Camping Memories

When I wrote my post yesterday about Grandma and Grandpa's RV, Merikay talked about trips with her Dad. It made me think about trips with my parents when I was little. While they traveled all over the world during the summers, they also took all of us kids on camping trips. My sister didn't care much for them, my brother was to little to care much either way, and I was the curious one.

I have a bunch of jumbled memories of camping. Having mom make pancakes on the Coleman stove while freezing in the cold morning before the sun finally warmed things up. Getting dressed in the sleeping bag because it was too darn cold to get out. Whacking my head on the top of the RV because I forgot my sister and I were sleeping in the bed over the cab. Cooking marshmallows in the campfire to make smores. Hiking trails to find animal prints. Wearing a sweatshirt with the face of Buffy from the TV show "Family Affair", remember the show anyone? Smashing my finger while making a fire ring and ending up in the ER to fix it. (Remember, I am the one who always exceeded the medical deductions for the year for my parents) Hearing my mom grumble because every mosquito within a hundred miles would zoom in to find her. They loved her and gobbled her up.

Sometimes my parents would sign my sister and I up for summer camps. My sister and I were in heaven because we fought like cats and dogs and in the camps we were separated in different groups and hardly saw each other. The only time I was jealous was when I saw that the older group got to ride horses on the beach and I didn't. The camps were fun though even at that age I thought the songs they sang every night were corny. All in all it was fun for a few years until we both got to the age that we decided we were too old to do silly stuff. By then we moved to San Clemente and had the beach down the street from our rental house. Walking a couple blocks to the beach and thrifty's drug store for 15 cent ice cream everyday beat any camp. Every morning we would scour the house, laundry, and couch for loose change so we could get ice cream. When we got our allowance we would head to the 5 and Dime Store. Yep, those were the good old days before things really changed.

Grandma & Grandpa's RV

Mom and I were talking friday night catching up on things. We hadn't talked for a week and caught up with everything that was happening in our lives. Towards the end of our conversation she mentioned that one of her neighbors was fixing up an RV to sell. He is a mechanic at a local dealership and picked up one and was working on it. She had been talking to him about it and asked him what he was looking to sell it for. She told me the price. It was a pretty good price. I asked more about it and then after that we ended our call.

After I hung up I got curious and got on the computer and started searching for pictures of the RV. I didn't know what year the RV was but based on the price figured it was an older model. He was working on a Chinook. While searching for pictures I came across pictures of an old Toyota RV that was just like the one my grandparents drove. These two pictures that I found on the internet are like the two that they had.


My dad's parents traveled all the time to different places. Their love was fishing. They loved to fish for trout and went to all the best places to fish. They even had their special bait recipe for it. Marshmallow with fake salmon eggs. That thing was tiny but they loved it. The first one was totalled in a rollover accident. They don't remember what happened and thankfully walked away with only concussions and bruises. Despite the accident they immediately went out and bought another one to go on the road again. Many years were spent on the road in the RV with another couple named Noble and Verda, who also had one, fishing in lakes and rivers all over the country. They weren't full timers but darn close to it.


When I was little they took me fishing a few times but I didn't like it because I could never sit still long enough to be patient and wait for the fish to bite. The last time I caught a fish was when I left my pole sitting on the back of a house boat while inside playing yatzee. I would go back once in a while to check my pole. Late that night I looked out the back sliding glass door and saw my pole slam to the side. I ran out with out thinking and grabbed the pole. Now you need to understand that I was huge and 9 months pregnant at the time. I started reeling in that pole paying careful attention to keep my line away from the boat props. Meanwhile I am yelling over the generator for everyone inside to let them know that I actually caught a fish. That sucker felt like he weighed a hundred pounds and I didn't want to loose him. After what felt like years they wondered where I was and wandered outside. When they realized what was happening they tried to take the pole away from me. "Don't you dare touch that pole. It is mine.!!" I worked hard and reeled in a 5 pound white catfish. He was funny looking. I was so proud of myself for not loosing him and decided that it would be the last fish I ever caught.


Oh, so you know, he didn't taste very good.

Japan offering free flights.

Early this morning I was roaming through the web when I found this article, JAPAN. I thought about how many people would respond to the offer.


Would I do it. Heck Yeah!!!! One of the biggest expense traveling there is the plane tickets and it would be a chance to get a stamp in my empty passport. I love to travel and have always wanted to go see another country. If I had a chance to go it would probably end up being during the time Max is not there since he is slated to be sent from Okinawa to Afghanistan again sometime in February. But he has told me so much about the area that I would love to see it. Granted I wouldn't jump for any sightseeing tours of the nuclear reactor.

I noticed that they are looking for bloggers who will post about their travels there. Probably means someone who has tons of followers so that pretty much cancels me out. Doesn't matter. If they do end up doing the promotion it is a great way for someone, who does not have unlimited resources, to go experience it.

Would you go?

Jealous????? You betcha.

Jealousy, the green eyed monster is back. I haven't seen him in ages and wasn't sure if what I was feeling was him or some heartburn starting. I was catching up on facebook since I haven't been on there in ages and I read a post from Max to his girlfriend about his upcoming leave (vacation). His unit is taking a break and going to Okinawa for a couple of months to replace some members injured during an IED attack. He is taking leave during that time before they go back to Afghanistan.

While reading the posts I saw a message from Max to his girlfriend about him looking forward to seeing her. I wrote a note about it and found out she is going to Okinawa to see him. I had a funny feeling in my chest and wasn't sure what it was at first. Then memories slowly started to kick in and I realized I was actually jealous. I am a pretty easygoing person so being jealous was a feeling that I haven't had in ages.

One, I didn't even know about the trip and had to read in on Facebook of all places. Two, I love to travel and have only been overseas once on a cruise. That was just a western carribean cruise and since I was on a cruise ship and my passport is still empty I don't think it really qualifies. Three, I am not going to get to see him for a year since he is taking leave there and not coming home.


I have tried to plan a couple of trips but life kept getting in the way. For example, I was going to meet a boyfriend in Paris for New Years 2000 but because of the Y2K hype everyone at my hospital was banned from taking vacation from Thanksgiving to February. I seriously considered quitting just so I wouldn't miss a once in a lifetime opportunity. Someday I will get that darned passport filled.

So what do I do with this monster. I haven't dealt with him in ages and not sure what to do. Strange, weird, and not a good thing.......

One persons definition of Adventurous

ad·ven·tur·ous

[ad-ven-cher-uhs]

–adjective

1. inclined or willing to engage in adventures; enjoying adventures.

2. full of risk; requiring courage; hazardous: an adventurous undertaking.
An adventure is an activity that is perceived to involve risk, danger or exciting experiences.

I was reading the other day on a forum what a person defines as adventurous. It was quite funny how each person's definition was so different. It seemed like the person's background had a lot to do with it. I define it as doing something outside of your normal day to day life.

For some people it would be riding a rollercoster (done that too many times). Some would say it is taking a trip to another country (done that too). Or doing something that you never in your life thought you would ever do. For some rare people, it's just jumping in the car and just driving til you feel like stopping to smell the roses.

My latest adventure was taking a last minute trip to El Paso,TX. I had been working 21 days straight and was totally burned out. About 4 am Friday morning I woke up, tossed and turned, couldn't get back to sleep, and finally said I need to get outta here. I packed my bags, fed the cat her daily treat, put out extra food and water, and got in my car.

I got on the road with my trusty Ipod and just cranked the music. So here I am just rolling down the road, rocking away, and thinking nobody I know would do this.

It was awesome to get away and forget about the real world for a while. I even called my mom on the road and asked how she was. She said "Good. Nothing much is going on here. What about you?"  Me, "I am on the road to El Paso and won't be home for a few days".  She blurted out "WHAT????? What do you mean you are on the road to Texas?"  I told her what happened that morning and that I was feeling great. She just laughed and said that she hoped I had a great time and to call when I get there safe and sound. It was so much fun to just get on the road and disappear. 

I got into town and then sat there thinking "I'm Hungry!" I called a buddy of mine in town and said "You are a foodie like me. Where in town is a good place to eat?" He started to rattle off places by my house. I told him, "NOOOO, where is a good place here in El Paso to eat?". SILENCE......"HUH?"
I am laughing and explained what happened. He couldn't believe that I just woke up and drove 450 miles to get away. He took me to the most awesome BBQ place, Smitty's BBQ. Gotta go there if you are ever in town. Best BBQ I have had in a while. That trip was a blast and just what I needed to recharge my batteries and it also gave me ideas on what I could do in the future when I need a pick-me-upper.

The ups and downs of moving around ALOT!

Growing up we moved a lot because of my dad's job. I loved moving because I got to experience a new place and see new things. I also hated moving because it required meeting new people. Because of my insecurity and shyness I was nervous as to how I would be accepted. As you have probably read in other posts, school SUCKED so I didn't like starting in a new school every time we moved. 

It is probably because of moving around so much that I get what is called "itchy feet", where you can't stay in one place for very long. None of the other kids inherited this. To this day I enjoy going places and usually don't find it a problem with my hearing.

The only real challenge I had was when I went on a Caribbean cruise with my mom and some friends. The crew members on the ship are from all over the world. Because I supplement my hearing with lip-reading I was truly lost because I encountered accents I had never seen or heard before. It was pretty funny because I would turn to mom or my friends and say "What?" After the first few times my friends understood what was going on. So all I would have to do was just look at them and they would translate right away. No questions asked.

My sister, who will probably kill me when she reads this, is perfectly content staying in one place. I have given her a hard time because she has a very predictable life. Boring by my standards. She has her routines and is comfortable with it and has only moved a few times since she got married. I asked her if she ever gets bored and her response is no. She said that she doesn't need any adventure and gets plenty of it living through me and my adventures. Even my parents said that life with me was funny and it was fun seeing what I would do next. Guess I could never be called boring.



My dream is to one day leave everything behind, get into an RV, and travel around the country. I loved the trip my parents took us on and it was amazing to see how in one country there were so many different cultures, accents, food, and ways of life.