SOI - Scamp Owners · in and blew her horn to scare him away. They don’t want the bears in picnic...

SOI

Winter 2007 Scamp Owners International Volume IX Number 1

In This Issue

News

Roger Baty, Redlands, CA wonders “Has anyone coined the term ‘SCAMPSITE?’ Seems to me that would be agreat addition to Scamping Lore. I mentioned it to Wayne Pitlick and he didn’t recall anyone using the term.”

Roger made this image near Owl Canyon, California. Photograph by R. Baty

From the Editor’s Desk Dubuque, Iowa ScampCampA Western Trip Scamp-Eveland, Inc. ReportWhat’s New Water Tank RepairSOI Mailbag Modifications and ChangesFiberglass Fun The Recipe CornerFuture ScampCamps Isle Royale National Park

The SOI Bird says. . .

SOI News Winter 2007

Rod CransonEditor

Hiking on Isle Royale - several years ago!Check out this most unusual National

Park and some of its fascinating historystarting on page 13.

From the Editor’s DeskA big “THANKS” goes

out to Wayne and BarbaraCollins and Doris Lawsonfor the great job of hosting theDubuque, Iowa ScampCampin late September. I also wantto express my appreciation toDeb Foster for her excellentreport on the gathering andimages to use with the articlestarting on page 3. It appearsthat everyone attending had agreat experience with manyopportunities to explore the at-tractions in the Dubuque area.I wish we could have at-tended, but maybe it will be-come a regular event?Wouldn’t that be something?

I would also like to ex-press my appreciation to Jackand Judy Freed for sharing

their trip across the U.S. – it soundslike great fun! So many SOI Membersacross the United States and Canadaexperience such wonderful trips withtheir Scamps and I am grateful to thosewho have made the effort to record theiradventures so other members can en-joy them. And, be sure to check outthe neat modifications that Jim andJulie Cassiday have made to theirScamp on page 11 – Thanks!

ScampCamps for the new yearhave started with a bang! There areseveral new ones being planned in ad-dition to the traditional events, likeScampCamp 2007 in Sebring, theSouthwest Fiberglass Rally in Arizona,and the Oregon Gathering. The NauvooScampCamp in western Illinois alongthe Mississippi River is being plannedby Doris Lawson for May, 2007.More details on this later. Then in JuneJerry Bentler will host a ScampCamp

at Leech Lake just north of the Scamp fac-tory in Minnesota. More details and infor-mation on how to register is provided inFuture ScampCamps section on page 12.

This is the first winter season thatSharon and I plan to stay at home in Lan-sing, Michigan. I have committed to teacha 10 week course at our church, althoughclass meets only once a week. So, we willexperience a Michigan winter again – howexciting! It is the first time in about ten yearsthat we will have the honor of shovelingsnow and driving on icy roads. Not toolong after the decision was made back inSeptember, we were starting to regret it!To sooth our minds, we have made plansto spend a week at Crater Lake NationalPark in Oregon to experience the reallydeep snow – we’ve never been there inwinter.

As membership renewals have beenarriving, many SOI Members have sharedpositive comments about the new proce-dure for receiving the SOI newsletters. Ihave sent an E-mail to each renewing mem-ber that allowed a test of the Adobe Acro-bat Reader to be sure it works properly.In almost every case, it has functioned withno problems - I am impressed!

This is the first issue of the SOI Newscoming to you via E-mail. As this issue goesto “press” about the first of January, nearly250 SOI Members have renewed for2007. I suspected there would be a ratherdramatic drop in membership with the newdelivery method of the SOI News, but re-newals have been encouraging. As notedin the 2006 Fall issue, there are a numberof advantages and improvements in deliv-ering the newsletter in this way.

I hope you enjoy this issue and itsadded features! Please send me your com-ments, ideas, and suggestions. And, if youhave something to share with other SOIMembers - that would be great too!

Rod

Winter 2007 SOI News

Dubuque, IowaScampCampSeptember 25-29, 2006

Reported by Debra Foster

The Dubuque Scamp Camp officiallybegan on Monday, September 25, al-though Scamps began arriving at SwissValley Campground over the weekend.Located in the hill country of eastern Iowa,Swiss Valley offers a picturesque camp-ground, hiking trails, trout fishing, and avisitor center with interpretive displays.Our hosts, Wayne and Barbara Collinsand Doris Lawson, marked the way tothe campground with cute little signs in theform of Scamps.

Sixty “fiberglass folk” gathered inthirty-three Scamps, one Casita, one Tril-lium, and a Boler. Dick and Lois Hansonfrom Tucson, Arizona traveled the farthest,but the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin,Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wyo-ming, Kentucky, Georgia and, of course,

Iowa were also represented.Our first evening’s activities con-

sisted of a potluck chilisupper where we metnew friends and re-newed old friendships.Following dinner, weviewed a DVD of pastScamp Camps, aScamp promotionalDVD, one highlightingthe city of Dubuque, andanother showing the lo-cal John Deere factory.Rick and TheresaLarson also shared pho-tos of the newly rebuiltScamp plant in Backus.We then gathered forthe traditional “getting toknow you” campfire.

Tuesday morningbrought a Tech Trek —a chance to visit other Scamps to findout what is new and unique, to talk tech,or to just plain snoop. On Tuesday after-noon, some gathered in the park pavilionfor a craft session. Crafts included plas-tic mesh needlepoint flyswatters, beadedstick houseplant decorations, addingcolor to our official Scamp Camp T-shirts, or learning to spin sheep’s woolyarn. Those not feeling particularly craftyexplored Dubuque and the surroundingarea. Favorite stops were the Field ofDreams movie site and the National FarmToy Museum in nearby Dyersville, brav-

Greg DeMoss and Bill Schumacher of DesMoines, IA, by the large paddle wheel

outside the Mississippi River Museum andAquarium. Photograph by D. Foster

Deb Foster at campgroundentrance

The Fenelon Elevator Cable Car in Dubuque,Iowa - Photography by Deb Foster


ing the nearly vertical ride on the FenelonPlace cable cars to enjoy the view ofthree states and visit the shops in CableCar Square, touring the National Mis-sissippi River Museum and Aquarium,or driving to historic Galena, Illinois foran afternoon of shopping andsightseeing. Tuesday evening, we onceagain gathered around the campfire toshare stories of the day’s adventures.

During the day on Wednesday, wecar-pooled to various attractions we mayhave missed the day before. Then at4:45 pm, we met back at the camp-ground to head for the Port of Dubuqueand a dinner cruise on the paddlewheeler Spirit of Dubuque. We dinedon prime rib and chicken while enjoyinglive entertainment and the sights along

the MississippiRiver.

Wa y n eCollins, whohappens to bea semi-retiredJohn Deereengineer, ar-ranged for atour of the

John Deere factory on Thursday. Scam-pers toured the plant on carts pulled by(what else?) John Deere garden tractors.Several people commented that the fac-tory was so clean you could eat off thefloor, but the group opted to have lunch inthe John Deere cafeteria. We all gatheredfor a potluck dinner that evening. Follow-ing the meal, we drew names for white el-ephant gifts we had all provided. ShirleyDoeden won a pair of green and whiteunderwear that were the butt (pun in-tended) of quite a few jokes. It was de-termined that this item will be passed onto another lucky recipient at a futureScamp Camp. An original piece of pot-tery created by Barbara Collins was alsoauctioned off. For our campfire thatevening, Lyndon Laney treated us to deli-cious homegrown popcorn, which wewashed down with mead, brewed byFrank Glugla and graciously shared byRichard Tate, who had won it earlier.

A continental breakfast was providedby our hosts Friday morning. LyndonLaney also brought some of his homemadeveggie juice with a chipotle kick to get ourengines started. It was then time for hugsand handshakes, for hooking up ourScamps, and for bidding farewell……untilwe meet again at the next Scamp Camp.

View of historic Galena, Illinois, from Grant Park.Photograph by Deb Foster

Civil War monument andcannon in Grant Park, Galena,Illinois. Photograph by Deb Foster

Spirit of Dubuque, prior to SOI Members boarding for acruise. Photograph by Deb Foster

A Western Tripby Jack Freed

Punxsutawney, PA

Judy and I left on September 8 for across-country trip that took us through 14states, a total of 7,413 miles. We sightedthe following along the way: 1 U-Haul, 9Scamps (five 16’’; four 13’’), 7 Casitas,3 Bolers, and 1 well-used Argosy (Scamprelative?). We were surprised to see a


Boler on the second day of our trip at acampground in Bessemer, MI. The folkswere from Canada and were on their wayback home. All of the other sightings wereen route, all going in the opposite direc-tion. Gas prices ranged from $1.95 to$3.34; campgrounds averaged $26.32/day.

On day five, we arrived in GlacierNational Park in Montana. The next day,we hiked up Logan Pass at the Conti-nental Divide — 1.5 miles up to HiddenLake Overlook. It was quite steep withan elevation of 6,646 ft. The trip backdown was much easier; however, it tookus 3½ hrs., round trip. We saw seven big-horn sheep and, thankfully, no grizzlybears. We took a side road to a picnicarea in the park and saw another vehiclethere. The fellow put his hand out of hiswindow to slow us down. That’s whenwe saw the black bear. We sat andwatched him until the park ranger pulledin and blew her horn to scare him away.They don’t want the bears in picnic ar-eas--wonder why?

Snow was in the forecast as wecrossed the Rockies but luck was on ourside, as it didn’t materialize. Jack Frostgreeted us as we crossed the CascadeMountains into Washington. We officiallymarked off visiting our 48th state after 39

years of marriage and traveling together.We found a campground that was

only 13 miles from Seattle. We thoughtthis was great since the Seahawks wereplaying football at home and the placewas crowded. It took less than oneminute to ride to the top of the SpaceNeedle, and the view was spectacular. Avisit to Pike Place Market was also fun.It was full of vendors, and the fellows inthe fish market actually threw fish to eachother to entertain the onlookers.

It pays to wear our Punxsutawneygroundhog T-shirts. A young coupleasked us if that’s where we were actu-ally from, and it turned out that he gradu-ated from high school with our daughter-in-law in a town a couple of hours awayfrom us.

The ride around Olympic NationalPark included a walk through the HohRain Forest, then it was off to Mt. Rainierand Mount St. Helens. Even though thefog prohibited us from seeing the volca-noes, we can still say, “We were there!”Stopping at a local woodcarver’s busi-ness was a must, and he and his dog werekind enough to pose for a picture.

The viewson the Washing-ton and Oregoncoasts were awe-some, but nothinglike those alongthe ColumbiaRiver GorgeHighway. Wefound ourselvesasking for advicealong the entiretrip and were gladwe were told totake I-84 to enjoy

East Entrance at St. Mary’s LakePhotograph by K R. Cranson

Woodcarver and his small dog.Photograph by J. Freed


the best views along theGorge.

With Mt. Hood in thedistance for miles, we wereon our way through Oregon.We spent a few hours at theHigh Desert Museum nearBend where they were hav-ing a “Harvest Hoedown.”The bluegrass band remindedus of ScampCamps in FancyGap, Virginia, on the Blue

Ridge Parkway.One of the more humorous

sightings was about 76 miles fromBurns, Oregon, in the “middle of no-where.” We pulled off for lunch by alonely tree. After closer inspection, wediscovered that the tree was coveredwith hundreds of shoes. We weredeeply concerned about all of the“shoeless souls.”

Upon arriving at YellowstonePark, we noticed a 13’ Scamp with aNorth Dakota license plate in the park-ing lot and pulled in beside them. Jacktook a photo of the two Scamps andprocessed it on our Picture Maker us-ing the converter in the van (how con-venient!). He put it in a Ziploc bag andstuck it under their windshield wiper

with our names and address.Crossing the Bighorn

Mountains in Wyoming cer-tainly garnered the “Wow”factor. The scenery was fabu-lous around every bend, andwe saw our first snow.

We enjoyed another tripto Mt. Rushmore after 18years, and it was nice to seesome “familiar faces.” WallDrug, the Badlands and Black

Hills brought back pleasant memories also.Our final stop was at the Corn Palace inMitchell, SD, which we had read about inmagazines and were curious to see it upclose.

We arrived home on October 1, after24 days on the road. Within a few days,the national weather forecast was showingsnow in the Midwest. We timed that tripvery well and were happy to be back home.We would recommend this route to any-one and will share specifics to those whowant more information. Feel free to e-mailus at [email protected] or write to JackFreed, 1492 Cloe Lake Road,Punxsutawney, PA, 15767.

View across the rock exposures in BadlandsNational Park, South Dakota.

Photograph by K R. Cranson

Stop for lunch at the Shoe-TreePhotographs by J. Freed

Scamp Trailers ApproachesPre-fire Production Numbers

By Kelly Virden, EditorPine River Journal

Scamp Trailers inBackus has nearly recov-ered after 10 months of re-bounding from a January 13,2006 fire that destroyed theproduction area that pro-duced the pull-behind travel trailers. “Ourgoal is before the end of the year to be upto previous levels, depending on whatproblems we begin to run into,” saidScamp’s owner Kent Eveland.

This time last year Scamp Trailers’produced eight trailers a week. Now,they’re up to six a week – a vast improve-ment from this summer when they wereproducing a few trailers a month. “In thelong run the goal is to have 47 employees –some full-time some part-time,” Evelandsaid. Prior to the fire, the manufacturing plant


employed about 45 people, includingpart-time employees.

The fire destroyed all of the equip-ment that was in the factory. “The biggestthing is that we had to rebuild all our molds– which took a lot of time and effort andmoney,” Eveland said. The business pur-chased new air compressors, hand toolsand office equipment.

The 34,000 square foot productionarea - where the trailers are manufactured– is up and running. A 2,960 square footadministrative office space and receptionarea is still under construction, but alreadyhas tile floors, painted walls and knottypine trim work and paneling.

Due North Construction of PequotLakes is the main contractor for theproject. The final product will be slightlybigger than the previous building de-stroyed by fire. Scamp received loansfrom the city of Backus and from the Ini-tiative Foundation to help pay for the re-build. Insurance covered approximately40 percent of the total project cost,Eveland said. The rest was borrowed,cash or inventory sold for cash.

Things are looking up for the 35-year old family-run business. “We still havea waiting list; we have about 100 trailerssold ahead right now,” Eveland said, “Sothat’s good.”Reported on November 16, 2006and reprinted by permission

Work on a Scamp in final assembly.Photograph by Kelly Virden

What’s New

Campsite Reservations - Re-serve America can access more than150,000 campsites across the U.S. Theymake 3.5 million (?) reservations eachyear. Recently, they announced theTop100 Family Campgrounds based onselected criteria such as park amenities,outdoor scenery, educational opportuni-ties, among others. These campgroundsand more information can be found at theirwebsite: www.reserveamerica.com.

National Parks - The theme of theOctober 2006 issue of the NationalGeographic magazine examines nationalparks. Several articles feature variousaspects of the parks in the United Statesand other parts of the world. In one piece,called Hallowed Ground, the contentpage reads “The world needs parks.Whether they’re slivers of green in acrowed city or 20,000 square miles ofdesignated wilderness, parks nourish thehuman spirit, help sustain the planet, andreflect the ideals of the societies that pro-tect them. But for some of these pre-serves, the future is uncertain.” In the Fall2006 National Parks Magazine thereis a nice article on the national park ser-vice areas in the Great Lakes region. TheApostle Islands and Pictured Rocks Na-tional Lakeshores are featured in thepiece entitled “The Fourth Coast.”

The SOI Bird is looking forgood information for the“What’s New” column!

Can you help him?

“It’s so simple to be wise,just think of something stu-pid to say and don’t say it.”

Sam Levenson


Water Tank Repair

During a trip in the southwest, weexperienced a flooded floor in our

Scamp as we setup at one camp-site. Upon exami-nation, I discov-ered the fresh wa-ter tank had bro-ken loose andmost of the water,perhaps 8 gallons,had drained ontothe floor. Thestraps that securethe water tank arefastened to the

floor with screws into the chipboardfloor. While the underside of the floorhas been sealed with fiberglass, unfor-tunately the inside is not. Consequently,over time any water leaking from thetank or moisture from condensationthat reaches the floor is likely to resultin the deterioration of the chipboard.This is a common occurrence inScamps and a number of SOI Mem-bers have experienced this situation.

In my case, the loose tank shiftedenough to breakthe hose connec-tion with the pumpallowing most ofthe water to es-cape onto thefloor. Upon in-spection, it be-came obviousthat the floor hadbeen wet beforeand in a few smallplaces the chip-

board had deteriorated. This allowed someof the screws holding the strapping to pullout – the screws are short and do not gothrough the floor, but only into the flooring.The balance of this article describes how Iaddressed the problem.

After loosening the remaining strapsand moving the water tank out of the way,the floor could be inspected. In general, thefloor was still in good condition. However,there were a few spots that had deterio-rated and in one location a hole had devel-oped completely through the chipboard. Myrepair plan was to patch the bad places,put a couple heavy coats of paint on thefloor and cover it with a new piece of ply-wood.

The entire wooden framework cov-ering the water tank area, that forms theseat for the dinette area was removed.Rather than removing the water tank’s in-take hose, I simply tied it up to get it out ofthe way. The floor was cleaned off and afan directed onto the surface for a coupledays to completely dry it out. The bad spotswere small and required little attention, andI filled one that had broken through withcaulk – it was like a small drill hole. Theentire surface was then given two coats ofepoxy paint and allowed to dry over sev-eral days.

As I waited for the paint to dry, I pre-pared the replacement piece of plywoodthat would cover the entire surface underthe water tank. To avoid messing with thedrain valve, pump, and other hose connec-tions, I used a thin (3/8" thick) piece of ply-wood with two coats of epoxy paint. It wasscrewed down to the original floor aroundthe outside margin. Of course, the pumphad to be replaced on top of this new pieceand a hole drilled to allow the drain valveaccess to the outside.

View of the Scamp floor beneath the fresh water tank -several areas had deteriorated from being wet.

Photographs by K R. Cranson

Water tank repositioned and secured after the floorrepair had been completed.


The connection of the water hoseto the pump had broken, but I was ableto repair it. After replacing the water tankin the correct position, I marked the lo-cation where the hold-down strap screwsneeded to be placed. Holes were drilledcompletely through the floor and stainlesssteel machine bolts and nuts were usedto secure the straps. Large washers wereused on the underside to insure that theywould not pull through and everything wassnugged down. Replacement of the hoseconnection to the pump completed thejob. Of course, it was necessary to putsome water in the tank and check for anyleaks and try the drain valve.

Most of the time in the past we usu-ally carried only a couple gallons of wa-ter in the fresh water tank while traveling.However, the tank had been full on thisoccasion when the hold-down strapsbroke loose, and I think this contributedto their failure. So, in the future I will re-turn to my original practice of leaving thefresh water tank empty while moving theScamp. Since we always keep a couplegallons of bottled water in the shower any-way, it will not be an inconvenience asthere will still be water for use while trav-eling. K R. Cranson, Lansing, MI

Another repair technique –– It isa little discouraging to open the door andhave water run out of the camper. Whenour water tank broke loose it was be-cause moisture over the years due tosweating, or whatever sort, rotted thewood around the screws securing the holddown straps. Our drain spigot broke offbut I was able to get the broken pieceout of the tank and still have enoughthreads to screw in the drain spigot again.

I went to a Wal Mart store and was

able to buy a roll ofstrapping and add acouple more holddown straps. Whenwe got home I gut-ted the rear of thecamper and tookout the carpeting tolet the wood dryout. Then I putdown the SnowFlex flat roofing sys-tem they use inCatalina, at the Mexico Branch of theSummer Institute Of Linguistics, and putit all over the raised portion of the floorunder the water pump.

The Snow Flex system consists ofpainting on Acrylic paint and while it isstill wet, covering it with a fiber-glasscloth to fully saturate the cloth and thengive it a second coat to really cover thecloth, all at the same time. It drys in threeor four days to a rubber like material thatis water proof and tough. I then securedmy tank down with bolts and fenderwashers underneath. With this repair Idon’t anticipate moisture or water tankhold down problems. Art Hadacek,Bent Mountain, VA

Repair complete, vertical seat panel replaced andready to install the plywood seat cover.

Dubuque ScampCamp - Howexciting that the newsletter will now be incolor and delivered via e-mail. There wasmuch concern regarding the newsletterat the Dubuque Scamp Camp. I haddriven through Iowa many times, but hadnever visited the hill country of easternIowa. What a pleasant surprise. To me,Iowa had seemed to be one large, flatcorn field. What made this particularScampCamp special, however, wasn’tthe location or even the activities. The


people attending just seemed to clickand interact so well that everyone hadan exceptionally good time. I’ve re-ceived e-mails from several who at-tended, saying that they felt this was thebest ScampCamp ever, for that veryreason. Deb Foster, Hastings, MN

China Bound - We are leavingon a 2-week trip to China, so will notwrite the desert article until next month.We’ll be going out to the desert in thefirst or second week in the Scamp andI’ll get some up-to-date photos with mydigital. We absolutely love the desertand eagerly plan our outings there. Also— I think the e-mail version of the news-letter is a very good idea and will savea lot of time in printing, mailing, etc.Thanks again for all your hard workthese many years. We love our Scampas much or more than anyone else andlove to go out in it. One thing we havenoticed in our travels is that there seemsto be a trend for public campgrounds(state and even national) to get out ofthe “dumping station business.” We justspent a week in Kings Canyon NationalPark and there is no longer a dump sta-tion in the canyon. Also, some stateparks in California have also closedthem. Have you noticed this trend? I’llbe in touch when we return from theOrient. Pat Stalnaker, San Diego, CA

Editor’s Note: Pat has offered to writean article on his favorite state park and I

am looking forward to it!

An Old Scamp - Wespotted this Scamp TruckCamper on Labor Day week-end. Saw it again last Sunday,October15, 2006. The

pickup is an ’85. . . We have really en-joyed the excellent job you have done withthe newsletter. We are very glad to readthat you will continue to be editor of thenew email newsletter. I will be sending inour dues shortly and I will include Bill’semail address for the newsletter. Take care,Lydia and Bill Storey, Dalmatia, PA

SOI News - Great news on the newSOI News. It is good to know you havefound an avenue that keeps SOI alive andwell. The Fall 2006 issue - one of the best.Regards. Chris Kidd, Vinton, VA

Happy SOI Member - Look for-ward to receiving the SOI News. Glad youare continuing to provide the newsletter.Although I haven’t been able to attend anyof the Scamp camps, I look forward to thenewsletter, seeing other happy Scampers,and reading about changes/upgrades madeto the Scamps. I know it’s a time consum-ing project, but I’m sure all the membersappreciate your hard work as much as Ido. Sharolyn August, Stockton, CA

Heading South - Glad to hear this(SOI News) is continuing on. We are start-ing to pack for Gulf Shores – should leavein 2 weeks. Doug is ready for some seri-ous fishing on the beach. We should be thereuntil April 1 and then wander on home. Weusually take in a couple dulcimer festivalsin Alabama and Mississippi in early April.Doug and Ginny Smith and Tasha (theirsled dog), Garden, MI. (10-23-06)

Happy Times - We want to thankyou for asking us to join SOI. We’ve hadsome of our happiest times attendingScampCamps. Wayne and Gerry Felker,Okeechobee, FL


Newsletter - We received your E-mail with no problem and opened the at-tachment - at which point I said “what inthe world” as the motorhome picturecame up. Once I read the copy under-neath, I understood. We have a some-what unusual 1987 deluxe 13' (lots ofwood, only sleeps 2) that several folks atLetchworth said they’d never seen be-fore. We bought our Scamp on eBayabout this time last year and enjoyed bothHighlands Hammock and Letchworth.We’ve enjoyed your newsletter tremen-dously and are happy to receive it on-line. Alex and Jane Atkinson, EastChester, PA. (10-31-06)

Health Report - Due to health, Ihave sold my 16' Scamp, late in 2005. Iwas unable to walk due to spinal steno-sis. After taking a disability retirement inOctober, I have improved, but I still usea walker and electric scooter to getaround. I bought a pop-up and made atrip to the west coast, but could not getthe trailer set up so I stayed in motels.But, I have not given up hope. LarryBaker, Jamestown, OH

Modifications and Changes

Neat Upgrades – We enjoy andlook forward to receiving the (SOINews) newsletter.

We have usedmany of the upgradesthat others have pub-lished in the paper. Theshortening of the tablewith the drop leaf wasthe best. We love our1998 16-foot Scampand get excited whenwe see another onecoming down the road.My husband is quite handy, so I havesent some of the things we did to ourScamp. The two large drawers under thecloset hold most clothing that can befolded. The swing away flat screen TVhas a built-in DVD and plays music. Heeven put surround sound over the table.Our screened in room wasn’t made fora Scamp, but with a little ingenuity itworks great and goes up in just 5 min-utes. Our microwave shelf comes off

Be careful where you drive with your Scamp during the winter!

FFFFFiberglass Funiberglass Funiberglass Funiberglass Funiberglass Fun


Future ScampCamps

ScampCamp 2007 –- February 6-10, 2007 (Tues-Fri) at Sebring, Florida isplanned for our 9th Annual ScampCamp atHighlands Hammock State Park. a EarlyBird Night on the 5th and a special activityis being planned. An agenda will be sent toeveryone that has email. If you are plan-ning to attend, reservations should be madeas soon as possible. To place a reserva-tion, have your credit card ready and call800-326-3521. Request a campsite num-ber between 71 -138. Once you have areservation, please contact Alice Vernezzeat [email protected] or PH: 321-773-2676. Alice needs the following informa-tion: 1) Names of all attending; 2) City &State; 3) Site number; 4) Dates attending;5) SOI number; 6) size of Scamp or trailerand 7) is a name tag needed?

Southwest Fiberglass Rally ––April 5-8, 2007 (Thurs-Sun) has been setfor the 7th Annual meeting (formally theWest Coast ScampCamp). It will be heldat the Dead House Ranch State Park nearCottonwood, Arizona. Attractions includeTuzigoot and Montezuma National Monu-ments and not far from Sedona. Full hook-ups, restrooms, and hot showers are avail-able. Trails for hiking, biking and horseback

the wrought iron bars andmatches for an original equip-ment look.

Our next year’s projectlooks to be solar panels withan inverter to run the 110 voltappliances at state park camp-grounds without hook-ups.Jim and Julie Cassaday,

Waynesville, NC

Bike Rack & Old Car – Thisbike rack was designed and installed byFloyd Clark of Morris, IL. The old caris a Ford Anglia belonging to Philip andBonnie Hoehn from Milwaukee. Bothwere a hit at the Debuque, Iowa,ScampCamp in September.

The Recipe Corner

This is a great recipe from PegBartels of Minnesota. Thought it wouldhelp ward off the chill of the winter sea-son. I added 2 ribs of chopped celeryto the recipe when I made it. Your pref-erence.

Peg’s ChiliMake this in a covered skillet or

crock pot1 1/2 lb. lean ground beef2 T chili powder with garlic1/2 C onion, chop1 med. green pepper, chop2 T shortening1 qt. home canned tomatoes1 can kidney beans

Cook the meat in shortening, untilbrown but not crusty. Add spices, pep-pers, onion and tomatoes. Cook over

high heat, until steaming. Reduce to sim-mer & cook one hour. Add beans &cooklong enough to heat throughly. Serve inheated bowls with crackers or cornbread.

Alice’s note Don’t you just love the Mid-West, they do their own canning. There is noth-ing like the flavor of home canned tomatoes.The flavor of Mid-West tomatoes is wonderful,not so in my part of the country (Florida).

All recipes are in the SOICookbook prepared by Alice

Vernezze. Alice can becontacted at

[email protected]


Isle Royale NationalPark

One of the little known, and cer-tainly least visited, is Isle Royale locatedin the northwest portion of Lake Supe-rior. It is a relatively small park, just un-der 2,300 square kilometers (900 squaremiles) in area of which about 80 percentis under water and almost the entire parkis designated as wilderness. However, itslocation makes Isle Royale one of themost inaccessible of any unit in the Na-tional Park Service. April 30, 1940 was Photographs by K R. Cranson

riding are featured in the park. Arrange-ments are being made with the park andinterested participants will be able to makereservations through Pat and ArleenHeimann. Check out the park at:www.pr.state.az.us/Parks/parkskhtml/deadhorse. For more information, contacthosts Pat and Arleen Heimann at:[email protected] or details at http://www.chartmarker.com/SWRally.html

Nauvoo ScampCamp - May 25 -28, 2007 (Fri -Mon) More details later.

Leech Lake ScampCamp - June 18 -22, 2007 (Mon - Fri). Located at the LeechLake Recreation Area (a National ForestService campground) near Federal Dam,Minnesota. A tour of the new Scamp-Eveland, Inc. factory, visit headwaters ofthe Mississippi River, potluck supper, andother activities are planned. There are 40sites that can be reserved and 30 on a firstcome first service basis. Campsite cost is$20/night and there are some full hookupsites that cost $30. Golden Age cards canbe used for a 50% reduction in campingcosts. Reservations can be made by call-ing 1-877-444-6777 orwww.reserveusa.com. Jerry Bentler,6061 144th Ln. NW Ramsey, MN 55303,will serve as host and provide additional in-formation. Please contact him when youhave secured a reservation. - his phonenumber is: 763-576-8319.

5th Annual Oregon Gathering –-July 19-22, 2007 (Thurs.-Sun) at Bullard’sBeach State Park, Bandon, Oregon Alltypes of fiberglass trailers are welcome!Gathering will be centered in Loop A.Host & Hostess will be in Site A-12. Hereare the two Steps to Signing Up for theGathering:

1. Make Campground Reservations

and go to :http://www.reserveamer ica .com/ jsp /commonpage.jsp?goto=/usa/or/bull/newindex.html or call 1-800-452-5687

2. After you have reserved a site,please go here to actually sign up for thegathering.You must fill out and send thissign-up form or we won’t know you’replanning to attend. http://w w w . c a s i t a f o r u m . c o m /BullardsRegistration.html. Go here toview the Bullard’s Beach State Parkc a m p g r o u n d : h t t p : / /w w w. o r e g o n s t a t e p a r k s . o r g /park_71.php. Go here to see informa-tion about Bandon, OR: http://www.el .com/To/Bandon/http: / /www.bandon.com/ Go here to see pic-tures of the 2006 Oregon Gathering: http://www.watsonmountain.com/Pages/orgathering.htm

I hope to see you all there! Feel freeto write to me if you have any questionsor you can check on information at:[email protected]

Nancy Wolf

Debuque, Iowa ScampCamplogo designed by Wayne and

Barbara Collins. The originalwas in black and participants

added the colors.Photograph by W. & B. Collins


the date ofestablishmentmaking it thepark setaside byCongress .The islandwas ceded tothe UnitedStates in the1983 treatywith Englandbut was

named for King Louis XVI by theFrench during their early exploration ofthe northern Great Lakes.

Isle Royale was a base for the furtrade and fishing during the 19th cen-tury, then became famous for its cop-per mines that were started in the1840s. Actually, the Native Americansthat lived in the region were mining thenative copper found on the island andthe Keweenawa Peninsula as long agoas 500 BC. They called it Minong,which means “a good place to get cop-per.” More than 1,000 pits have beenfound on the island attributed to Indianminers. Copper, thought to be from thewestern Lake Superior region, has

been found inmany parts of theUnited States.

M o d e r nmining activitystarted on IsleRoyale (and theK e w e e n w a nPeninsula) in1843. Therewere three peri-ods of coppermining on the is-

land: an early boom-and-bust between 1843to 1855, a revival of mining activity from1873 to 1881, and a final flurry from 1889to 1899. Over this half century there wereat least a dozen companies with locationson Isle Royale. By 1847, there were somewith professional geologists and mining en-gineers. Others were poor in everything ex-cept hope and courage, while some existedonly for the purpose of selling stock.

Early mining activity was shallow, nearsurface pits while later mines were all un-derground operations. The copper mined inthe entire western Lake Superior region wasin the metallic form. Ore was processed instamp mills, there were two on the island,and then shipped out through Sault Ste.Marie. Production of refined copper in thefive largest Isle Royale mines totaled almosta million pounds.

Isle Royale is the largest island in LakeSuperior, the largest freshwater body of

Ruins of the blacksmith shop at the MinogMine near Lake

Typical example of one of the hundreds of NativeAmerican copper mine pits.

Soo Locks at Sault Ste. Marie allows ships topass from Lake Superior to Lake Huron

The Ranger III is the National Park Service boat that carriesvisitors to Isle Royale. It makes three trips each week from

Houghton during the summer season.


water in the world. Although it is officiallypart of United States, it is much closer toCanada – the nearest Michigan coastlineis 65 kilometers (45 miles) while Canadais only 24 kilometers (15 miles). In addi-tion to the main island, some 60 kilome-ters (45 mile) long and up to 12 kilome-ters (8 miles) wide, there are 200 isletssurrounding it.

The entire island complex is part ofthe oldest portion of the North Americancontinent known as the Canadian Shield.It composes the northwest limb of atrough-like structure called the Lake Su-perior Syncline. The rocks on Isle Royaleslope (known as dip) toward the south-east under Lake Superior while those onthe Keweenan Peninsula slope to thenorthwest. Both areas are composed ofthe same series of rocks, a mixture of ba-saltic lava flows, coarse sediments likeconglomerates, and sandstones. Most ofthe native copper mined in the region wassomehow incorporated into these tworock types, usually as fine particles.

Because of the dip these rocks ex-

hibit, theyform a seriesof ridges run-ning thelength of theisland – cre-ating the socalled “ridgeand trough”topography.The highest,r e a c h i n gsome 400m e t e r s(1,300 feet) in elevation, is a strongly re-sistant “backbone” called the GreenstoneRidge. It is one of the basaltic rock mem-bers which extends the entire 65 kilome-ters (45 mile) length of Isle Royal. Lower,less resistant rock types, lie between theridges giving the topography a corrugatedor washboard appearance. Over the pastfew thousand years there was much“smoothing” of the surface as massivecontinental glaciers moved over the is-land.

Dock at the southern end of Moskey Basin serves manyboaters and canoeists, a very popular method of visiting

Isle Royale.


SOI NewsWinter 2007

Volume IX Number 1Published quarterly for Scamp owners andintended solely for their education, enjoy-

ment and entertainment. Neither SOI or thispublication is sponsored or supported by, noris there any relationship with Scamp Travel

Trailers or Eveland, Inc.Address communications and contributions to

SOI News226 Iris Avenue, Lansing, MI 48917

517-321-2473e-mail: [email protected]

Due to its isolation, Isle Royale isfamous for its wolf and moose popula-tions. When the moose arrived early inthe 1900s they found a paradise as foodwas plentiful and there were no preda-tors. As a result, their population ex-ploded to several thousand, far morethan the island could support. Theirpopulations went through a series ofboom and bust episodes until about1950 when a pack of timber wolvescrossed the ice to Isle Royale. Since thenthere has been a kind of balance be-tween the number of moose and wolves– if the number of moose increases, sodoes the wolf population and vice-versa.This situation has created a natural labo-ratory for game biologists to study therelationship between these two groupsfor over fifty years

By the turn of the century only afew fishermen and their families lived onIsle Royale, although fishing started be-fore 1800 and has been a main activityon the island. Following the copper min-ing period (the last mine closed in the1890s) some of the mining companiesbegan selling off their land for summerhomes – some for as little as $10 peracre. The few remaining private in-hold-ings have either been incorporated intothe park or will be as they become avail-able.

Since Congresscreated the park al-most 70 years ago,the major activity onIsle Royale has beentourism. Since thereare no roads or mo-torized vehicles in thepark, hiking and backpacking along withboating/canoeing/kayaking are the mainmodes of travel.

There are over 263 kilometers (160 miles)of trails with many back country camp-grounds. Off-trail travel is discouraged be-cause of the dense vegetation, bogs, andswamps that make up much of the terrain.Most visitors arrive by boat but there is alsoseaplane service to Rock Harbor, a pro-tected bay at the northeastern end of theisland. Due to its location in Lake Supe-rior, the park has a relatively short season– approximately June through early Sep-tember.

The Isle Royale Park Headquartersis in downtown Houghton, another accom-modation to the rather long winter seasonin this northern part of the country. This iswhere the park service’s large boat, calledthe Ranger III, is docked and departs forits every other day trip to Rock Harbor. Ittakes 6+-hours and can be a rough ride.There are also several other boats that pro-vide regular service, both from CopperHarbor and ports in Canada. Although visi-tation is among the lowest of any nationalpark, reservations are required and usuallymust be arranged many months ahead ofany planned visit.

Additional information is available ontheir web site at: http://www.nps.gov/isro,or by calling: 906-482-0984. The addressis Isle Royale National Park, Houghton, MI49931.

Rock Harbor Lighthouse locatedalong Moskey Basin on the

southeast coastline.

Adirodack shelter at the Moskey Basin camp-ground. These are a welcome site to protect hikers

from insects.

Isle Royale Greenstone isMichigan’s State Gem. It is actuallythe mineral chlorastrolite. Scale in

inches.

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