RE: First solo outing - my story....

JemJen24 · Sep 28, 2003, 07:05 PM

Ok, I had my first " I am woman hear me roar outing" this week. I left Thursday afternoon for Cedar Hill SP and stayed until Saturday morning.

Sooo..here s my experience as a whole...

Thursday.....
Made a mad rush home from work, grabbed everything and loaded it up, grab the dogs, don t forget leashes, back Jeep to trailer, hook everything up, double check...ready to go. Stop to get gas and some sunflower seeds at the gas station and WE RE OFF!

Get to camp site (wow, it s nice going on a Thursday...hardly anyone there and I got a GREAT site!). Set up camper, take dogs for walk, eat something light, make fire and RELAX! Think to myself " YOU MADE IT!" [&:]

FRIDAY ....
Wake up at 3:00 a.m. ...thinking....bRRRRR...it s frickin COLD in here. Want to turn heater on, but hate to get out of sleeping bag. Lay there a while longer hoping to drift back to sleep, but eventually give up, get up, and dig the heater out. Plug it in, turn it on full oscilating heat, sigh, go back to bed. Wake up at 5:00 a.m. WHEW...it s HOT in here! Get up, turn heater down, go back to bed.

Wake up at 5:35 to the loud noise of neighboring camper jump starting his Diesel Pick up Truck. It s ok, I m sure he ll leave in a sec . Wait.....wait......tick tock tick tock.....TEN minutes later, he finally leaves! [:@] Can t go back to sleep so I get up, fumble around, go take my shower, eat breakfast...life is good. Gorgeous weather...sunny.....warm.....80 degrees! Take a multitude of walks, read a book, and fish. See a spider in the camper and kill it myself. " ROAR" !!!![&:]

Saturday...
Wake up from fear that MR. Diesel is going to make me jump out of my skin again...nope...not this morning...he must ve seen the GLARE I gave him the night before. Get up...shower...eat breakfast...take dogs for a quick walk...get back to campsite and start to take it down. My other camping neighbors (got there the night before) have NO TENT and NO CAMPER. They are actually sleeping OUTSIDE on those swimming pool lawn chair recliners. HEy, more power to em!

Almost got everything loaded and the camper put together when neighbor s big white dog starts saundering into my site. [:@] They start calling his name, he doesn t listen. I stare at him. I know my two are securely tied onto their tie-outs. He inches closer and Cush goes up towards him. Pharaoh stares. They re still calling his name, and I wait for the owner to grab him. They know I have two dogs, surely they ll grab him. WRONG....he walks up tp Pharaoh and, needless to sya, immidiatley runs away from Pharaoh as he realizes Pharaoh is not the dog lover that Cush is. [&:]

Owners hear the commotion, call him again, he pees at the edge of our camp site. He realizes that my dogs are tied and inches closer, taunting them. He doesn t, however, realize that Pharaoh is just standing still, but has slack to go. HE gets too close, bares his teeth at Cush, and Pharaoh jumps him again. [

] I finally yell at the people to " PLEASE GET THEIR DOG" ...the lady waddles over, mumbles an appology, scolds her dog (yeah, it s HIS fault, righ!) and goes back to her campsite. My two lay back down and go to sleep as I finish packing. I think to myself, " IDIOTS!" [:@]

I load the dogs into the Jeep and now comes the hardest part. I have to hook it up. Back JEep up to Camper....too far...inch closer...too much to the left...back up...back in....too much to right....this process continues for about 5 to 10 minutes. I am about to lose my cool, take a drink of water, relax...try again. MADE IT! Hook up...and I" m on my way.

Get home, hubby backs trailer...then calls me out to camper. Although I correctly attached everything, I did, however, not realize that there was one more cable I needed to connect for the trailer lights. I realize, to my horror, that I ve been driving without lights for this entire time. [

] Oh well, leason learned. Not bad for being the only mistake.

Go back in the house, and start to do a mountain of clothes, dogs are pooped and sleeping.

Overall...a VERY relaxing and enjoyable two days.

J. [

]

Kelly · Apr 12, 2003, 12:52 PM

JemJen24[font=" comic sans ms" ]Congratulatons and Welcome Back!!
Sounds like everything went very well for you.
When s your next outing? [

]
Someday I hope to take my girls out and teach them how to ROAR, too!! [

][/font]

CampinCrazy · Apr 12, 2003, 12:58 PM

JemJen24Good job, Jen! I would roar back, but the little guy is sick and the big guy is off at the track for some Motorcross thing this weekend. meow.

Starcraft Dad · Apr 12, 2003, 03:12 PM

JemJen24Well good going Jen. Glad to see you made it and had a good time. But 0n the other hand. I myself would have been screaming like a little school girl when I found the spider. I have a phobia of spiders that I have tried to get rid of for years. I would have to have called the DW to come and kill it. Ah heck, I can hear the laughter now. Of course my kids think it s funny so now they own evry spider movie ever made.

So it goes to show ya that a women can do whatever she puts her mind to. While some of us big, strong men (well some of us men anyway) have problems with the little things.[:@]

camperkam · Apr 12, 2003, 11:51 PM

JemJen24Bravo! That is my dream, some day, but I doubt it will ever be a reality. I am going in two week with 3 other women but DH will pull pu there and pick up. I m just a big chicken. I will probably just meow for now hoping someday to ROAR.
Way to go!!!!!

Kathy

Trlrboy · Apr 12, 2003, 11:51 PM

JemJen24Where were you when I was single and out runnin around?

Opie431 · Apr 13, 2003, 07:02 AM

JemJen24We use blankets instead of sleeping bags and have an electric blanket so we never wake up cold, at least not in those places we have electricity. If you place a small electric heater within arms reach of your bed you can turn the heat up in the morning and not have to get up until it is warm enough to turn the furnace up. We have ours on an extra extension cord that we run under the tenting because we also have a TV and a microwave in our PU. If your memory is good enough tso you do not try to have all three on at once you do not need the extra cord,

JemJen24 · Apr 13, 2003, 08:55 AM

JemJen24LOL LOL...you guys crack me up!

Ok ...to answer some of the questions....

1. My next trip is scheduled for this weekend at Cooper Lake SP with some really nice folks. This time, I m taking the sister in law along. ROAR

2. A lot of people have spider phobias. My sis-in-law has snake phobia. Though I know a lot of people who would " freak" when seing a spider.

3. Bob, I was propably in kindergarden. LOL (wink wink...nudge nudge)

To the woman who said she s a chicken and has her hubby take it and pick it up...I have these words of advice. Have him show you how to drive it, back it in, set it up, take it down, and hook it back up. I guarantee you you ll be able to do it yourself. Maybe not as quickly and carefree, and YES you will worry the entire time, but you WILL get more comfortable and self assured over time. In the absolute worst case scenario, you can always ask a neighboring camp for help or call hubby for assistance.

You go girl! ROAR....ROOOOAAARRR

Starryart · Apr 13, 2003, 10:57 PM

JemJen24Good for you Jen!
There is no reason women can t PU on their own. I too can hitch up, drive, pop up, take down, hook back up again and take it home without DH. It is nice to be able to take care of things on your own.
You go girl!!![

]

CathyAnn · Apr 13, 2003, 11:56 PM

JemJen24Way to go, Jen!!!

I don t think I d fare to well out there with just my pup. For one, I get a complex if I am talking to something that doesn t answer me back, and 2, Robs body heat on those cool nights is worth a million bucks. Well, almost. [

] <wink wink>

See ya at Cooper Lake.
CathyAnn

JemJen24 · Apr 14, 2003, 06:01 AM

JemJen24Willard produces soooo much body heat, it nearly sweats me out of the camper! whew!

LOL

See ya this week!!!! [

]

sandykayak · Apr 14, 2003, 11:16 AM

JemJen24

QuoteI m just a big chicken. I will probably just meow for now hoping someday to ROAR

Kathy, you have the perfect opportunity (with other women who won t shout at you if you screw up[

] to cease being a PU virgin[

] I DARE YOU[

]

sandykayak · Apr 14, 2003, 11:19 AM

JemJen24Jen, check out this thread...thanks to someone s suggestion, I ve ordered the tiltable mirror that attaches to the TV s read windshield with suction caps....will try it out on Friday - assuming it arrives in time. I ll post a report next week.

http://www.popuptimes.com/members/tm.asp?m=21573&p=1&tmode=1

Camping Coxes · Apr 16, 2003, 10:57 PM

Starryart

Quotetoo can hitch up, drive, pop up, take down, hook back up again and take it home without DH. It is nice to be able to take care of things on your own.

First of all, Jen, you go girl! You re a braver woman than I. Plus I d be bored all by myself. I need people around.

In response to being able to do it yourself -- we went camping with another family and the wife, who I consider a real girly-girl compared to my tomboy self, was doing all the " hardware" stuff on the trailer before her DH even shut down the motor to unhook the trailer. Then when we were leaving, she was at it again, completely confident in hooking up the chains, etc. I commented that she knew her way around the trailer, and she said her mom told her to learn how to do it all by herself so she could take care of it if something happened to her husband. Seems when my friend was a little girl, they went desert camping and her dad broke his shoulder while motorcycle riding, and her mom had to break camp, hook up, etc. She had no idea how to do all of it, just some of it. Her dad had to stand out there and direct her best he could with his painful broken shoulder so they could get home to a hospital. I thought that was a great lesson in learning to do it yourself. Guess I ll have to have DH make me do more on these trips.[&:]

JemJen24 · Apr 17, 2003, 05:29 AM

JemJen24Wow...what a story! Sounds painful! ouch!

Well, I ll tell ya one thing...after doing it ONCE completely by myself, I now know I can do it anytime. Next time you re getting ready to leave, just have hubby show you everything you need to do to get ready to go (have him make YOU do it...hands on is the best way to learn) and tell him he s not allowed to lift a finger to help you, just to instruct you or stop you if you re doing something wrong.

You, more than likely, already know how to set the camper up and take it down, you just need to do it once by yourself.

GOOD LUCK!

Heyyyy..maybe I should start a group called WCU (Women Campers United). hmmmm..the idea has merit!

J.

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