Sister Spotlight: Time is precious for this Road Warrior!
I have worked in an office as a legal assistant at a law firm for 23 years. Now, the older I get, the more fresh air I crave!
Living in the Northeast my entire life, I appreciate every moment of time I can have outside. Favorite 
pastimes while camping are laying in my hammock with a good book, riding my bike and taking long strolls. Another happy place is in my kayak. I love to paddle long and far to wash away all the stress. I have recently acquired a love for yoga and the inner peace it gives me as well as the physical health.
My favorite motto is “Time is more precious than gold.” I try to live by this to collect memories, not things. When I joined Sisters on the fly I would constantly tell the Sisters, "I’m a Camper, not a Glamper." And yet each trip I take with them finds one more decoration on or in my trailer. I also said that about dressing up for events, but I have found that it’s lots of fun!
I have been a camper my whole life and have always had a love for it. My daughter refers to me as a “professional camper.” My kids grew up spending their summers tenting in Vermont State Parks, swimming in the lakes, riding bikes until sunset and then counting the stars or roasting s'mores. Now that my son is grown, he still chooses to vacation with his tent. Button Bay state park along the coast of Lake Champlain is still my most favorite place to be.
I had never heard of SOTF until one cold November day when an attorney in my office told my about his wife’s 
friend who was taking this fascinating trip along the Lewis and Clark trail with a group of women. He said, “You should check it out, Tanya. They are your kind of women!!” He was so right. Joining SOTF has been so fulfilling for me. None of my local friends like to camp, so finding a group of women who love it as much as I do has been so exciting. While joining a fellow Sister on her maiden voyage in her newly purchased camper, my 18 hours with her was eye-opening. That's when I learned how glorious it was to camp without my family!
A Sister is a Sister
Not having a biological sister of my own, I have thrived on having a Sisterhood. It’s amazing how bonded you are to Sisters after you have just met after spending a weekend together. When my son found out he was going to be stationed in Texas, I asked to join the Texas Sisters group Facebook page and one sister immediately reached out to me to give my son her number. 4 days after he arrived in Texas she picked him up at the Navy base, showed him all over town, where the best place to get a burger was and even took him apartment shopping!! She will forever hold a place in my heart.
I recently towed my tiny trailer from upstate NY to Texas with my daughter while she was on spring 
break to visit my son and attend the SOTF event Wonderful Women of Waxahachie. At one point my aunt, exasperated with worrying about my cross country wanderings said “you’re just like your grandmother!” I gladly accepted that as a compliment. One of my many highlights on this trip was teaching my 16 year old daughter to tow. Because we were traveling over 1,200 miles I wanted her to know what to do in case of an emergency. She was elated and so proud of herself! I feel it’s something everyone should learn how to do, just like driving a standard transmission.
My grandmother was a “Girl Camper” before it was popular. She was a truck loving lady who towed a 
small Frolic camper and would take me camping with her. To this day I cherish those memories. She has always taught me women can do anything we put our mind to! My camper is named Lil Viv after my grandmother and a reminder of our times in her little camper.
I still have a teenage daughter at home and my sweet-strong-willed elderly grandmother to care for so I’m a still pretty much a weekend warrior at this point, but I know my day will come where I will be setting off in my tiny trailer for weeks at a time to explore our beautiful country. My bucket list is long!! Until then, I treasure each moment I can squeeze in this crazy life, especially ones with my Sisters.
Tanya Forrest # 7926
Sisters on the fly
Northeast Wrangler for NY, MA, CT & RI
fabulous group of women pulled together and attacked this event like they knew what they were doing. Never once did anyone get left behind, nor was a snitty remark made and never any hurt feelings. It was just plain ole western manners. Be nice is a SOTF rule and nice we ALL were.
years past would attend. Wrong! A gathering of newbies led by an assertive problem solver, Linda Webb appeared. She bugged and haunted me for answers and we pulled it off. We did have one return person- do you remember the photographs from two years ago, of a beautiful girl with long hair, cuddling a bum lamb? That is Melisse, and this year she was the social director.
beautiful women and eager learners. Two of our regular Wranglers from Kentucky could not attend but Clint, in his southern way, took those girls on like he was made for it. Taught us how to "mug" (which is their word for wrestling calves down), to put tents up and take them down, to brand, and for some, to hold those cattle down for shots, branding and banding. That is all under "bull dogging."
stepping! This was the first year for dance lessons! That went along with sharing moonshine and whiskey, telling stories and tons of laughter. Also Ord took the girls to a secret location to find old Indian seed beads in the ant piles and the girls found about 4 or 5 of them.
fireworks to celebrate our nation’s independence. But, it’s so much more than that. Our personal freedoms have grown exponentially since that fateful day in 1776. We are blessed with the freedom to go where we want, do what we want, say what we want, and believe what we want. And we, as Sisters on the Fly, exemplify that better than most.
Maurrie and Becky, were taught by the best...the original Sister. Their mother Mazie was a remarkable women who taught her girls the freedom of the great outdoors at a very young age. They fished, hiked, boated, camped, rode horses, and traveled extensively and learned to be brave and bold. There are certainly like-minded women in this group who were raised that way and were looking for others to share in the fun. But, if you are like me, these were skills learned much later in life. I only camped a handful of times in my whole life before I found the Sisters. I, like many of you, came here after losing my husband.
sorts, I was stuck in a time warp. Growing up “country” in West Virginia was a conservative, naive, innocent time where the women in my family were taught to type and marry young so you could start those babies coming. I remember riding my bike as a young girl and fantasizing I was traveling cross-country and up into Canada. I would pretend I had panniers on my bike at a time when I didn’t know what panniers were. I planned out my food and lodging and how I would get there. I envisioned sleeping in a small tent along streams where I would fish. I may not have ever had the opportunity to camp, but camping was in my blood. My favorite book was The Boxcar Children. Then the adolescent indoctrination began and I was bombarded with speech after speech on the importance of getting married and raising babies. And my dreams of the long, long bike ride got stuffed way down inside.
older daughter. As a single mom, I bought a used bike with a child seat on the back and rode around with her. The long bike ride bubbled up a little. My second marriage was spent putting my husband through medical school and residency. There wasn’t time to think about much more than survival. I got closer to touching those dreams when he was establishing a practice and time was more flexible. We had a second child. We backpacked once. We hiked. We rode bikes. We even camped in a small dome tent a couple of times. We had a very brief stint with a VW Vanagon camper in the early ‘80s but the money from its sale was needed for a down payment on a house. That was the end of that and the dream went into hiding.
me to be brave and go. I did things I have never done before...alone. I went into the wilderness and backroads of Colorado. I traveled to Mexico...not by camper, but by plane. The freedom to cross borders and go where I wanted was alluring. The freedom to be who I want to be was life altering. The Sisters showed me that HE died...I did not. I had this great big world to explore and the freedom to do it.
me). Yes, it was intimidating a little bit, but I love her. I only couldn’t see behind me. Who cares?! And now I had to rely on my mirrors solely. Okay! So with both feet, I jumped behind the wheel and just figured it out with a little helpful guidance along the way. Yes, bigger and two axles is easier! The best advice I can give to any Sister starting out with a trailer for the first time... BREATHE and don’t let some anxiety or a little intimidation hold you back! When you run into a problem – stop, breathe, and try again! This is how I got comfortable backing her up my 250’ driveway! So the tire tracks looks like a snake’s path at first; who cares?!