Re: Those Damn Generators

[Sue Brown <sbrown@wamedes.com>]

Howard said:
>I have no trouble with you bringing along your luxury items, but to be
quite frank, the only time I envy you is when the temperature gets below
freezing and my tent turns into an igloo. When things hit the survival
stage, go ahead run your generator to keep yourslef from freezing to death.
 Other than that I think some of you just might be missing out.  If I
wanted all those luxury items to tag along with me, I would have stayed home.
> 
<snip>
>Well, if you want to get rid of me and keep me out of endurance, I think
this is the answer.  It put a real damper on what otherwise would have been
a beautiful weekend.  But if everyone's gonna start going that way than I'm
just going to have to reconsider the whole thing.  My ears, what's left of
them, just can't handle it.  And this isn't the way I want to spend my
time.  Heck, you can't even have a decent conversation with those things
running.  Is this really acceptable to anyone?  If it's the future, than I
plan on living in the past.  Cause I ain't going down that highway; no way,
no how.
>

Hi Howard!
I have been an avid "tenter" all of my life (old hippies wouldn't *dream*
of owning a motorhome with all that "convenience" type stuff!!)...however,
I started dragging people along who were newer to this sport than I am and
consumed a fair amount of my time...and most rides are 8-12 driving hours
away.  Setting up camp was time consuming (especially when it involved
having to teach at the same time) and often done in afternoon heat those of
us "wet siders" don't experience often.  The sweat starts to pour and
camping and riding in the hot high desert (which is frequently also wooded)
makes you hot and filthy dirty in record time.  There is little relief and
when it does come, it's usually in the rain or high winds where the tent
tries to take flight.

Our constant hauling of a filled 3-horse trailer was starting to cause our
3/4t. truck some major angst and we were looking at buying a new truck and
being able to use the slide in camper we had picked up real cheap.  It
didn't have a bathroom but it had a little pottie in a closet which seemed
would be better than the condition of the provided porta potties at
ridecamp by Sunday. ;-)  The truck we wanted was going to cost us
$45k...which we could do, but it would make for some monster payments.  

In the midst of making our decisions about what to get on the truck, along
comes an 14yo Class A motorhome with 44k miles.  She belonged to a
boarder's m-i-l who just wanted to "get rid of the darned thing" after her
husband's death.  It has a bathroom and a shower, twin beds in the bedroom
and a couch/double bed in the living room area.  There is kitchen with a
real refrigerator and AC...and heat (we live in the PNW.)  It cost us $13k
and those of us going regularly to the rides are absolutely in love with
it.  (We spent a bit more getting it ready for travel and beefing up the
hitch.)

Now we arrive at the ride, park, and set up stuff for the horses.  We
suddenly had hours more time to do this than we did before.  I can get a
good nights sleep the night before (and, as a 53yo grandmother with some
physical issues, this is *very* important.)  Breakfast is easy (we don't
have to stand outside in the freezing morning air while we wait for water
to heat and some eggs to fry) and arrival back to "Gertie" after the ride
consists of a shower and some dinner.  We have turned on the generator
"some" for cooling us down after the ride...but it's not on later than 9pm
before the ride and 10pm after the ride.  The rides, for those of us here,
have gotten a whole bunch more pleasant and less stressful.  Our generator,
btw, is fairly quiet as generators go.

One of the biggest plusses?  We don't hear anybody else's generator and,
even if they run theirs in the mornings (we don't), they don't wake us up.
<bg>

We live on the edge of woods, ride in a fairly rugged area where we see
very few other riders when we're out, and get plenty of "nature" while
we're riding -- and this is something I NEVER thought I would hear myself
(my old hippy back-to-nature self) admit...I absolutely LOVE the motorhome.
 So much time is being saved and I don't feel like I was beat with a 2x4
after two nights on an air mattress, inside a sleeping bag, and with about
12 layers of polarfleece on to survive the cold.  Dealing with the cold is
so much easier and more pleasant and now, if it's warm outside, I just
don't pull the comforter up when I climb into bed...

I agree...it's pretty pathetic...but we love "Gertie"!!  She was named,
btw, after my grandmother, Gertrude, who illustrated endurance to me for
all of my young years.  She had MS from the time she was 35 and taught
kindergarten until she was 68...dressed everyday in her nice clothes, even
when it took her an hour to put on her pantyhose.  I never saw her cross or
demanding...she just accepted who she was and accomplished four times the
stuff of most normal individuals...and never complained.  Even lived in a
second story apartment so that she would have to walk up and down a flight
of steps every day...and with 2 canes and poor leg function, this would
take a long time...but it kept her going.  

"Gertie" is awesome...very comfortable and tows the 3 horses around like a
dream.  It is, however, just totally weird driving around something that
looks like an apartment. <g>  We're still learning the ins and outs of
travelling with a motorhome, but it sure has made our last few rides so
much more comfortable and less stressful.

Sue (who promises to not abuse generator time...and who's loving not being
in a tent anymore!!)