Introduction to Renee
Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 9:15 amHi,
I am so glad to get to join a group with other women who enjoy camping. What I planned to write in I applied for membership has been completely changed by this past weekend. I will explain briefly at the end of this post.
This weekend my husband and I celebrated 34 years of marriage. For most of those years my husband has done all of the hitching up at home and setting up at camp but about 11 years ago he bought me a horse. This purchase caused me to need to learn how to hitch up a trailer so I could haul my horse places. The more comfortable I became with that the more I started participating in the process when we went camping. Last year I hauled the trailer to the Blue Ox in Albany by myself and setup. It wasn't a total disaster but I did several things wrong so when I pulled the trailer to Champoeg for Labor Day with my extended family I had learned some valuable lessons and did much better. On both of these trips I spent a day or two on my own and then my husband joined me for the remainder of the weekend.
I have 3 children and 4.5 grandchildren. My son has 4 children and my oldest daughter got married last September and is expecting her first child in July. We have two dogs that usually camp with us and enjoy checking out new sites. As you read earlier I have a horse that hasn't been getting much exercise the past few years due to things in my life but that is changing this year. I have been working full time for the past 17 years for the state and currently have a job that can be very stressful and busy so camping is one of my favorite stress relievers.
Finally, this weekend was full of firsts for me. We hooked up the trailer Thursday morning as usual with the plan that I would do some shopping, load the trailer and head over to Whaler's Rest in Newport for a couple of days of solitary rest before my husband joined me Friday night. That is where normal flew out the window. About 20 miles outside of Newport my truck started spitting and sputtering. Every time I coasted, stepped on the brake or really pushed the truck it would quit choking but when I tried to drive at a set speed the truck just kept trying to choke out. I prayed my way to the camp ground, checked in and (for the first time) backed the trailer into a spot. Once I unhooked from the truck and hooked the electric and water up I parked the truck and left it alone. I hoped it would be an easy fix and relaxed until Steve arrived. He changed out the fuel filter but the truck would not start. I called my boss to let her know that I would not be back to work on Monday and we arranged for a tow truck and found a shop to fix the truck on Monday. We enjoyed the afternoon Saturday and Steve stuck round until about 4 on Sunday but then he headed home so he could go to work Monday. I rode in the tow truck, dealt with the repair shop and paid for the repairs on my own. I then took the truck back to the park and hitched up and unhooked by myself. I did pass on dumping the contents of the holding tank and gave my husband that privilege after I got back to Salem. I realize that even after a pretty stressful weekend we had some fun times and I can do this by myself whenever I need to, have to or want to.
I am now very excited about joining a woman's group and now I know I can go even when my husband can't join me.
Camp on Ladies and take every great moment as worth it no matter what happens on the trip.
I am so glad to get to join a group with other women who enjoy camping. What I planned to write in I applied for membership has been completely changed by this past weekend. I will explain briefly at the end of this post.
This weekend my husband and I celebrated 34 years of marriage. For most of those years my husband has done all of the hitching up at home and setting up at camp but about 11 years ago he bought me a horse. This purchase caused me to need to learn how to hitch up a trailer so I could haul my horse places. The more comfortable I became with that the more I started participating in the process when we went camping. Last year I hauled the trailer to the Blue Ox in Albany by myself and setup. It wasn't a total disaster but I did several things wrong so when I pulled the trailer to Champoeg for Labor Day with my extended family I had learned some valuable lessons and did much better. On both of these trips I spent a day or two on my own and then my husband joined me for the remainder of the weekend.
I have 3 children and 4.5 grandchildren. My son has 4 children and my oldest daughter got married last September and is expecting her first child in July. We have two dogs that usually camp with us and enjoy checking out new sites. As you read earlier I have a horse that hasn't been getting much exercise the past few years due to things in my life but that is changing this year. I have been working full time for the past 17 years for the state and currently have a job that can be very stressful and busy so camping is one of my favorite stress relievers.
Finally, this weekend was full of firsts for me. We hooked up the trailer Thursday morning as usual with the plan that I would do some shopping, load the trailer and head over to Whaler's Rest in Newport for a couple of days of solitary rest before my husband joined me Friday night. That is where normal flew out the window. About 20 miles outside of Newport my truck started spitting and sputtering. Every time I coasted, stepped on the brake or really pushed the truck it would quit choking but when I tried to drive at a set speed the truck just kept trying to choke out. I prayed my way to the camp ground, checked in and (for the first time) backed the trailer into a spot. Once I unhooked from the truck and hooked the electric and water up I parked the truck and left it alone. I hoped it would be an easy fix and relaxed until Steve arrived. He changed out the fuel filter but the truck would not start. I called my boss to let her know that I would not be back to work on Monday and we arranged for a tow truck and found a shop to fix the truck on Monday. We enjoyed the afternoon Saturday and Steve stuck round until about 4 on Sunday but then he headed home so he could go to work Monday. I rode in the tow truck, dealt with the repair shop and paid for the repairs on my own. I then took the truck back to the park and hitched up and unhooked by myself. I did pass on dumping the contents of the holding tank and gave my husband that privilege after I got back to Salem. I realize that even after a pretty stressful weekend we had some fun times and I can do this by myself whenever I need to, have to or want to.
I am now very excited about joining a woman's group and now I know I can go even when my husband can't join me.
Camp on Ladies and take every great moment as worth it no matter what happens on the trip.
That West Coast group of ladies are starting to plan more and more stuff. Hope that you can jump in on the left coast stuff until you are ready to come east.
great introduction and I'll look forward to reading your posts as you travel around and gather more
) I'm an east coaster, bt have been in the sothwest for the past month or so--my old stomping grownds. Have met some great Oregon-ers! Yew'll love meeting them too if yew get the chance 
Happy & safe travels! 