We started in a tent... and sometimes I really miss it!
I featured on my blog post last week, the very first fly-fishing trip Doc Whiskers took me on. We went camping and fly fishing around Pecos, NM, back in 2009. We were headed to an area that one of Doc’s buddies had fished and camped around before. Y’all I was STOKED!!! I grew up fishing, but had never attempted, knew anything about, or for that matter knew anyone who actually knew how to fly fish. I mean did I tell you how good Doc looks when he’s fly fishing?
Ok, back to my story!
We packed up a tent, several sleeping bags, a blow-up mattress, flannel, the fishing gear, kitchen necessities, toilet paper, and a lot of other stuff (see image below for how we can pack a car, haha). We were going to be there for a 4 day weekend if I remember. We got to the camp site and there was only one other camper around, it was legit! The only amenity was a sketchy shack that was being used as the bathroom (hole in the ground that served as a “toilet”, glad we brought some TP!).
Looking back on our first official camping trip together; I cried a lot, cussed even more, froze (do you know how cold it is to sleep on a blow-up mattress when it gets down to freezing at night?) ate some great food (fresh trout) didn’t bathe for 4 days, hiked a lot of country, wet a lot of lines, forgot my overnight bag (like home girl needed to take her contacts out) and well there’s some great memories and great photos I got of us together. Our biggest argument was over sleeping bag styles and baby wipes. Doc is a mummy-type bag, minimalist, and well mine could fit a family of 10 all the way down to negative one billion degrees. He said, that it was just too big and ridiculous…. Well, I still have her to this day, and he might not admit to it, but he’s even used her a time or two. He also never understood why I brought baby wipes…. Uhhh cause momma needs to wipe down every once-in-a-while if she can’t take a shower!
We’ve since graduated to Loretta June Meeks (our 1983 Airstream) and though I love her, I do miss tent camping. There are different views, different sounds, different smells, different places you can go when you pack a tent! You do miss out on a shower, a soft bed, and other things which Loretta is so nice to provide for us. Next week, our little family of four (Doc, Lucky Lady, CW and Gus) will take Loretta June back to the Rio Grande National Forest for our annual family fishing trip. Doc’s family has been coming to this place since the 50’s and well… we plan on continuing this tradition as long as we’re able. Fun fact: we met Bob and Sharon here last year in the RV park that Doc’s parents were staying at…. Another blog post for another time, that’s how we started our journey to owning Loretta June!
Doc brought me to this special place for the first time in 2014. I had been the only girl “allowed” to camp where the boys usually do. We spent over 7 days, fishing together, eating together, hiking together, fishing together, laughing together, fishing together and it was just simply life-changing. When you are in a remote place, where you eat what you catch, drink what you have brought in, sleep under a tent, get comfy on a cot and cuddle (in opposite type sleeping bags) you just realize how much more you love someone, because you have ONLY them to depend on. Side note: it rained on our last day and shifted the tent where ALL OF MY stuff got soaked, but through even that….. I still miss our occasional tent camping. Due to pregnancy, babies, and other reasons, we haven’t tent camped in a while! Doc and I have promised each other that when CW is old enough, he will tent camp with Doc…. Just like his Dad did. Below is where you can find us in a about a week or so, and where you can find Doc and CW and Gus in a few years.... in that same purple Coleman tent!
So, here’s to; over-sized sleeping bags, baby wipes, great memories my love, in your most favorite place on earth, the place we named our son after, that I pray we can bring our family to for eternity to come…. Oh and thank you God for tents!
