I try to avoid clichés, but one sets the tone for my thoughts today: necessity is the mother of invention.

After the first week of living in the popup camper, my whole body froze. I was achy and had sharp jabbing pain in an oblique muscle, which I pulled while sleeping (note: Drew Brees also pulled his oblique this summer so I am in good company). My sciatic nerve sent twinges of electro-therapy down my thigh.

I have only minor aches and pains any other time so I knew that living and sleeping in tight quarters was taking a toll. I realized my camper mattress was flimsy and part of the problem. I also learned that the cushions around the dinette do not offer any back support while working for hours on the computer. I needed a sleeping solution and an ergonomic chair fast. You can read about the demise of the mattress and my ultimate solutions here.

Before I could drive to the store in Billings, however, I needed to thaw out my muscles, loosen my back and tame the sciatic nerve. I needed to do serious stretching, several times a day or the trip was over.

Fortunately, I had my Kindles. The Fire has a beautifully illustrated stretching book and I also bought two more cheapie books, one for sciatic pain and another for the back. You can find them here. But where would I stretch? At home I have an extra bedroom with a yoga pad, tv for stretching videos, resistance bands, and weights. I brought along some of the bands and a weight, but no yoga pad. No pretty little place to lay down and nudge away the pain. I was up in the Big Horns which is beautiful but I did not want to lay my achy body and screaming nerve on pine needles, ants and the billions of other organisms that inhabit the forest floor.

Hmmmm. Why not cut up the memory foam topper that did not make the mattress any better. I could make Tango some pads for the van (he gets uncomfortable on long driving days), and a nice exercise pad for me. I could place an extra sheet on the ground, lay down the pad, cover with a small Mexican blanket I found at a yard sale. I could and I did. I also added my small camping pillow from the van. When rain threatened outside, I rolled it up and stowed it under the bunk end on the camper.

Stretching station on the picnic table and new ergonomic chair

I started to stretch 3-4 times a day. When I had picnic tables, I set up the pad/pillow there. After a few days, I felt like a little sow bug unrolling. In the meantime I set out for Missoula and made those comfy purchases. I also picked up more back pain cream and Aspercream, paid too much for a motel room, got a hot shower and moved on. It was a tough few days.

But from that experience, grew a desire (obsession) to stretch morning and night. I have also thrown in a few more exercises with my weights and some crunches on alternating days. But I no longer head for the spare bedroom/yoga room. I brought in my pad, Mexican blanket and camping pillow and set up the whole thing in a front corner of my living room. I must walk by the stretching nook to get somewhere else in the house. I am one limber lady.

Current home of exercise station!

The observation? When an unforeseen need arises while out in the wilderness (I was dispersed camping off the grid), creativity saves the day. I was not too far from a small town but they did not have much. I had to figure this out on my own ( MacGyver method?).

So, if creativity saves the day while camping, why don’t we use it more at home? I think about all the times I rush out to buy this or that, when some creative thinking would have offered a free solution. Folks who grew up on farms and ranches are great at creative solutions and often save bits and pieces of this and that for such moments.

Another observation: I am much more inclined to use my stretching/exercise pad if I see it all the time.What a great solution to my winter doldrums, when I write, sew , and do lots of other indoor work.

And there is more: sometimes solving a problems brings unexpected blessings. As I lay out on picnic tables or on the ground in my new stretching station, I enjoyed looking up into the forest or sky. I saw different things. I felt peaceful and meditative. That time also became a spiritual time of prayer and mediation.