bucket topped with a toilet seat), soft
bed, good lighting, and refrigeration.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t LOVE my
re-built Airstream with vintage claw foot
bathtub that uses an on-demand hot
water heater. Pure luxury! But my very
favorite things to take glamping are my
handmade fishing-lure earrings.
I love having all the time in the
world for a few days (time away without
a watch)… along with my trademark
comforts. As I’ve said, I worked for many
years for the Forest Service, on fire watch
towers, trail crews, and as one of the
nation’s first female wilderness rangers
in the 70s. It was all about backpacking in
those days, but even then I always packed
a few secrets like red toenail polish or a
dainty hankie. I’m out of the closet now
and loving the fact that the glamping
concept has turned a record number of
women onto the outdoors. I love it that
women are pulling their bedding into
their backyards while working up their
courage to buy a vintage trailer.
My favorite thing about glamping
has been sharing the idea and seeing the
delight on the faces of women who light
a campfire for the first time in their lives,
or catch a fish.
Can you tell our readers something
amazing that has happened as a result of
your glamping passions?
I was able to teach a woman from Los
Angeles how to pee outdoors. I’d stand
back coaching her (my eyes averted), and
it took her several days before she was
able to do the deed, “Apparently, I have
a shy bladder,” she said. We celebrated
with champagne afterward. Many of the
women who’ve come to by B&B during
the nine years I ran it called it a lifechanging
experience. I’ve spent the last
two years revamping my B&B for a 2018
grand opening.
Do you have any advice for other women
who are interested in getting into glamping?
The outdoors has always been a man’s
world until women were given the
concept of glamping. Now, it’s the
missus who owns the trailer, backs it
into position, unhitches it herself, and
then goes fishing, but only after she’s
arranged all her special décor effects just
so; a doily here, an ironing-board table
there, a toity tent, and a pink barbeque
grill ready for her catch of the day. Frilly
this, and frilly that. It’s a grown-up girl’s
version of a playhouse. Pretend. Escape.
Décor and more. Simply put, it’s fun and
playful. Camping used to be where men
proved their manhood under harsh and
rugged conditions.
For a wealth of glamping ideas,
everything from pitching a tent to buying
a trailer and fixing it up, women should
become a member of my Glampers on the
Loose Facebook page. Every day my son
and I post photos of refurbished trailers
and/or things like gussied up tree houses,
tents, forts, you name it on the Facebook
page of our International Glamping
Weekend website. The array is amazing.
To order an autographed copy of Glamping with MaryJane go to:
shop.maryjanesfarm.org/Glamping-with-MaryJane
For more photos of MaryJane’s Airstream restoration project go to:
internationalglampingweekend.com/airstream_restoration.asp
To join MaryJane’s Facebook group Glampers on the Loose go to:
www.facebook.com/groups/glampersontheloose
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