MY MEMORIES

Charles Glenn Petersen

First Summer

The first summer of this new educational adventure, I lived in our fold-out camper in a campground about 10 miles from Ames, Iowa. The campsite had no water and no electricty. The camper had a small ice box and I had a Coleman stove and lantern. There was a toilet and a shower facility near my campsite. After making my own breakfast in the camper I would spend all day on campus taking classes and studying. Once back in the campground in the late afternoon I would go for a jog in the park, then fix dinner in the camper using my stove, then study in the evening by the light on my gas lantern until bedtime.

On Friday afternoon I would take the camper to a former Ames Lab colleague's home for the weekend, then drive back home to Maryville, Missouri. On early Monday morning I would drive back to Ames, Iowa, attend classes during the day, pick up the camper and set it up again in the campground. This is the routine I followed all summer long.

The summer semester at Iowa State University was set up as two 6-week sessions. I took 9 credit hours of classes during the first session and 6 during the second session.

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