BS: The Joys of Camping

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 27 Jul 08 - 09:19 PM

"one of those "throw up" tents"

Sounds like the sort of thing to take to events where lots of booze is drunk....

Of course if you have ever been in a tent where someone does the 'projectile vomiting trick' at 3 am, you would prefer that you had left it at home...

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 27 Jul 08 - 06:09 PM

I believe Essex Girl has one of those "throw up" tents, but she has not yet managed to get it properly down yet. Sounds more like the late lamented Dave each time I think of it.

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: Mr Happy
Date: 27 Jul 08 - 08:56 AM

Me & the Fiends are off to Anglesey next w/end, so I'm presently tweaking me tent, gazebo & other camping paraphenalia so we can be comfy for the 4 days we'll be under canvas whatever.

The gazebo's great for shade if it's scorchio weather & shelter if rainy.

I've used it at a few fests over the years but as they're really meant for garden use, aren't very strongly made to withstand some conditions,

After having it blown down a coupla times, I've needed to replace some poles with stronger ones from old frame tents.

A chap recently had those new type of tents which almost erect themselves & live inside large circular bags which look like giant bodrhans!

Anyone else use these?

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: Donuel
Date: 18 Jan 08 - 07:06 PM

The kids love tents. The very word makes their eyes large with uncontained excitment. But my wife hates camping so we left the State Park at sundown with the tent in the trunk and turned onto Rt 321 until we finally saw some Cabins tucked behind some fallen pine trees. A tilted hand Painted sign boasted "Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss".

We walked up to the adjoing farm house and knocked on the screen porch door. Ollie wasn't Ollie at all, but grandpa Catspaw, Spaw for short. "You'll wanna came by in the mornin and get yourself some bait. We got some purty fair fishin back there in Lake Tahoma.
I thanked him and paid for cabin 4 which also had a nickname, "Hitchcock's Hacienda". We could her him strummin on a guitar as we made our way with flashlights down to cabin 11.

People, I swear that place was a government contracted experimental study on the life cycle of over sized parasites on live human beings.
But once you've seen a 2 inch long mosquito you've seen them all so not to be a kill joy I suggested we set up the tent inside the cabin and we started duct taping every grommet hole and opem seam on the tent that we could, not thinking how many trips we would need to use the bathroom outside.


Its amazing how shrill a rooster sounds when you've had no sleep bu the kids were thrilled...

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: mouldy
Date: 18 Jan 08 - 05:16 AM

My toilet IS functional - it even flushes! (I just have to haul the bottom half down the field to the dump point every now and again, which is not pleasant, but is over quite quickly). If the weather's fine I can have a sort of shower, as I have a "solar shower", ie a black plastic water bag with a sprinkler attached. You leave it out in the sun, and it heats up. You can then put the bag on the roof of your car or hang it in a tree, and hose yourself down. The alternative is to go in the sea, or to the nearest swimming pool - sunny days aren't always that frequent!

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: GUEST,strad
Date: 17 Jan 08 - 08:13 AM

Weather makes camping such fun! In my two person tent in a valley in southern Norway (on the way to a Shanty Festival) I lay in my sleeping bag listening to the rain lashing down and contemplating my bladder which was overfull. The lightning was rolling along the mountain tops for over thirty seconds each time. Yes I was timing it. When I realised that I just had to get up and head to the loo I put my hand down on the groundsheet and found I was sleeping on a waterbed! The campsite was flooded. Great amusement value. So, a quick splash to the loo and back to pack up a soggy tent. Then, of course, the bloody car wouldn't start. Aahh, fond memories. It was a good festival anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: Becca72
Date: 16 Jan 08 - 04:53 PM

I have camped and will probably camp again but I can think of hundreds of other things I'd rather do. When I do go camping it's absolutly necessary that there is a functional indoor toilet available and showers are a nice bonus. I can't sleep on the ground any more with back issues and I have yet to find an air mattress that is any more comfortable. So until that issue is resolved I'll just stick to motels.

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: ClaireBear
Date: 16 Jan 08 - 04:38 PM

Sorcha, mine says we're too old as well, and we too bought an RV that is comfy but about the last vehicle on earth I'd want to take camping.

That's why I bought a tiny car with just enough room for me, my son, and all the camping equipment -- sadly my husband has to stay at home when we go feral. Not so bad, really: he's happy staying home, I'm happy on the road, the car gets 35 mph, my son gets to enjoy "real" camping, and my tent and miscellaneous goodies get a good airing.

The RV still gets a workout every so often when "roughing it" is not on the agenda (like when we're visiting friends out of town or going to a music or dance camp), so my husband and I do take vacations together...but only when the trip is one we can both enjoy.

Claire

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: open mike
Date: 16 Jan 08 - 01:45 PM

well, I am not sure that "camping" in a tin tent, trailer or r.v.
or motor home qualifies as camping,,,which i think is more like
tenting..those other things are trailering, r.v.'ing or motor homing

i had a "tent in a box" for years....went with it on family trips when
I was young...a comfy camper...also went to music festivals with it for
many years. Then i got a motor home....now i can't imagine putting
up tents, or putting up with them....now the fridge, sink, and bed
come along every time i drive it. It is not just any motor home, it
is a Vixen, 20 mpg, fiberglass construction..light and efficient.
they say it sleeps 4 but you would have to be on very good terms
and hope to continue to be at the end of the trip as well as the
beginning! see www.vixenrv.org or www.vixenrv.com

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: Sorcha
Date: 16 Jan 08 - 09:12 AM

But I don't want to sell it all. I want to USE it instead of the tin tent. HE doesn't agree. Says we're 'too old' to put up the tent, haul all the stuff necessary for tenting....etc etc etc.

Bah Humbug. So I got heat stroke one year doing all that....big deal.

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: mouldy
Date: 16 Jan 08 - 09:07 AM

I camp every year in south west Scotland. We take chemical loos with us, and get our water from the tap at the farm gate. It's on a little bay, and it's great...when it doesn't blow or rain! Still, I go every year, for at least a week, as it's the company I enjoy!
I tend to use a lightweight family tent - I have to be able to put it up on my own. I use a larger one if there is someone with me, or if I've brought the dog with me and I can get help. I also just invested in a smaller one for weekend work, such as morris weekends.

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 15 Jan 08 - 11:29 PM

Think 'Garage Sale' Sorcha.... :-)

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: Sorcha
Date: 15 Jan 08 - 11:18 PM

We managed to aquire a Tin Tent (RV/caravan/5th wheel campertrailer) and I agree that it is convienent, comfy, gives us a place away from bugs and dirt.....but I still think it's taken a lot of the fun out of camping. For me at least.

Besides, over the years we have collected lots of Stuff for tent camping. What do I do with it now? Not to mention, what do I do with the tent(s)? Just keep storing all of it in the garage I guess. Make the kids deal with all of it someday.

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: wysiwyg
Date: 15 Jan 08 - 09:38 PM

RA's, Bill.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: kendall
Date: 15 Jan 08 - 07:41 PM

My idea of roughing it is cutting T bone steak with a dull knife.

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 15 Jan 08 - 12:44 AM

"I also have a "throw up" tent"


Hmmmm, they musta been selling them Oz for decades then... :-)

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: Bert
Date: 14 Jan 08 - 11:05 PM

...a small dorm-size one... That's one hell of a big microwave. What do you cook in it? Students?

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Jan 08 - 01:32 PM

Camping in England? Forget it; damp clothes, no toilets, mud, rain, no washing facilities, cold, drunken idiots keeping you up all night, and I forgot the midges. I'd rather nail my bollocks to the table, frankly.
Now, put me in a fuck-off Winnebago with a shower and a cooker and a fridge and somewhere with a nice view...

Andrew

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: Midchuck
Date: 14 Jan 08 - 01:22 PM

In recent years, we've only camped out once a year - at Old Songs. We had conflicts last year, and missed it. I want to go again this year but I really don't want to sleep on the ground. It was fun - until I turned 60.

It doesn't make sense to buy a camper for one long weekend a year. My options appear to be:

Rent a camper, or a large van with a rear seat that folds down into a bed, if I can find a place locally that does it.

Buy a larger tent and some good cots.

Get a motel.

I shall have to brood about the matter all Spring.

Peter.

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: Rapparee
Date: 14 Jan 08 - 12:51 PM

But as my brother says about it, "Been there, done that, prefer something a bit more comfortable in my old age."

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: wysiwyg
Date: 14 Jan 08 - 11:19 AM

:~)

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: Rapparee
Date: 14 Jan 08 - 11:13 AM

We have a tent. We sleep on the ground in the mud and bugs. We cook baked beans from a can over a smoky campfire which, because of the rain, never gets hot enough to cook anything to a temperature beyond "tepid." The latrine is a hole and we use leaves for toilet paper.

Oh, wait, that was when I was in the Boy Scouts and the Army.

Our next camping trip is next weekend. We'll go to Yellowstone, stay in a cabin, eat in the dining room, and breakfast is part of the cost of the room. Hot showers, maid service, snowcoach in and out and for the tour...

We have a "6-person" tent we haven't even used yet. A queen-sized inflatable bed. Propane stove...dang, but it's a long way from the Boy Scouts.

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: wysiwyg
Date: 14 Jan 08 - 10:44 AM

A friend I visited last year just had a small dorm-size one; they go for about 30 bucks and he just plugs them into the mains. Truckers' supply also has a wealth of cooking and refrigeration options.

Me, I'm taking the panini press along in our pop-up camper this summer! Yeah, we're really "roughing it."

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: Mr Happy
Date: 14 Jan 08 - 10:25 AM

Latest camping products include a microwave oven, herehttp://thewavebox.com/

Anybody got one?

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: JenEllen
Date: 23 Jul 04 - 11:26 AM

Ellenpoly;
The head lights are GREAT!! I have one of the little elastic-banded ones and it's wonderful. First time I used it was in a midnight trip to the potty.
First off--it was a 'potty' only in the finest sense of the word. A three-sided privvy that looked out over the Sitkinak Strait on Kodiak Island. You know it's a wonderful bathroom when the 'occupied' sign is putting an antler on the roof.
I was just happy to be off the ground for the first time in ages, just sitting there, doin' my business, and thought "Hey, I wonder if this thing has high beams?" (the light--I know I have high beams) so I started turning the bezel. Whammo. Pitch black.
I finally quit laughing long enough to get my kit up and turn the light back on. I got back to camp, thinking I was safe, only to find out that upon seeing the light on the hill go out abruptly, everyone was pretty sure I'd fallen in. Haven't lived it down yet.

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 23 Jul 04 - 11:13 AM

Ok-favorite camping/backpacking items....

The "head light". Great for keeping your hands free while rummaging through your stuff at night.


Next?

..xx..e

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: JenEllen
Date: 23 Jul 04 - 11:09 AM

What I want to know is what sadistic bastard decided that 'travel' games had to be so tiny?

Sure, they fit in your backpack, but have you ever tried playing Yahtzee on a flat rock by campfire light? Dice roughly the size of the erasers on the ends of pencils, constantly getting lost on power throws and causing everyone to do "dice-hunt" by flashlight all over the campsite? I won't even talk about those so-called magnetic checkers/chess thingies...Ick.

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: harpgirl
Date: 23 Jul 04 - 09:37 AM

I have a truck tent like the one pcitured here:http://www.campmor.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=40000000226&storeId=226&categoryId=45763&langId=-1&pa



I can add two feet to my camper and ventilate when it's hot and close it up when it rains. I recommend it. They fold into a tiny tote bag when not in use. I also have a "throw up" tent from this company that folds back into a flat circle. Great stuff!

harp

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: Midchuck
Date: 23 Jul 04 - 08:28 AM

fake camping in a camper van is for wussies. thats not camping

Bite Me!

I've camped out in all kinds of tents, and without them. I've slept on air mattresses that leaked, foam pads that transmitted the image of the rocks and roots under them perfectly, and on bare ground with nothing but a poncho between me and it. When I was young and elastic, it was fun. Now I'm 62, and my spinebone feels every pebble all the next day.

I intend to get some kind or camper or van affair the first moment my cash flow permits, so I can continue festival-going without pain, during the years of my (slow, I hope) lapse into senility.

When I turned 60, I decided I no longer had to worry about proving I had bigger balls than the next guy. It's very comfortable.

Peter.

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 23 Jul 04 - 07:58 AM

I've got an idea, Bob. Next time (next life?) you can just pack me in with the vodka.

Getting away from it all is certainly for me what it's all about, in that I agree. I just know that if I had tried one of YOUR trips, they'd have had to airlift me out! (Swigging on your vodka bottle all the way home)

..xx..e

(PS-But our fishing trip in THIS life is still on. ;-D )

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: s6k
Date: 23 Jul 04 - 06:14 AM

camping is brilliant

fake camping in a camper van is for wussies. thats not camping

i used to like the field behind the moon and sixpence pub in glaisdale, but some bugger has bought it and its now a farm. god damn them. i went there for years and my parents for years before me. that was the best place ever.

now, we found another one in glaisdale that lets you have fires. dont trust the weather, so might go next weekend now.

camping "rules"

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: Deckman
Date: 23 Jul 04 - 06:02 AM

Ellen: To each his own! You'd rather drink iced tea and swing in a hammock! I prefer vodka and getting away from people in the high mountains. I won't talk about how I swing!! (hee hee) Bob

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 23 Jul 04 - 03:50 AM

My god, Deckman!!! The things I learn about you here at Mudcat!

"Backpacking" indeed! That sound's more like Testosterone gone Mad! Seriously, your kind of camping is another thing altogether...the kind I'd rather read about while swinging in a nice hammock with a cold glass of iced tea.

..xx..e

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: sledge
Date: 23 Jul 04 - 03:16 AM

I love camping but last year I tried something a bit new, for me anyway. I took the bare minimum of clothing, a sleeping bag and a Goretex bivy bag and walked the Ridgeway trail in England, sleeping rough effectively, loved it, plan doing some more come August, if time allows.

Cheers

Sledge

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: Deckman
Date: 22 Jul 04 - 04:43 PM

Have I got tales to tell to you, but only if I can substitute the word "BACKPACKING" for "camping." Until my hip gave out about five years ago, I was a seriously hardcore backpacker! I looked forward to every September as that's when I would go off for 11 to 13 day solo hikes in the Washington Olympic Mountains.

I'd wait until school started and all the teachers and students (and rangers) were out of the mountains and then I'd go in. I'd often go in with 60 pounds of food and supplies on my back. About three days up the trail, I'd climb a high tree and stash a food bag with the final three days of food. Then I'd head in toward "Mt. Olympus", or the "High Divide," or I'd follow the "Press Party Trail." Upon my returning without much food and still three days from the trailhead, there would be my food bag, and vodka, waiting for me! (like xmas all over again).

Sometimes I'd do a "crossover." That's where you have breakfast in Olympia with another hiking party, afterwards you'd exchange cars and car keys, and drive each other's rig to your jump off point. Then somewhere on the trail, maybe 5 to 7 days later, you would meet each other going the other way. You'd share a campfire and stories, exchange car keys, and when you left the mountains again, there was your own rig waiting for you.

With my now new hip, I'm starting to get misty eyed whenever I look to the West from my home in Everett and see the Olympics, just calling to me again. CHEERS, Bob (by the way, camping is great fun also ... but only if you like people and brats).

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: JenEllen
Date: 22 Jul 04 - 04:34 PM

Oh gawd, yes.

In addition to the riverrock-potatoes, you can add hockeypuck-biscuits and JIFFYPOP!!! That enormous balloon of tinfoil expanding over campfire coals, and the buttery smell that in a split second turns toxic because you've been impatient and burned the whole freakin' thing and all that is left when you slit the top is two or three edible kernels and a great blackened wad of cinders.

Worst family camping (Spaw should appreciate this) was when the entire clan went to Lake Michigan for a vacation. Little cabin in the middle of nowhere near Lake Hamlin (?). After a day or two of hot humid funk, us kids were bored stiff and starting to get into trouble. My cousin and I go into the cabin to get a drink. Inside, both my Nana and Auntie stop talking. Of course, we go "Whatcha talkin' bout???" They refuse to tell us at first, then swear us to secrecy before telling us that our campsite and cabin were the site of a grisly murder in the 40s, THIS WEEKEND is the anniversary, and my Auntie swears she saw the ghost of the murdered man in the campsite the night before.

We swore not to tell the other kids, so as not to scare them, then we ran right outside and blabbed. This was all according to my Nana's master plan---The grown-ups had a great time the entire week by taking turns scaring the living crap out of all of us: Uncle wakes up, sneaks outside, moans and shakes the tents. Dad wanders around the campground with a sheet over his head. Aunt waits until we are all just about asleep (we've shit ourselves and moved inside the cabin by then) and then keens and scratches the wall of the bedroom....etc. Dreadful.

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: Les from Hull
Date: 22 Jul 04 - 04:26 PM

Camping - the excitement is in tents!

Like Steve (above) I was a Scout Leader and I'm used to tenting (as I suppose we have to call it now so as not to confuse Jules and Sand). It keeps the expense down so we can spend more on essentials (like booze and lemonade). I'll be on the Warwick campsite as well, but it's siling down in Hull at the moment so you'd better be sorting out the weather down there. The worst thing about tenting is packing a wet tent and knowing you've got to unpack it again and dry it when you get home.

I can see why Jules and Sand aren't so keen. Them nights when your lallies are so cold, and you wake up in the morning and your riah's a mess and there's nowhere to wash your eek. I got all the palare, me.

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: SINSULL
Date: 22 Jul 04 - 03:48 PM

No Room Service, Giok?

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 22 Jul 04 - 02:59 PM

I just bought me a second hand camper, a Hymer which is a quality German make, and it's left hand drive too. What do I care, it's got a 3 burner stove, a fridge, a shower, blown air central heating, water heating, fly screens, and loads of mod cons. I was in the scouts as a boy, and graduated through, pup tents, 2 man tents, big tents, trailer tents, sleeping in the back of my car, and small campers, to attain the pinnacle of mobile comfort; my new van. I love it dearly, and we're off to try it out this weekend, nowhere too far, just a test run.
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: SINSULL
Date: 22 Jul 04 - 02:18 PM

I hate camping. If it doesn't involve hot and cold running water and room service, I am not interested.

Spaw's story reminds me of a similar vacation when I was a girl - Hurricanes Donna and Connie hit one after the other. The high point of the two weeks of sog was seeing my brother screaming in fright when a nest of baby mice fell down his back as he sat watching the rain.

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: Schantieman
Date: 22 Jul 04 - 12:56 PM

Done by the majority at all UK festivals. Ms Lemon does it every w/e from May to Sept. I did it for about 400 nights as a Scout & later a Scout Leader in my youth (and comparative youth). The trick is ALWAYS to make yourself comfortable - any fool can rough it!

See you on the camp site at Warwick!

Steve

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: mack/misophist
Date: 21 Jul 04 - 11:14 PM

Once I had a job that required me to sleep out doors and cook over a fire for 14 consecutive weeks. Beds and stoves are better. No rattlesnakes in bed, either.

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Jul 04 - 03:58 PM

Never pitch a tent next to a camper van. The pumps for the toilet and water supply will always wake you up too late or too early if not both.

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: jacqui.c
Date: 21 Jul 04 - 03:46 PM

I've never been camping in my life until this June, when I spent two nights in the back of Kendall's van at Old Songs.

In view of the rain on the Friday night that was probably the best place to be rather than the tent that was first planned. I cooked for the first time on a camp stove and managed to produce an edible meal and learned the art of keeping relatively clean without the aid of a bathroom. The mosquitoes made a meal of me but it was great fun, although Kendall has now bought a mobile home for future forays, which will be a little more civilised!

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: Mr Red
Date: 21 Jul 04 - 09:57 AM

Well Spaw you certainly put the Mud back in 'catter.

My Joy of camping joins me usually on the Saturday of a festival for the ceilidh. And yes, I always say I am jumping with Joy (meant in the terpsichorean sense of course). She tolerates the caravan (which is smaller than the car). I calls it a Coupe Tup - well she is a sheep farmer's daughter.

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: GUEST,Julian & Sandie
Date: 21 Jul 04 - 07:48 AM

Ooh we love camping - we'll camp it up anywhere. Can't stand tents though - all those creepy-crawlies and those big poles (no Julee sweetie I wasn't talking about you) and all my clothes get creased and dirty. We much prefer cottaging to tenting.

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 21 Jul 04 - 03:32 AM

no mention of Kenneth Williams.....ooh matron!!

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 21 Jul 04 - 03:32 AM

LOVE camping! Love it love it love.

Sorry yours wasn't the best time this time...but considering the law of averages, the fact that it all got dumped on you in one fell swoop, should mean that it's clear camping for another decade!

..xx..e

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: C-flat
Date: 21 Jul 04 - 03:16 AM

It seems I am to be re-introduced to the "joys of camping" (in the UK this means in a tent rather than a camper-van) on the insistence of my 7 year-old daughter who is campaigning tirelessly for me to take her to a muddy place, miles from anywhere, with only the most basic washing/toilet facilities, where we can erect a flimsy canvas covering to protect ourselves from the very worst of effects of exposure and hypothermia.
As a father I know I will eventually give in to my daughters demands, I nearly always do, but I have a cunning plan!
Living a small distance of 30 miles south of Whitby, I am conspiring to book a place on a campsite there, to coincide with the folk festival this August.
Every cloud...............

C-flat.

Subject: RE: BS: The Joys of Camping
From: TS
Date: 21 Jul 04 - 02:46 AM

my secret to camping....bring lots of booze...get knackered so you can sleep well all night (aka pass-out)..then when the birds and the sun wake you in the morning, drink quickly to prevent any hangover...carry on for the day and you'll sleep well yet again..continue as above...oh yeah...lots of music and drunk-friendly food works too..and..if possible..the means not to be sleeping alone in the tent...(ahem!)