GEORGIA, Vt. (AP) – It’s little wonder it took more than half a century for Marguerite Daunt, age 100, to try her hand at camping one more time.

About 60 years ago, Daunt took her stepson and his buddy camping one night at Spofford Lake, near Brattleboro. “I went just to satisfy the kids,” she said.

In the middle of the night, with the boys sleeping in one tent and Daunt in her own, she awoke to a “poke in the back.” It was just a joke from the landowner, but it was enough to scare the daylights out of Daunt – and keep her sleeping inside and above ground for decades and decades to come.

Daunt, who will turn 101 in October, told this story recently at a picnic table at Homestead Campgrounds, a camping area in Georgia with 165 camping spots. At this campground, less than half a mile from Interstate-89, camping sites are situated side-by-side, creemees and mini-golf are just across U.S. Route 7, and the gas station is a stone’s throw away.

At site No. 40, near the parking lot and a short walk from the pool, Daunt spent five days in the great outdoors. She was on vacation with the Robair family of Milton, with whom she lives. She ate a chocolate bar-less smores by the campfire and dangled her feet in the pool wearing her hot-pink tankini. Mostly, she sat at the picnic table and read her Danielle Steele novel and chatted with the Robairs.

“I only wish it were longer,” she said of the trip that ended Aug. 5.

On this camping trip, Daunt was in no danger of another poke in the back: She slept in a double bed at the head of the camper, a door separating her from the others who also bunked in the camper. Even Larry Robair, a mere 39, kept his back off the ground. He had a cot in the tent that he shared with his two sons.

“We’re more than tickled that she came with us,” said Robair, who, in working life, delivers bulk carbon dioxide to area businesses.

Daunt has lived with the Robairs for almost two years. She’s like a family member, everyone agrees. Daunt and Melissa Robair met at the assisted-living facility where Daunt used to live and Melissa Robair used to work. When it became clear that Daunt’s living situation had to change, the Robairs asked Daunt if she’d like to move in with them.

“Melissa made a promise to her,” Larry Robair said. “She told her: I’ll take care of you until you die.”‘

When the Robairs were planning their summer vacation, Daunt said she’d like to join them. So the family planned a camping trip that was doable and convenient for Daunt: A place close to home, a camper equipped with a kitchen but steps away from an outdoor fire for grilling steaks and a bathroom with wheelchair access.

And for the kids: A pool, a playground, bumper boats and go-karts across the street, a nearby store for an afternoon snack of Milk Duds and ice cream.

And chitchats around the picnic table with Daunt, as she puffed on her Marlboro Light.

“She doesn’t seem like an 100-year-old,” said Ricky Robair, 13. “She acts, like, 80. We have many good times. She has really good stories.”

One of Ricky’s favorites is about the time Daunt, just a teenager, wanted to play field hockey. But she had dishes still to wash from the family supper. So she hid the dirty dishes under the ice box.

Growing up in Nova Scotia, where Daunt was raised, was a bit like camping, she said. She and her family, including six siblings, had an outhouse. For toilet paper, they used the pages of the Sears and Roebuck catalog. This is one story that makes Ricky just shake his head.

The fresh air felt fine, Daunt said one afternoon. She announced that she liked “everything” about camping. Larry Robair, watching the traffic pass on U.S. 7, said he wished he could be “farther out in the woods.” But for this family vacation, with a 100-year-old along for the ride, that wasn’t possible.

Daunt was ready for her afternoon nap. Melissa Robair and her niece transferred Daunt from a wheelchair to a kitchen chair. They hoisted Daunt up and carried her, in the chair, up four steps and into the camper. As Melissa Robair helped her into bed, Daunt remarked: “I wonder how I ever got this old.”