Endurance riding. It's all about the camping

["odd farm" <jsalas@tampabay.rr.com>]

I loved tent camping, too. Packing the tent, cots, sleeping bags, table and chairs and then all the propane stuff. Heaters, (yes, more than one) lights, stoves. I had pantry boxes for dry foods, coolers for cold storage, (one for beer) and suitcases. Then there was all the horse crap. Blankets, riding tack, food, hay, water. We could pull into the campsite at noon and be unpacked by 4pm. Which, that worked out well because then it would be happy hour. But then we had to figure out how to put up the fence. Yeah, it sounds easy until you try to do it after happy hour and you need to separate 3 horses. By then, it is time for bed.

 

I use to put the tent under the awning. But no matter what, it would rain. No matter which side my trainer Wendy slept on, she got wet. So then, we swept the inside of the trailer and put the tent in there. But guess what? When you are in an aluminum trailer and it is 32 degrees outside, it is BELOW ZERO inside! Oh yeah, we had the heaters. But who can sleep when you are worrying about gas poisoning or who has to get up to change the propane?? We really enjoyed getting up on those cold nights to go outside, find a disgusting port-o-let and having to use it, in the dark. Doesn't that all sound like fun?

 

Well, after eight years of that crap, John finally put his women and children in a slide-in camper! I hate to tell ya this Howard, but it has a generator. It is an Onan, (SP?) one of the quietest ones they make. We thought of you when we paid an arm and a leg for it. I'm gonna run that damn thing until the freak'en cows come home. I want to be warm and cozy. I like getting up to fix coffee INSIDE where there is no dew or ice on the chairs.  I will adore the hot showers and being able to brush my teeth in private!! When it is time to feed the horses, or I have to tack up in the dark, I can just turn on the porch lights. Don't you just love the sound of that? Turn on the porch lights. Yeah, I like it.

 

Now, we can have a longer happy hour and all the time in the world to figure out the stupid fence. No more showering in the back of the trailer and then getting sawdust in your underwear and bra. I say bring on the cold fronts and rain baby! No more going to bed at 7:30 the night after a ride because it is too cold to sit outside and party. Were taking the party inside!! I can sleep in Sunday morning and stop yelling at Wendy (maybe) to start packing stuff up so we can get home! John said last time we came home after sleeping in the camper we were actually tolerable and surely didn't smell so bad. He decided right then and there the camper was a worthwhile investment.

Now I REALLY love camping. Lisa Salas, The Odd FArm