Tripping on Memories

By Sue French-Furey

It was the morning of August 6, 1981, and the staff at Western DuPage Special Recreation Association (WDSRA) and Northern Illinois Special Recreation Association (NISRA) were full of anxiety and lacking sleep. The six staff members were loading three vans with twenty mentally handicapped teens and adults for a ten-day camping trip to the Yellow-stone and Grand Teton National Parks.

This type of programming is an excellent example of the excitement of the field of leisure services. From a fantasy idea way back in January, all the way to the actual trip, none of the staff preparing for it actually realized the feat they were undertaking.

The travel concept in programming began nearly ten years ago with Park Districts providing trips for senior citizens to various places in the United States and Canada. Recently, other special recreation associations have sponsored trips to such places as Disneyland, New Orleans, Florida, and Toronto. But these trips usually had been set up with the assistance of a travel agent, contracting out for hotel and transportation services.

Our trip was developed completely independent of travel agents with the transportation being provided by WDSRA and NISRA staff members in vans owned by the two agencies. We feel it was an exciting and successful program and one we hope to continue in the future.

Many of our "adventurers" had been on vacation with families or friends, but none of them had ever experienced a vacation with their friends and co-workers. Consequently the trip was a totally new learning experience for all.

The trip started in June with a get together weekend at Mirror Lake in the Wisconsin Dells. The weekend consisted of stress challenge activities, which focused on team cooperation and consideration for others. The group also learned camping and cooking skills which would be essential for their survival on the ten-day trip. It was stressed again and again that we would all work together to get chores finished. The outcome in relation to attitudes was what impressed us most. It left us with the feeling that we would have a great bunch to work with.

A hearty and handsome group of adventurers!

Steaming along at Yellowstone Park.

Then came the actual preparation for the trip. With so many other responsibilities such as, the end of day camp, preparing budgets and blurbs for fall programs, etc., I'm sure none of us want to remember the pressure we felt along with the extreme anxiety. And then we were off!!!

We left at 6:00 a.m. and traveled 600 miles each day to get to our first real destination, The Grand Tetons! There was much comaraderie, laughing, singing, and joke telling. Each night we stopped in a private campground, set up camp and prepared our own meals. Not one complaint was made about the hectic schedule we kept. Everyone pitched in and helped in whatever way was necessary.

One of our adventurers who is hearing impaired along with being trainable mentally handicapped was one of our biggest challenges. "Bob" had never been away from his parents in 24 years. His mother had prepared a photo album for him with a picture and number on each page for each day of our trip. Bob did an admirable job, and took eight rolls of pictures, with the hopes of explaining every small part of his trip to parents and friends once he returned home. We had one couple aged 45-50 years old, who have never traveled and were able to come through a scholarship fund provided by Little Friends, Inc.

A lot was learned by both staff and participants. The group, being considered a therapeutic group, was allowed to enter and camp without charge at state and national parks throughout the nation. Parks visited were: Mirror Lake State Park, Wisconsin; Badlands National Park, South Dakota; Mount Rushmore National Monument, South Dakota; Devils Tower

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National Monument, and Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Private campgrounds provided a significantly reduced fee for our group, and made leisure activities available at no charge to us.

One of the most memorable evenings was spent in Interior, South Dakota, when it began raining (pouring) at 1:30 a.m. and continued until 5:00 a.m. In the midst of campers screaming and staff swearing, we were able to take down tents, pack up equipment and vans and head out of the campground by 4:30 a.m. This was after two out of three vans got stuck in a foot of mud. Sleeping bags, campers, and staff were drenched, and there was some apprehension felt by all of us. Fortunately, it became just another challenge to be overcome by our group cohesiveness.

One of the favorite activities of the trip was a horseback ride in the Tetons, followed by a boat cruise on Jackson Lake, The captain of the boat let all of our "experts" drive the boat, and many even got pictures taken with the captain. "Bob" was more interested in getting his picture taken than in the actual steering of the boat!

Many good things came out of the trip. The staff got along fairly well (slightly amazing!). There were only two stops at the hospital emergency rooms and both involved very minor injuries.

Since our return we have had many positive comments about the need for travel programs, both from parent and participant points of view. The two associations are currently planning trips of this kind for the future.

SUE FRENCH-FUREY is the Superintendent of Recreation at the Western DuPage Special Recreation Association in Wheaton. Prior to that, she was employed as a Program Supervisor at WDSRA. Sue received her Bachelors degree in 1978 from the University of Illinois, and is presently the secretary of SRANI (Special Recreation Associations of Northern Illinois).

Other contributors to this article include Tim Furey, Northern Illinois Special Recreation Association, and Cheri Bourbon-Orsi and Patrick Broyne, both of Western DuPage Special Recreation Association.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 37 January/February 1982