Caravan was a major part of my life for 21 summers (1971-1991) and it really pleases me to know that people still have vivid memories of their trips. I am constantly meeting adults who tell me how important their Caravan trips were to them 10-20-30 years ago. It has been interesting for me to see how people who I first knew as Caravaneers have become wonderful adults, friends, parents of kids in my class, thriving in whatever they are doing and, yet, still consider their Caravan trips to have been one of the best times of their lives.

It has amazed me how many times people ask "Do you remember what happened at the Grand Canyon/Banff/Tiger Stadium/Disneyland/the buffalo field/Holbrook/North Platte/St. Louis/the concert/Ogalala/the ballgame/Winnipeg/Pither's Point Park in Fort Francis/Phoenix/river rafting/Gray's Ranch in Oklahoma/Anadarko/the play/Vancouver/the ballgame/the hotel/Chicago/at the banquet/that day when....etc.?" and then talk about the incidents as if they had happened only yesterday. I have also heard some interesting confessions about things that happened on trips that I did not (thankfully) know about.

I enjoyed reading your memories of the August 1981 trip and the response from Eric (for whom "Goody Bags" and "Effingham" will have special meanings). It's amazing what people remember and what memories they want to share.

Caravan first started as a program at the Y.M.-Y.W.H.A. in Toronto after I came up from New York City in 1970 to work as the Teen Director at the Y. Marty Park, who was the Program Director who hired me, had known of teen travel camps being run by Jewish Community Centers throughout the United States and wanted to try such a program in Toronto. Camp Caravan was to be part of my job assignment starting in the Summer of 1971. For that first summer we originally offered a 15 day cross-Canada trip and a one week houseboat trip through the canal systems of Southern Ontario. This seemed like a good idea to a transplanted New Yorker who knew next to nothing about Canada having only been to Montreal for Expo 67 (and later an Expos game) and to Toronto to visit friends he had met at the Newport Folk Festival in 1960. It seemed like a good idea UNTIL I looked at maps and realized how big Canada really was. The initial 15 day trip was expanded into a 20 day trip which made it a little more realistic but still involved a lot of traveling(and a Winnipeg Whips Triple A baseball game).

Between 1971 and 1977, Camp Caravan alternated between offering Western Canada, Eastern Canada, Florida and New Orleans-Texas trips. In the mid-70s we offered our August trips in conjunction with the Cleveland Jewish Community Center and had a number of Clevelanders join us who would later be an important part of the next stage of Caravan. In 1977 I resigned from the "Y" where I was now the Group Work Supervisor, Teen Director and Director of Camp Caravan in order to operate George Auerbach's Teen Caravan.

In 1978 a bunch of people who had been on the Camp Caravan trips decided to "Come Along With George" for the beginning of what was to become 14 years of George Auerbach's Teen Caravan. These years produced lots of great trips with even more great memories for a lot of great people. Caravaneers came from all across Canada, the United States and the world and we wound up traveling through 9 provinces, 42 states and 16 countries over the years. In addition to the California and Western Canada trips, we also had some fantastic Europe trips and Baseball Caravans. Caravan was truly an amazing program and I am extremely proud of the trips which we ran. Although the last Caravan trip was the Summer of 1991 the memories of the trip are still very much alive for many of the Caravaneers. It would be great to have a website for people to most their memories, give updates on their lives and re-establish contacts.

Life has been filled since the end of Caravan. I have been teaching elementary school children in Grades 4-6 in Thornhill since 1991. Monica (who was a counsellor in 1973, 74 and 75 and who was "The Office" for the 14 summers that I was traveling around the country with busloads of teenagers) and I have been married since 1978. My son, Gary (Western Trip) was the 1995 World Freestyle Frisbee Champion in 1995. He now operates Spinning Bees Frisbee Education and Entertainment Clinics out of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and can be reached by anyone who has connections to schools or camps at www.spinningbees.com . My daughter, Jessica, who took her first steps when I was away on the first Caravan trip, went on both a California Trip and a Europe Trip as a camper, and was a counsellor on the final Caravan trip, graduated from Brock University and is now living in Orlando, Florida. Our daughter, Julie, who was born soon after the August, 1981 trip did manage to spend time in Arizona on the final California Trip, went west on a teen travel camp operated by Green Acres Day Camp and is now a singer/songwriter who is about to enter her last year at the University of Guelph. Monica and I continue to camp as we travel all over the continent going to Folk Festivals (and, of course, baseball games). We do still see many people who we first knew through Caravan and they will always remain an important part of our lives. It's funny how as the years go by, the differences in age become less and less.

I really enjoyed looking at your site and thank you for posting it.
-George

BIO:

Graduated from York University - 1990
Married 10 years, two daughters (ages 4 yrs & 18 months)
Work as an IT consultant for IBM
Still live in Toronto
Hobbies: still lifting weights - after 20 years (although not in the shape I once was); You'll get a kick out of this one. I recently took up the guitar (2 years ago) and am playing a few tunes. Just bought myself a Fender Stratocaster this summer (Rock on!) I found myself thinking of you and Michelle when I'm at the cottage strumin' my six string.

Todd Shulman