A new day A new experience

This post is about two things: Luci Baines (Johnson) Nugent and about our rained out camping trip.

Back in the late sixties--not sure of exact date--we went camping in the Ozark Mountains in Missouri with my sister, Sara, and her family. We had almost a whole week for a much looked forward to vacation.They came from Texas and we from Indiana and met at the Lake of the Ozarks State Park in Missouri.

While we were there Luci Baines Nugent had her baby. One morning my niece, Debbie and all of the other kids in our group--my two and my sister's three-- yelled out of the tent they were sleeping in that, "Luci had her baby!" They had a radio and heard the news. It had been a topic of our conversation that day about Luci Baines Johnson (Nugent) expecting a baby at any time. They yelled out of the tent because they had to stay in it unless they wanted to get very wet. We had had rain every day so far since we had set up our campsite. So much for Luci's baby! She had a boy, Patrick John Nugent.

Well, it rained and rained and rained, and then rained some more. Finally, after about three days of rain we decided that we had had enough of it and started packing our gear up to go home. We were very disappointed because we had much looked forward to this camping trip together.

This night they were predicting more storms and a lot more rain. So regretfully, we tore down our tents and started packing for home while a pot of beans cooked over the campfire. About noon our beans were done so we ate them in the rain and then left the campsite. Ford had on a straw hat that he always wore when we camped. Unfortunately, while we packed, his hat had some dye in it that faded all over his T shirt turning it a streaked ugly yellow. Sara's and my hair dos were hair don'ts by now, and every piece of our bedding was dripping wet and weighed a ton. We were a sad looking bunch. I feel sorry still today for the few more days we had to forfeit because of the rain. God must have wanted us not to have them for some reason.

On our way home to Indiana we passed through some flooded out towns and blocked bridges. Sara and Joe met some of the same obstacles on their way back to Texas.

I will forever remember Luci Nugent's baby --who is by now probably around 35 or 40 years old--and all of that horrible rain we had back in the late sixties.