Countywide : Some Will Camp Out to Celebrate the Holiday

Lee Stevenson had hoped to bag his first wild turkey this week while hunting in the Arizona mountains, but he’ll have to settle for store-bought turkey thighs cooked on a campground barbecue.

The 66-year-old retired bartender and security guard is one of a handful of people who will spend Thanksgiving at O’Neill Regional Park.

Some are there by choice, looking for a break from urban life. Others are there because it’s inexpensive and they don’t have a home.

“It’s the cheapest rent you can get,” said Richard Nigh, a 65-year-old former clamp operator at an Orange County paper factory, who once lived in a house in Anaheim but now resides in a camper shell on the back of pickup truck.

This will be Nigh’s 12th Thanksgiving spent at a county campground, but he is hardly one to complain.

“I love it,” Nigh said. “You wouldn’t get me back to a house or an apartment for all the money in the world. I’ve learned that the best things in life are free. Just look at the scenery.”

Nigh plans to cook a five-pound turkey roast and all the trimmings for himself and a nephew, who lives in a camper behind a small shopping center in Trabuco Canyon.

Stevenson, a Venice native who once mixed drinks at the Hilltop Supper Club in Long Beach, said he doesn’t mind being alone on a day when families traditionally gather in large numbers.

Since 1981, Stevenson has been tooling around Southern California and Arizona in search of good campgrounds and gold. He prospects as a hobby, and has never been married. He sold his mobile home in Huntington Beach before adopting his more nomadic ways. His motor home has 152,000 miles on it.

“Have you ever heard of that song, ‘On the Road Again’?” Stevenson asked. “That’s me.”

For Stevenson, memories of past Thanksgivings are much the same as other days during the 24 years he toiled as a bartender.

“I’ve worked so many holidays, it’s just another day for me,” he said, chuckling.

Farther down the trail on Wednesday afternoon, Sue and Dwight McConnell of Anaheim were settling into their temporary spot for their family’s 4th annual Thanksgiving away from the house.

The couple expects to put a 22-pound turkey on the table for about 20 friends and family members, including seven grandchildren ranging in age from 6 months to 9 years.

“After doing all the traditional things at home, we said one year, ‘Let’s go camping--break tradition,’ ” said Dwight McConnell, a 48-year-old utilities supervisor at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard.

“It’s peaceful and quiet,” said Sue McConnell, a 51-year-old homemaker. “We thought we’d be like the Pilgrims when we first started--be outside and cook.”

But their first venture into the woods near Cajon Pass a few years ago turned into more than they anticipated: It snowed the day after Thanksgiving.

Dave Avalos, a friend who was cooking a steak that day, thought the snowflakes were ashes from a nearby campfire.

On that first trip, the McConnells and their friends also gave food and clothing to an elderly couple who were homeless and sleeping in their car, Sue McConnell recalled.

“They were so thankful,” she said. “I get goose bumps thinking about it. That was a very special Thanksgiving.”