Ladies, this one is mostly for you, but fellas are more than welcome to read on for the trials and tribulations of starting a period unexpectedly.
You know when you are certain that you won’t start your period on a trip?
“It’s two weeks away,” I thought to myself as I looked at the tidy kit of feminine hygiene products in my bathroom drawer.
“It’s definitely not going to start that early,” as I closed the drawer.
Mother Nature and the Outdoors
Honestly, I don’t mind dealing with my period while I’m on a roadtrip. I use a cup and it’s pretty easy to clean out and reuse. It’s a great option if you’re trying to be more sustainable, as it reduces the number of feminine hygiene products that go into the waste system. You can easily clean it in your camp kitchen kit, too.
The problem is when you don’t have any of your beloved products with you and you’re forced into an alternative. I don’t use tampons, so that leaves me with pads as a crappy alternative to them. They’re wasteful and largely kind of ick to deal with.
The great thing about this particular trip is that we were camped not far from Pagosa Springs. It was about a 15-20 minute drive to Wal-Mart where I was able to pick up some products. We needed water anyway, and I needed to do some work, so it wasn’t a completely wasted trip.
However, my first trip into town wasn’t spectacular.
Leave No Trace and Animals
Yeah, we all try to avoid hitting animals. Sometimes our reflexes are too slow, or we’re expecting the animal to move.
For me, it was a sweet little chipmunk.
I thought he would do what the squirrels in Texas do – they dart out of the way at the last minute, either continuing across the street or turning back.
My little chipmunk friend did not do that, and I ran over him.
I do my best to ‘Leave No Trace‘ when I’m outdoors. I like to leave my campsites better than I found them.
This was not the case on this trip.
In addition to the poor chipmunk that was left for the buzzards (or vultures? Not sure what’s in Colorado), I had a bee situation at my campsite.
I poured my dog some dry food and topped it with some freeze-dried chicken bites. It’s the only thing that encourages her to eat when she’s hyped up.
The bees in my camp SWARMED her food and her water bowl. They ate the freeze-dried chicken bites over the course of a few hours, and they drank her water up over the night. It was BIZARRE, but it was an LNT failure on my part. Zoom in to see the bees on her food!
I couldn’t even approach the food to get it out of their reach. I had to leave her bowl of dry food out overnight where it was certainly eaten by a raccoon or something. (No bears came around us, but I was super worried about it.)
I had no idea what to do in this situation. What DO you do when a swarm of bees is eating your dog’s food?!
Friends, I’m learning so much as I take these practice trips. I’m learning what not to do, what not to leave at home, and where not to camp. What have you learned recently on your trips?
Safe travels, friends!
Miranda Writes 