It began as a simple fish story.

Two sisters were fly fishing in Montana. One hooked and landed a lunker. Neither will tell which sister held the rod.

What they will divulge, however, is that while sitting on a drift boat, sipping wine and reveling about the big catch, they came up with an idea. Why not share this experience with others?

That was 13 years ago. Since then, the sisters’ fish story has triggered ongoing tales of adventure that continue to grow with every telling.

Sister No. 1 and Sister No. 2 now share their outdoor fun with hundreds of fly-fishing, trailer-towing, horse-loving or shopping junkies who happily add their two cents’ worth to extend and expand the original fish story.

They’re called Sisters on the Fly (SOTF), and as their individual and collective tales continue to unfold around the country, the story-telling sisters happily boast that “they’re having more fun than anyone.”

Plus, they get a lot of attention while they’re having all that fun hitting the open road, riding horses on Western cattle ranches or trails, wading trout streams, strolling through cowgirl craft fairs, spending money at shopping malls, sipping wine, etc.

In 2010, author, editor and radio show host Irene Rawlings released an attractive, full-color book about the group entitled Sisters on the Fly: Caravans, Campfires and Tales from the Road.

Between its covers, photos, stories, recipes and website addresses deal with the history and ongoing activities of the organization, which includes several regional sub-groups.

“The two sisters started Sisters on the Fly in 1999, a group that soon grew to a dozen members,” Irene writes. “That dozen grew to more than 1,300 women all over the United States and Canada, each with a vintage trailer and a story about the trailer’s history.”Numerous magazines and television shows have featured the Sisters, most of whom pull their restored, thematic travel trailers behind them. Recently an announcement appeared on the SOTF Facebook page, revealing that O Magazine would be featuring the group in an upcoming piece.

A magazine editor herself, Horse&Rider’s Juli Thorson “found her tribe” from an article in Country Living magazine. She joined in 2006.

“It showed a group of women camped out in the Arizona desert, using vintage trailers, decorated in Western/cowgirl themes,” Juli explains. “I was immediately enchanted.”

Enchantment and a hunger for adventure seem to be common threads that attract the growing list of members.

Their website, filled with photos and testimonials (www.sistersonthefly.com), illustrates clearly that the Sisters, who are always adding new angles to their high level of fun, have definitely arrived as a solidified, enthusiastic, sometimes wacky women’s movement—not only here to stay but also on the go—er, “the fly.”

Who are these sisters?

“We are a group of women who challenge ourselves in all that we set our minds to do,” explains Sister No. 1 Maurrie Sussman of Phoenix, Arizona. “We have no age or color. We represent no religion or political group. We welcome all women who want to share the adventures of ‘sisterhood.’”

That welcome, coupled with the seed planted by Maurrie and her sister Becky Clarke of McCall, Idaho, has attracted women from all walks of life, generally happily settled into their careers, families, retirement, etc., but still looking to stretch themselves.

“SOTF women are like a diamond,” says Grace Brown, Sister No. 472, a retired corrections officer from Spokane, Washington.

“Each facet represents women from all backgrounds, from cowboy boot to stiletto heel wearing, manicured nails to rough worn out, hard-working hands…ladies with a PhD to those with only a high school education—moms, wives, grammies, sisters, singles, divorced.”
Grace joined the Sisters after seeing a segment about the group on the Travel Channel in 2005. After conducting more research, she contacted the organization, “sent in my money [$60 annual dues] and the rest is ‘herstory.’

“I needed to get out of my ‘comfort zone,’” she says. “I was mentally ready to do something I had never thought of doing—to spread my wings, and this seemed right up my alley.” Her husband Gary, at first skeptical, expressed pride in her decision. The two have worked side by side, restoring not one but three vintage trailers since then.

Meanwhile, for Sister No. 42, JoAnn Jackson Edgar of Dallas, owner of the Tumbleweed Hotel, the trailer restoration bug hit before SOTF. She had already fallen in love with vintage trailers, had found an old hunter’s trailer in the classifieds, restored it and sold it. Buyers of her second restored trailer brought along a magazine article featuring vintage trailers.

“I saw the article about SOTF!” she recalls. “I couldn’t believe there were other women out there who loved vintage campers.” She joined the next day.

Joann has restored several trailers but loves her Tumbleweed Hotel, which reminds her of her childhood in West Texas.

Generally, SOTF trailers reflect something about their owner—appearance, likes, etc. For Cindy Carter of Hayden, Idaho, the quilt in her “Little Red Rider” features a little red-haired girl riding her stick horse. “That was me when I was a little girl!”

“Queen Bee,” a Georgia-based trailer, with its décor of bees, bee facts and even a whimsical bee girl, reflects owner Paula Bush’s fetish for bees.

Vintage trailer towing is not a requirement for Sisters. Some bring tents or campers to events. All pay $60 annual dues, which covers membership record-keeping, bookkeeping costs, insurance, attorney fees, etc.

Beyond that, the only other requirement is to be female.

What do these sisters do?

Well, of course, many take up fly fishing, meeting for annual outings on Montana’s Missouri and Madison Rivers, Arizona’s Lee’s Ferry or Wyoming’s Platte River, to name a few. Every year Maurrie and her son Austin Lowder coordinate a fly fishing school in Montana.

SOTF angling adventures have attracted corporate interest from fly-fishing event organizers and retailers like Cabela’s, where five different Sisters’ events are planned this year.

“They [event organizers] give us a booth,” says Maurrie. “They want us to show the world that women do fly fish and camp.”

Meanwhile, Sister No. 2 Becky started Grammas on The Loose in McCall. This year’s event at Wanda Flanagan’s ranch on the Rosebud River in Absaroke, Montana, will include SOTF grandmothers, daughters and grandchildren. Its purpose: to teach kids how to camp, fly fish, use float tubes and other outdoor skills.

As a longtime horse lover, Maurrie also spearheads Cowgirl College at Willow Creek Ranch in Kaycee, Wyoming, home to the Hole-In-The-Wall hideout for outlaws like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

“We stay at the main quarters in bunkhouses, go gather cattle, do some team penning and have a branding day, capped off by a hoedown with Sisters, donned in their old prom dresses, stomping up a good time with ranch hands and neighbors.

“You don’t need to know how to be a cowgirl, but it helps if you know the front from the back of a horse,” SOTF events site states, “Cuz you will be living on one for four days.” The Willow Creek Ranch gathering also includes “jammie parties under the stars.”

Also, for horse lovers, Grace Brown loves to tell about pulling her trailer to Deary, Idaho, last summer for the Appaloosa Museum’s annual Apalousy Trail Ride and Dutch Oven Dinner (August 12–14 in 2011).

It was “Show and Tell” time for Grace, Juli Thorson and several other Sisters who parked and showed off their trailers while “glamping out” at the site on former ApHC executive secretary George Hatley’s ranch.

Down South, Sisters at the Seashore sponsor several activities unique to their region. Their April campout at Tybee Island near Savannah, Georgia, attracted Sisters who towed their trailers cross-country from as far away as California.

Sisters 1 and 2, Maurrie and Becky along with their “amazing mom” 90-year-old Mazie Morrison were planning to attend the Tybee gathering.

Mazie taught her daughters camping skills when they were little girls growing up in the Northwest. She still does her share of fly fishing.

Besides campouts, kayaking adventures, dutch-oven cookouts, antiquing, historic visits and numerous educational opportunities, Sisters hold regional get-togethers for lunch, holiday celebrations or even high teas.

So how do these sisters have more fun than anyone?

Maurrie will be the first to admit that sheer numbers of SOTF have presented challenges. Nonetheless, problems pale in comparison to the ongoing fun associated with each SOTF-sanctioned event across the country.

Even before their brainstorm, inspired by landing that big one on the Madison River, the founding sisters say they’ve always served as magnets for people seeking fun.

“I’m very hyper. I never stop. I’m constantly in movement,” Maurrie says. “I’ve been doing this day in and day out for 13 years, and I love it.

“I see what happens to the girls to change their lives. They’ll send notes. That’s very cool, and you know you’re on the right track,” she adds. “The point is you go overboard on everything you do—whether it’s dressing up in costumes or going to a picnic—you push the button and go over the limit.

“We Sisters are everywhere now,” Maurrie recently wrote on her blog “Remember, that wherever you are, SMILE,” she advised, adding Mark Twain’s words: Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.
Story by: Marianne Love