT, I've got a grandmother friend who's raising her 3 grandkids and 2 out of 3 are interested in hiking and camping.  

Pass it forward!

Coosa Donaldson
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