The other day I was flipping through some old pictures and found a photo of our very first RV experience. I chuckled and shuddered at the same time.
We had barely been married six months, when we decided to go camping with my sister, Patti and her husband Bob. They had a pickup with a slide-in camper. We had a pickup.
I can't remember how new the pickup and camper were to Patti and Bob; and I can't remember why we didn't think we should just stay in a tent. Maybe we were curious, or maybe it was peer-pressure. Whatever it was, we decided to rent a VW camper van. And such a nice color it was, too!
We stayed at the Spruce Run County Park, which was a small park between home and the coast. The campground was primitive, but we didn't care. We were next to the Nehalem River in April, and just happy to be out in nature for the weekend.
At some point, we decided to have a fire. I remember H had found a pretty big piece of wood and was trying to break it into a more manageable size, when a piece broke off and he fell backwards. He was surprised but fine, and continued with his task.
When we woke up on Saturday morning, he discovered he was in a excruciating pain. It seems his back was completely out. It's one thing to have your back go out at home, where you have space to try and move. But when your back goes out in a VW camper van, trying to move is almost impossible.
Somehow we managed to get him off the bed, out the door, and leaned upright against the van. When things didn't improve, we decided to take him to the nearest hospital. Which meant I had to drive the VW down the narrow road along the river to the Tillamook hospital. By the time we got there, my nerves were pretty jangled. The van had a manual transmission, and I had only just learned to drive a much smaller car with a manual transmission. Plus, when there is a lot of pain involved, you tend to think the worst.
The docs at Tillamook took everything in stride, gave Herb some muscle relaxers, and sent us home. I have no recollection how we got there. It's been blocked. He was out of commission a good week. Things improved and he went back to work. But he has suffered back problems ever since.
We were in a car accident about 10 days before our camping trip, and that could have started the back problems. The breaking piece of wood was probably just the icing on the cake. But we turned the VW back to the rental company, and I haven't stepped foot inside a VW bus again.
PS: Spruce Run County Park has been revamped and is a very nice place to stay now. Unfortunately, our trailer is too big for most of the spots.
We had barely been married six months, when we decided to go camping with my sister, Patti and her husband Bob. They had a pickup with a slide-in camper. We had a pickup.
I can't remember how new the pickup and camper were to Patti and Bob; and I can't remember why we didn't think we should just stay in a tent. Maybe we were curious, or maybe it was peer-pressure. Whatever it was, we decided to rent a VW camper van. And such a nice color it was, too!
We stayed at the Spruce Run County Park, which was a small park between home and the coast. The campground was primitive, but we didn't care. We were next to the Nehalem River in April, and just happy to be out in nature for the weekend.
At some point, we decided to have a fire. I remember H had found a pretty big piece of wood and was trying to break it into a more manageable size, when a piece broke off and he fell backwards. He was surprised but fine, and continued with his task.
When we woke up on Saturday morning, he discovered he was in a excruciating pain. It seems his back was completely out. It's one thing to have your back go out at home, where you have space to try and move. But when your back goes out in a VW camper van, trying to move is almost impossible.
Somehow we managed to get him off the bed, out the door, and leaned upright against the van. When things didn't improve, we decided to take him to the nearest hospital. Which meant I had to drive the VW down the narrow road along the river to the Tillamook hospital. By the time we got there, my nerves were pretty jangled. The van had a manual transmission, and I had only just learned to drive a much smaller car with a manual transmission. Plus, when there is a lot of pain involved, you tend to think the worst.
The docs at Tillamook took everything in stride, gave Herb some muscle relaxers, and sent us home. I have no recollection how we got there. It's been blocked. He was out of commission a good week. Things improved and he went back to work. But he has suffered back problems ever since.
We were in a car accident about 10 days before our camping trip, and that could have started the back problems. The breaking piece of wood was probably just the icing on the cake. But we turned the VW back to the rental company, and I haven't stepped foot inside a VW bus again.
PS: Spruce Run County Park has been revamped and is a very nice place to stay now. Unfortunately, our trailer is too big for most of the spots.
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