[Steppes] Camping Comforts v. Necessities

[Samatha Cooper]

The propane water heater Philo mentions below is
called a heat exchanger, from his description. I will
offer my assistance appraising the technical side of
potable and heated water availability and machinery if
it is needed, since I do that sort of thing in
Mundanity as a chemical engineer.

For myself, I have found the Broken O site not an
ideal camping spot. I am one of those unfortunates who
have a pronounced allergy to fire ant bites, plus the
site was full of grass burrs, horse hockey pucks, and
the dished valley that was the campsite collects
reflected solar heat from the nearby rocky low hills
all day. The access road is pretty rough, although I
did manage to get my car down it after some concern.

Wherever we set up, however, particularly if we stay
in Canton, I would like to see some more organized
emergency planning. I had no idea that my campsite
would flood so badly. If it had hailed - and I worried
about that all night - I have no idea what shelter I
could have found, or where. If a tornado came down, I
wouldn't have known. I wound up striking camp in the
pouring rain, four inches of muddy water, and lots of
lightning by myself at 6 A.M. Not an experience I want
to repeat, though certainly a great story to tell
later.

If Canton remains the only possibility, as a single
woman, I am definitely going to have to spring for a
hotel next year. Otherwise, I'll be exposing my life
to needless risk, and while that is certainly Period,
I don't think it is the Dream. :)

Saraid
(who certainly can't claim to be new anymore. My whole
second time at Warlord. The first camping alone.
Whew!)

>
> Message: 10
> Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2003 21:12:03 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Aaron Robb <philo_net at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [Steppes] Re: Weather at Steppes
> To: steppes at ansteorra.org
> Reply-To: steppes at ansteorra.org
>
> Just a note, there is a step between the
> port-a-johns and a permanent
> building. If any of you attended Taste of Addison or
> any of the more
> "upscale" kind of community events you've probablly
> seen the bathroom
> trailers that are basicly a portable bathroom (6-10
> stalls plus sinks
> depending on type).
>
> Depending on resources, setting up showers is not
> really all that
> difficult - at Pensic last year I had continuous hot
> running water in
> my camp due to a tank of propane and a pipe heating
> element (I'm sure
> I'm using the wrong phrase here, I don't recall the
> technical name,
> but the device heated the water as it went through,
> rather than
> having a tank of heated water). I'm told it's not as
> enery efficient
> as a tank model, but I was willing to pay a little
> more for hot
> showers 24/7. I've seen "shower trucks" using this
> technology,
> although they're a lot fewer and far between than
> the truck full of
> stalls.
> Both of these options would require minimal on-site
> water hookups and
> go better with power...
>
> Philo