I'm feeling nostalgic for my Svea 123. I'm guessing many BWCAers owned one. I owned a couple and used them not only for camping, but all the way through college, as I'd make my hot lunches on campus, even in the winter. They still make the 123 and I might buy one down the road.

Do you share my nostalgia for the 123 or are you nostalgic for another camping item?

I had one, but that was 30 years ago. As I remember, it was finicky, though it did the trick. I also had a Coleman 508 stove which I thought was the greatest stove ever, at the time.... but stove technology sure has come a long way.

When I was in high school, I just slept on the floor of the tent. In college, I carried a big rubber inflatable mattress. As I got only I went to closed-cell foam (also used that in the army), then to a thin Thermorest.... now I have a fairly thick Thermorest. Age requires such adjustments.

Mike

I have one that I fire up once in a while, it's mostly just something to have.

+1 to both responses.

Not nostalgic....I have a Svea 123R

Still have a couple, though I've not fired them up in a long time. The eyedropper that I used to put gas in the well, fossilized a long time ago. Guess I could borrow a plastic syringe from the pet box...
I don't know if it's nostalgia, but I feel some regret when I look at my fishing gear... doesn't get used enough!

Not nostalgic. I had one in the 80's. Too finicky and heavy to use now. I like my MSR stoves.

I have the original one I bought in 1977. Still works fine. It is so simple you have to try to screw it up.

I now use an alcohol stove on solo trips, but I take the Svea when with companions. Every time I use it I can see myself and my friends backpacking out west with it as 20 somethings.

Yes, nostalgia is a good thing!

Yup, 1st stove I bought in 1976 with the Sigg Tourister windscreen and cook kit. Had it until the mid '90's when brother-in-law lost it. Feeling nostalgic, I bought a new/used one about 3-4 years ago. Love my Svea 123.

I was surprised when I saw mine still around. I got a peak one that I thought was a better stove for my needs. In my later years it was the dragon fly. But if I had to do it all over, a good stick stove would be the bomb.

So, are you nostalgic for any other items?

I miss Pringles. When they were introduced, you could finally take potato chips on a camping trip because of the protective can. They're still around, of course, but I'm older and can't eat all the oil and salt I want anymore.

I also miss freeze-dried ice cream. It was so cool putting that crunchy, chalky brick into your mouth and having it dissolve into ice cream. It's still on the market too, but due to lactose intolerance, I like dairy much more than it likes me.

I also miss the utter lack of electronics. Keeping my electronics charged has become one more thing to do. Yes, the electronics are nice, but they certainly aren't necessary as most of us once camped without them.

I even miss Royalex canoes. You'd hit a rock and check to make sure the rock was okay. Kevlar rocks a portage, but it's a little baby foo-foo when it runs into a rock.

We paddled 13 miles of the Fox River here in IL two weeks ago.
In our royalex canoe we had pringles, gorp, and beer.
Man, that royalex is way too heavy to carry anymore.
We used to just throw that 80 lbs up on our shoulders and go.
The ol' knees won't take that anymore. :(

I miss my Eureka Timberlite3 tent. I still have it, but the zipper is fried. I would love to get that fixed and go back to it.
On the subject of Pringles, does the world really need sixteen different varieties? Once in a while I will get a sleeve, I think it is the salt. Kind of like the punk rock of potato chips. Basic, and fulfills some kind of primal need. May be that's a stretch, but I'm not going for sour cream and onion on my Pringle. Which brings another thing to mind. Twizzlers were buy one get one at Walgreens so I went for it. One red, one black licorice. I got home and the black package was chocalate! I noticed it right before I was going to take a bite. I couldn't do it. Chocalate twizzlers. Grossed me out. Threw the whole package away. Chocalate twizzlers... Who the heck came up with that idea...

Back in the early 1970's I used a Pringles container to make a Bong to smoke stuff out of. A rectangular postage stamp sized hole was cut into the side near the bottom and lined with tinfoil creating a depression. Then small pins holes were poked into it. To complete the project a 1/4" hole that severed as a carburetor was poked into the bottom.

KIDS! Don't try to make one of these at home! I was immature and making bad choices back then and couldn't afford to buy a real water Bong. Please purchase Bongs only from authorized medical marijuana dealers.

I miss the days when I'd go to Quetico knowing there was no 2 way communication with the civilized world. Now people can text and even talk on their phones in certain areas. Takes some of the magic out of it for me. Btw I don't take a phone but a spot locator.

quote Zulu: "Back in the early 1970's I used a Pringles container to make a Bong to smoke stuff out of. A rectangular postage stamp sized hole was cut into the side near the bottom and lined with tinfoil creating a depression. Then small pins holes were poked into it. To complete the project a 1/4" hole that severed as a carburetor was poked into the bottom.


KIDS! Don't try to make one of these at home! I was immature and making bad choices back then and couldn't afford to buy a real water Bong. Please purchase Bongs only from authorized medical marijuana dealers. "

Funny! So why exactly shouldn't kids make Pringles bongs?

quote jcavenagh: "We paddled 13 miles of the Fox River here in IL two weeks ago.
In our royalex canoe we had pringles, gorp, and beer.
Man, that royalex is way too heavy to carry anymore.
We used to just throw that 80 lbs up on our shoulders and go.
The ol' knees won't take that anymore. :(
"

Old school! Did you go shirtless and wear cutoff jeans and tennis shoes with socks too?

Loved my 25 pound 6 man tent we used to take. Now go lighter. I loaned the tent to my son a couple of years ago or so. Hope he never returns it.

quote scat: "I miss my Eureka Timberlite3 tent. I still have it, but the zipper is fried. I would love to get that fixed and go back to it.
"

Scat,
I have the same tent and the Zipper also got fried.
I simply took my tent to a place that sews boat canvass covers, and seats, Ect.
They cut out the old zipper and re-sewed a brand new much tougher zipper in my tent for around 40 bucks. I have since taken another tent to them for zipper replacement.

Quote Missmolly: Funny! So why exactly shouldn't kids make Pringles bongs? "

I'm afraid kids may cut themselves with the carpet knife or poke their eye out with the awl when making it.

quote Zulu: "Quote Missmolly: Funny! So why exactly shouldn't kids make Pringles bongs? "

I'm afraid kids may cut themselves with the carpet knife or poke their eye out with the awl when making it."

Ah, I imagined it bursting into flames, but one would think a Pringles bong might kill two birds with stone, both making one high and curing the munchies craving.

We emptied the Pringles container into a salad bowl while we crafted the Pipe. Then after using it the chips were ready to satisfy the impending crave or to insert a couple into your mouth to look like a duck bill. It was silly but it was better than sniffing model airplane glue like the less enlightened kids did back then.

quote missmolly: "

quote jcavenagh: "We paddled 13 miles of the Fox River here in IL two weeks ago.
In our royalex canoe we had pringles, gorp, and beer.
Man, that royalex is way too heavy to carry anymore.
We used to just throw that 80 lbs up on our shoulders and go.
The ol' knees won't take that anymore. :(
"

Old school! Did you go shirtless and wear cutoff jeans and tennis shoes with socks too?"

Now, let's not get carried away...... I just might have looked like that in '78, but SWMBO won't allow me out of the house in such garb these days! :)

I will make no comment about bhongs, ere we used to spell it ...

#4 Duluth packs.....

I thought it was a good idea to put a half dozen or so eggs in a Pringle sleeve on a trip with my son. They got scrambled. He wasn't having it. Bad idea.

Pringles are okay. I will still binge on a can of them every now and then.

Does anyone else remember Pate's Cheddar Chips? I used to get them at K-Mart in Dubuque IA. They came in a bag about the size of a pillow case. My fingers would be orange for a couple of days after eating those things.

Nostalgia... Nice one. Does anybody remember when bugles first came out, there were bugles and coronets. I can still hear the jingle. Coronets got phased out quick, but bugles are still there, now with the same sixteen varieties Pringles come in. Which are all nasty.

I remember when Bugles first came out. I thought they looked like Cornucopias or old fashioned hearing aids. Marketing probably rejected those names. I only got to eat them at my neighbors house. My parents were traditional and only bought the locally made potato chips from Old Dutch. They were saltier and greasier than most.

They did buy us Fritos Corn Chips in single serving packages which I liked though. I remember a promotion where they included a pencil eraser of The Frito Bandito when buying a package of six. He was a mustachioed Hispanic cartoon spokesman who sang a catchy song. He wore a Mexican hat, a double ammunition bandolier and six shooter guns. He shot off the guns and threatened to take the Fritos from you because he loved them.
He would be deported by INS if he tried that now days.

I can still remember the song he sang.....Aii Yii Yii Yii I am the the Frito Bandito...........

Bongs and munchies...gotta love it...

I still have the Svea 123 and Optimus 8R that I bought in 1973 and use them once in a while when I car camp. I also fire them up in the kitchen every now and then just to enjoy seeing them work. They are the best for simplicity and functionality. I love mine and would never get rid of them.

quote QueticoMike: "#4 Duluth packs..... "

I still use and LOVE. I think it is awesome and don't understand what could possibly work better . . . especially for light bulky gear.

Ever better with the tump.

I had a Frito Bandito eraser. It didn't work as an eraser, but it did look cool on the end of a pencil. I remember the song like this:

Aye aye ayie
I am the Frito Bandito
I love Fritos corn chips
I love them I do
I love Fritos corn chips
I take them from you

I can only hope your short term memory is as good as your long term memory(s).

Nothing, really, save real music created by people who could play instruments and sang songs that did not debase women nor police officers.

quote missmolly: "

quote Zulu: "Quote Missmolly: Funny! So why exactly shouldn't kids make Pringles bongs? "

I'm afraid kids may cut themselves with the carpet knife or poke their eye out with the awl when making it."

Ah, I imagined it bursting into flames, but one would think a Pringles bong might kill two birds with stone, both making one high and curing the munchies craving. "
"Oh, my! Who will protect the children?"

Styles I like to talk about, when I get nostalgic, involve Levis jeans.

One style, in the late 1950s, involved washing your pants once, putting a tiny half-inch cuff on them and dry-cleaning them thereafter. That's what the cool kids wore. My parents would never have bought me jeans that were priced so high when compared to Penny's jeans, so I never wore them and I was never cool. My father would have fallen over laughing if I dared tell him that my jeans would need to be dry-cleaned. I did admire, and envy, the cool kids, though.

We were simple hill folk living with the sasquatch in Trinity County (California). New styles were often slow to reach us. I remember the cool kids being surprised when a city-slicker from LA, Larry Lane, arrived wearing the truly current style. Larry's pants had never been washed, just dry-cleaned. The bottoms of the pant legs were tucked up the insides of the legs.
To the cool kid's credit, they did not immediately jump on board with the different look. City-slickers were not admired by the other guys.

I don't believe that high outside cuffs became cool on Levis until John Wayne wore them.

Then, of course, the correct color Converse tennis shoes had to accessorize your Levis. I think in 1957 it was white. A couple of years later, it was black. Then, back to white.

Oh yeah, I do miss Big Foot lurking around too.

quote Jeriatric: "Styles I like to talk about, when I get nostalgic, involve Levis jeans.
One style, in the late 1950s, involved washing your pants once, putting a tiny half-inch cuff on them and dry-cleaning them thereafter. That's what the cool kids wore. My parents would never have bought me jeans that were priced so high when compared to Penny's jeans, so I never wore them and I was never cool. My father would have fallen over laughing if I dared tell him that my jeans would need to be dry-cleaned. I did admire, and envy, the cool kids, though.
We were simple hill folk living with the sasquatch in Trinity County (California). New styles were often slow to reach us. I remember the cool kids being surprised when a city-slicker from LA, Larry Lane, arrived wearing the truly current style. Larry's pants had never been washed, just dry-cleaned. The bottoms of the pant legs were tucked up the insides of the legs.
To the cool kid's credit, they did not immediately jump on board with the different look. City-slickers were not admired by the other guys.
I don't believe that high outside cuffs became cool on Levis until John Wayne wore them.
Then, of course, the correct color Converse tennis shoes had to accessorize your Levis. I think in 1957 it was white. A couple of years later, it was black. Then, back to white.
Oh yeah, I do miss Big Foot lurking around too."

You reminded me of when I was a kid and my cousins from StL called me a "Hick" because I wore jeans all the time (LOL)! A few years later, blue jeans were "In Style" and have been ever since; go figure (LOL)!

Levis were the gig back in the day. Bell bottoms, then straight legs. Had to have a red tag on the pocket to be the real deal.
I miss my black Schwinn Racer. Best bike ever made. It had one gear, but it didn't need any more because one gear was perfect. I still say my greatest athletic achievement was the time I rode my Racer all the way no handed from my parents house to the Rolling Green Country Club to go caddying. (Hated caddying). I started with my hands at the top of the garage door opening and made it all the way, bumped over the bike rack by the caddy shack and kicked down the kickstand and got off the bike completely no handed. I had tried this a handful of times before, the key was to get no traffic on Rand Rd. That would make you grab the handlebars. This time I got lucky, and perfection was mine. How sweet it was. Great bike. I'd like to find one just for fun.
I later bought a ten speed of course, but it just wasn't as cool as my black Schwinn Racer. First semester I got back from college one of my brothers had gotten my beloved Racer stolen and my other brother had my ten speed in pieces. Stupid little brothers. They never bought their own bikes...

quote Jeriatric: "Styles I like to talk about, when I get nostalgic, ...Then, of course, the correct color Converse tennis shoes had to accessorize your Levis. I think in 1957 it was white. A couple of years later, it was black. Then, back to white."

Oh, yeah! We could get our gym shoes in all the colors...black AND white! (:-0

quote jcavenagh: "

quote missmolly: "

quote Zulu: "Quote Missmolly: Funny! So why exactly shouldn't kids make Pringles bongs? "

I'm afraid kids may cut themselves with the carpet knife or poke their eye out with the awl when making it."

Ah, I imagined it bursting into flames, but one would think a Pringles bong might kill two birds with stone, both making one high and curing the munchies craving. "

"Oh, my! Who will protect the children?" "

One summer, a long long time ago, me and a buddy were in Montana visiting his older brother. He drank Coors, so those those skinnier cans fit perfect into the Pringles cans. So we punched a hole at the bottom of the Pringles can and put gun powder in it, followed by a Coors can. Then we rolled wicks with toilet paper and gun powder and made a Pringles\Coors cannon. Please do not attempt this at home :)

I had a pair of red ones once. Hightops always. We didn't call them tennis shoes. Basketball shoes. Chuck Taylors.
Did I say I hated caddying? Every minute of it. But I do have stories. One being the time me and another punk decided to duke it out. So we marched right out the front gate of the RGCC on the side of the aforementioned Rand Rd. and started at it. A guy in a black caddy pulls up, on his way in to the club, and yells, hey stop it!, which we did, till he pulled in the gate then we went right back at it. One guy from my grade school came with us, and he told me I won the fight, but I remember at the time I wasn't so sure about that. I was probably about eighty pounds soaking wet at the time, but never afraid of a bloody nose... Cheers.

I miss the fine wine popular in the early 1970's. Boones Farm Stawberry Hill was my favorite. A bottle of Ripple was acceptable if that was all the High School Seniors were selling. I liked the texture on the Ripple Bottle. The Seniors had cases of wine in their trunks and would sell it to us Freshman for $1.25 a bottle. Strawberry Hill had a marvelous bouquet and you could taste the flavor of the California soil as you vomited it back up. Excedrin headache #12 would greet you in the morning. I graduated to Colt 45 Malt Liquor soon after. I hated MD2020.

Zulu, you're on a roll. Some nice memories of the 70s now floating around in my head. The ones I think I remember, anyway. You got that Pringles bong working again?

quote schweady: "Zulu, you're on a roll. Some nice memories of the 70s now floating around in my head. The ones I think I remember, anyway. You got that Pringles bong working again?
"

Schweady, No more Pringles or Boones Farm for me! A 30 day stint at St. Mary's Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Program in Minneapolis in 1990 put an end to all that hopefully for good. But a guys still got the memories or thinks he does!

Hi my name is Zulu. I'm a drug addict and alcoholic.

quote Zulu: "...a guys still got the memories or thinks he does!..."

Good on ya, Patrick! I hope to run into you again sometime. You do remember that we have met in the past, right? :-)

quote schweady: "

quote Zulu: "...a guys still got the memories or thinks he does!..."

Good on ya, Patrick! I hope to run into you again sometime. You do remember that we have met in the past, right? :-)
"

Yes I remember the times we met clearly Schweady! Nina Moose river Portage and steak house!

quote Zulu: "

quote schweady: "

quote Zulu: "...a guys still got the memories or thinks he does!..."

Good on ya, Patrick! I hope to run into you again sometime. You do remember that we have met in the past, right? :-)
"

Yes I remember the times we met clearly Schweady! Nina Moose river Portage and steak house! "

You pass. Here's to the past 27 years of good times! :-)

Old holy moss tent. Can't throw it away.

Little hairy troll stuff: erasers, key chains, rear view mirror hangers etc.

From straight leg Levi's to bell bottoms to painters pants, bibs, back to straight legs.

Fuzzy dice and squirrel tails for your car.

Coleman dome tent heaters and metal coolers and kero lanterns

Small pot -belly black kero heaters that put stars on the ceiling

Rear shackle leaf spring lifts , thrush mufflers, and cheater slicks

Cig pack rolled up in a tee shirt sleeve

Engineer railroad caps everywhere there were old men
Canvas tent of course


Wide leather watch bands,wide belts and harness boots

"Wide Oval" white letter tires

Cigarette commercials and billboards

Edsel's, Nash Metropolitan, Corvairs, Falcons, etc....

Big station wagons with luggage racks and rear bumpers near dragging the roads
I could go on forever; thanks for this thread MM

Bean bag chairs, lava lamps, earth shoes, pet rocks, Johnathon Livingston Seagull, home based CB radios, Tiny Tim tiptoeing through the tulips...
Nostalgia, gotta luv it.

i still have my optimus 8r stove that i bought back in 74 for $24. Its been everywhere with me including canoe country. It's heavy than other modern stoves, sometime be a bit snarky to get going....but I take it and carry it without a thought. Love the roar of the "afterburner" in full go mode!
I will be going back to canoe country a few more times and I will be bringing my old friend along with me....

Sounds like Zulu's youth and mine were running down a similar road (except for the rehab part). Swinging the world by the tail.