draft
As part of the Steve Gano memorial, I chose to camp in Big Sur and save $200/night. The only camp grounds available were at the Ventana Campgrounds which are part of the incredibly glamourous and expensive Ventana Inn. I had stayed at the Ventana Inn once 25 or so years ago and it had not been nearly so expensive but since that time it has been acquired by some ridiculous management company and now it is just for the 1 percent. The camp ground however was merely $100/night and that was affordable and my best deal.
Various things were learned and it was a valuable if not entirely comfortable experience. In no particular order: 1. It took about an hour to put up the tent, and that went well, 2. The tent worked although I was cold because I had too much ventilation, 3. I did not enjoy crawling in and out of the tent and plan to get a new tent with room to stand up, to walk into, and to have extra room around me, 4. I may or may not get a cot, 5. The sleeping pad was warm enough and comfortable but like everyone else I would always slide off of it and it was difficult to get things organized, 6. I needed much more battery life, 7. Damn bugs were attracted to any lights and they freaked me out, 8. The stove worked very well, 7. By far the best food was food that came in little packets you could boil and then dispose and also Top Ramen noodles, 9. I had lots of trouble finding things: too many things were in bags that looked alike, 10. It was annoying finding the bathrooms because they were not well marked until you knew where they were, 11. The closest bathrooms were for the elite and not the proletariat, 12. You bought tokens for hot showers and that worked well but there was no place to put your clothes or sit down, and yes 13. weird animals really liked that water. This is the countryside, after all.
One completely unexpected issue: Big Sur has weird cell phone reception. My campground had reception (it was part of the Ventana Inn, after all) but the Big Sur Lodge and other places did not. This was unexpectedly inconvenient. How far we have fallen from grace!
But the worst issue was that I had tremendous anxiety trying to get to sleep and I dont know why. This is the second time this has happened to me when on little test trips and I dont know what it means. In this case I happened to have my ADD/ADHD medication which I could misuse to get to sleep but that is not recommended even if it does work well.
In conclusion, it was a valuable test but we need to consider different equipment and more tests. Possibly even resorting to staying at hotels and not camping most of the time.
The anxiety/medication thing is worrisome.
Showing posts with label car camping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label car camping. Show all posts
Saturday, June 8, 2019
Sunday, February 24, 2019
Short Trip to Joshua Tree (postmortem)
draft
Instead of just hauling ass down the road for a month or two, I decided to start off slowly and do a few day trip to Joshua Tree. Many interesting things were learned and here is a list of a few of them.
1. Check the weather. We had a record setting blizzard during the exact time I chose to go. It was exciting but maybe not the best choice. For the kids and adults of Joshua Tree, this was a peak experience. They had not had a snow storm like this for at least 11 years, according to one native.
2. Many exciting new symptoms seem to be present when I travel when sick, without the usual medication and in a blizzard. Memo to File: Do not do this again.
3. Just a little further down the road from Joshua Tree is a 24 hour medical center. The staff was very nice to me and let me hang out until I felt better. They were particularly impressed with the blizzard. A reminder that even medical workers on the night shift can act like big kids.
4. The Safari Inn was a perfect little motel for a great price.
5. The Crossroads Cafe was very good and I immediately fell in love with the hostess.
6. The mexican restaurant is just so so, but it is open 24 hours which is nice.
7. Google Maps does not check the weather when giving directions and nearly got me killed.
8. Joshua Tree is really nice when there is a foot of snow dumped on it.
9. Azuza, CA apparently stands for A - Z in the USA.
10. CalArts is right on the way to Joshua Tree if you take the Santa Clarita route.
11. Its important to pack critical items (like vitamins, medication, food, etc) in a place where you can trivially find them in your car when you are sick, havent slept for 24 hours, you are in the middle of an amazing snow storm, and everything in the car has been shuffled several times.
Other Notes:
12. The wind farm on the way to Joshua Tree is really interesting. Plays on size and scale.
13. There is a nice donut store back up the road from Joshua Tree in Yucca Valley.
Instead of just hauling ass down the road for a month or two, I decided to start off slowly and do a few day trip to Joshua Tree. Many interesting things were learned and here is a list of a few of them.
1. Check the weather. We had a record setting blizzard during the exact time I chose to go. It was exciting but maybe not the best choice. For the kids and adults of Joshua Tree, this was a peak experience. They had not had a snow storm like this for at least 11 years, according to one native.
2. Many exciting new symptoms seem to be present when I travel when sick, without the usual medication and in a blizzard. Memo to File: Do not do this again.
3. Just a little further down the road from Joshua Tree is a 24 hour medical center. The staff was very nice to me and let me hang out until I felt better. They were particularly impressed with the blizzard. A reminder that even medical workers on the night shift can act like big kids.
4. The Safari Inn was a perfect little motel for a great price.
5. The Crossroads Cafe was very good and I immediately fell in love with the hostess.
6. The mexican restaurant is just so so, but it is open 24 hours which is nice.
7. Google Maps does not check the weather when giving directions and nearly got me killed.
8. Joshua Tree is really nice when there is a foot of snow dumped on it.
9. Azuza, CA apparently stands for A - Z in the USA.
10. CalArts is right on the way to Joshua Tree if you take the Santa Clarita route.
11. Its important to pack critical items (like vitamins, medication, food, etc) in a place where you can trivially find them in your car when you are sick, havent slept for 24 hours, you are in the middle of an amazing snow storm, and everything in the car has been shuffled several times.
Other Notes:
12. The wind farm on the way to Joshua Tree is really interesting. Plays on size and scale.
13. There is a nice donut store back up the road from Joshua Tree in Yucca Valley.
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