A lot of people I know get spring fever.
I get car fever, boat fever, pickup truck fever, camper fever and motor home fever . . . but spring fever? Never bothers me.
I remember when the late Ed Harshbarger wanted to sell me his jo-boat with a cabin, motor, trailer, the works. I huffed and puffed on that for some time before turning it down. The female members of the family weren't too hot on that kind of recreation.
I kinda got the hots again when I rode to Omaha one Sunday morning with Bill Jordan and his father-in-law, Merle Leeper.
They brought back a 17 foot boat that seemed so large and heavy on that trailer, that had it not been for my great sea experiences, I would have advised them it would never float.
The real reason I didn't say anything is because I didn't want to walk back to Nebraska City.
Bill and I had a whale of a time with Merle. He was so anxious to get that boat in the water that Bill tromped on the accelerator and I locked the doors as we passed Merritt Beach and crossed the Platte.
The rest of the way home was easy . . . so long as there was no water in the drainage ditches.
Meanwhile back at Johnny Bando's . . . He had a camper rig on the lot last year that was a real jewel. It had a big "B" painted on the side. I don't know if that meant Bando, Beaumont or The Buck Ends Here, but I kicked the tires, bounced in the seats, peeked in all the drawers and sniffled when a buyer took it away.
One of the neatest rigs we've seen is parked at Glen Cohn's home. It's one of those "flip tops" that fold open and out to sleep six or eight.
We borrowed Bus Wymore's tent trailer which is similar to the flip tops and took our family on its first camping trip last summer to Lake Burchard. (We caught a couple fish that Neal Browne missed.)
So, I guess it's fair to assume, that camping equipment has been our latest fever.
And on to the winter camper shows.
"Zowie! Wham bam! Hot dang! Lookit that rig! It's got sleeping gear for six, shower, 'comfort' facilities, will wheel down the road at 60 per and is only lebenty leven hundred dollars."
I got shot down on that one when the chief cook asked:
"Well, can we afford a house and that thing, too?"
Actually, the camper shows are really great. You compliment the people with the displays by taking a few moments to look over their merchandise and pick up a brochure.
The larger shows also have evening entertainment and you should take the whole family. They'll get just as much a bang out of camping equipment as you will the stage shows.
There's more to the shows than camping equipment. Lakeside properties are also displayed in brochures by the well-groomed salesmen and saleswomen behind the counters.
There are also mini-bikes, snowmobiles, the six wheeled vehicles and the new three-wheelers.
At one display, a dealer in camping gear offered "A mini-bike with every sale during the show."
Johnny Bando must be one of the hardest working dealers in this area because we always see him and his equipment in the display areas.
And speaking of displays, he has a map appropriately placed that has each Bando sale broadly marked. It's a pretty good piece of sales display and easily tells his visitors of his sales territory.
There was a time when I had horse fever. Jerry Hall got me started in square dancing and was trying to get me into a saddle.
If you don't know Jerry Hall, you're missing knowing a friend.
And if you know Jerry, then you know his good humor. Well, you can imagine his laughter the first time I mounted his pony. I don't recall whether she was "Molly," "Stinger," or "Chief Sitting Bull With Heap Big Burr Up Back," but I showed off a little, let out a famous Indian war whoop and away we went.
Really, I was in control of the situation all the time. It's just that I hadn't set which time was mine and which time was the pony's.
The pony was nothing like Topsy, the Shetland that transported my three brothers, two sisters and me down in Kansas. Jerry assured me, "Oh, that's Bev's mare and she's as gentle as a cat."
Trouble was he never said whether he meant pussy cat or Bobcat.
Well, to wrap up this tale of truth, I gave up on the "nice horsey," and "whoa," bit and let loose with a few "sons," and the pony seemed to understand . . . of course, that barbed wire fence did help.
Meanwhile, back at the corral, they had to call the rescue squad for Jerry.
Don Chapin said Jerry laughed so hard, he fell off his horse and swallowed his Sears credit card.
Little Bucks
Whatever happened to Dennis Claridge, the Husker quarterback who led Nebraska to an Orange Bowl victory?
The bespectacled quarterback is a dentist and we understand he is or very soon will be associated with Dr. Thomas Ludwig, Lincoln, who has an office above the Federal Savings and Loan building in Nebraska City.
Perhaps one of our favorite football stars will return to Nebraska City occasionally. If he does, you can bet your best pair of boots Garry Ailes will be there to say hello.
This is the address label of the Dayton Arthurs. And it goes without saying, it's a clever promotion for the Arbor Day Centennial.
Theme for the Centennial is "Say Trees Without Smiling."
If you'd like some of these labels, call Mrs. Arthur, 873-6183.
"Say Trees" Mrs. Dayton S. Arthur 1104 5th Avenue Nebraska City, Nb. 68410.