My good friend who lives up the street is on the board for a non-profit bike tour, and she roped me into volunteering next week. Initially she was trying to talk me into doing the ride - well, it's 50-60 hilly miles a day, which I am definitely no longer capable of. I jokingly said, "I could drive one of the SAG vehicles" and she jumped on that in a flash. So, Thursday through Sunday I will be riding around southeastern Minnesota in a car with another volunteer, assisting any riders who might need water or help changing a tire or something from the first aid kit.
That part I'm not too worried about, since I'll be with another volunteer who's done this before. But...the accommodations are camping. The last time I camped was at Y Camp in grade school! (always a bad experience, maybe a story for another time). I do actually have a tent, sleeping pad and sleeping bag. Several years back, one of the Meetup groups I was in had occasional camping meetups outside of the metro to do things like hiking and kayaking and they sounded fun to me, so I thought "hey, I should get a tent so I'd be able to do this". I hit up an REI sale. The gear has been in my garage since then. 😂
Yesterday I decided I'd better do a dry run of putting up the tent. I went into my backyard and it immediately started sprinkling!! (this does not seem like a good sign). I took the tent back inside and set it up in my living room (no stakes of course). There was a break to watch a YouTube video since I didn't understand the inscrutable instructions on the tent bag. But I managed it:
(there's also a rain cover, I forgot to take a picture when I got that put on)
I blew up my sleeping pad, put it inside of the tent and lay down. It's not bad when I'm lying on my back (which I'm not supposed to do, with my mild apnea). On my side, I think it's possible the heaviest part of my body (my hips) will bottom out. We'll see.
Ear plugs will be essential. I remember a friend telling me she didn't do camping bike tours any more, because with 300 people camping there's bound to be a lot of people who have to go pee in the middle of the night. So, it's ZIIIIIIIIIP ZIIIIIIIIP as the person exits their tent, and ZIIIIIIIIIP ZIIIIIIIIP when they get back from the bathroom, allllll night long.
So, it could be four nights of very bad sleep ahead. 😬
In other news, Hard Workin' Dad gets back today from a trip out of town... so perhaps the latex undies will be tested tonight. 😎
In other other news I think I've achieved a personal record for someone getting back in touch after an extended period of time.
Hey Smartass!!
Talk about a shot in the dark!!! . . . I'm pretty sure you don't remember me, as if you did, we first started to exchange messages back in 2006!!! HA!!
As I have no idea if this is still a good email address, I'll be short! After horseshoes and a movie and a couple of drinks, I ended up on AFF tonight and saw that you apparently still have an active profile, thought I would attempt to re-connect.
Don't worry if you don't remember me. . . we never met in persons, we just exchanged emails.
But after all these years, I think it might be fun to actually re-connect yes???
So if this actually gets to you, I would like to hear back!!
Nope...I don't think so. If he's actually clever enough to go find my blog, well...hi, Bret.
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I still go to a few music festivals and camp in a tent sleeping on the ground I find I sleep longer than I do in my bed. Think young stay young?
That's great!
I loved camping before my body started to hurt, LOL. I always pitched my tent far from others. Preferably on the outer edges. Farther to the bathroom. Less noise.
Now I prefer to rent a cabin or sleep in an RV. A realistic bed, AC and a bathroom.
Hugs!!
I think outer edges of the group will probably be a good fit for me, too.
Totally get the desire for a realistic bed - in fact, that has been my standard excuse for never doing one of these camping bike tours - that if I've been out riding my bike all day and I'm tired, I deserve a real bed! This time of course, I'll just be riding around in a car.
I haven't gone camping in years, although I still have all the gear. I don't think I can "rough it" anymore. The only tents I use these days are the pop-up kind for when I go to the beach. Can't go without some sort of shade at the beach these days.
Looking forward to your report on the undies
65 is pretty late in life to be starting a camping lifestyle. We shall see!
Yeah it’s the lying on the ground part that’s always gonna keep me from camping. I have an eggshell crate and two thick mattress pads on my bed, I like a sooooooft bed.
17 years ago? Ya no
I like a soft bed too, and also have one of those egg carton thingies on top of my mattress. If only I had room to bring it, I think it might just fit inside my tent! But we are limited to two duffel bags for luggage.
Oh and I looked back in my emails - he also tried to strike something up again in 2013, a message that I didn't reply to, lol.
2006? I think that is a record ... and one I don't plan on beating!
I camped quite a bit in my single days but now ... even on an air mattress, I can't up off the ground fast enough to go pee. That's when those large fast-food drink cups come in handy.
To be fair, I looked back in my emails and he also tried in 2013…I did not reply that time either!
I think I’m going to be tapering off my fluid intake during the evening to try to avoid a middle of the night pee excursion.
I grew up around cottages so camping wasn’t part of my formative years. My ex had a van with a built-in bed and bar fridge. We went camping once, put up a dining tent. It kind of felt like we cheated since we slept in the van plus I don’t like spiders and snakes 😱
Van camping is something I’ve thought about…but I haven’t driven a minivan since 2006. 😊 It seems wasteful to have a vehicle that large when I wouldn’t need that much space 95 percent of the time.
@smartasswoman I suppose you could rent a mini or camper van for this type of occasion...
@CuriousHer true. Or convince a friend of mine, who has his minivan all tricked out for camping, to swap cars for a couple of weeks. 😀
@hippiechick1967 well, this time anyway. I could see trying to do some car camping on future road trips.
I love camping and am slowly working towards having a little camper to tow behind my car when I travel. I can't do tent camping any more tho... I need a few more comforts!
Hope your experience is a good one!!
I think a little popup camper would be ideal. I don't need a giant RV or anything...
Camping can be a blast; if you have the right gear, know what you're doing, are with the right group and are bedded down in the right location.
Have fun. 👍
Have the right gear - maybe half a ✅ ?
Know what I'm doing ❌
Are with the right group - who knows, but 300 people is probably too many
Bedded down in the right location - we shall see.
I haven't camped in years. Pam is not into camping! But it's just as well. Camping would kill me these days. I think the only camp gear I still have is a Coleman stove.
Yes, I think if I were going to do REAL camping I'd have to get all of the other gear like stove, etc. I don't see that happening, but I wouldn't mind tagging along with someone else who is well equipped.
I can understand some of this. I have been camping all my life. I now have to have a mattress (have one made for the tent). My hips fall asleep at night, not fun.
The tent you picture is fairly common design now. I am on tent number three (worn out a couple of them) of a similar design. Rain fly will be damp (well wet) on the inside in the morning. It is good to unattach it, and invert it so it can dry out some before folding. Just the fly, not the entire tent. It may also be helpful to have a tarp under the tent. Not really necessary but it helps with moisture.
How are yall doing food?
I need to be on the road by 7:30 am, so I'm a little worried about being able to dry out my tent if it rains - or the inside of the rain cover from my own moisture, as you say (although it does have four vents on the top that I'll probably keep open if it isn't raining).
For that matter, I'm wondering how the hell I'm going to have breakfast and pack up all of my gear by 7:30 am. I think it'll take at least 20-30 minutes to take the tent down, get the air out of the air mattress, fold everything up and get the items into their individual stuff sacks.
I'm looking into a ground sheet. That's one thing I didn't buy back when I got the tent. I might have a tarp in the garage, or a website I looked at suggested a cheap and light alternative is cutting a Tyvex sheet to size.
There is a catering company that will be providing breakfasts and dinners. Lunches will be provided by towns along the route. The tour organizer has been doing this for a long time and is great at lining up places that will host us for the publicity.
@smartasswoman Roll up the tent, it does not have to be in the stuff sack every day. You can try an air pump for the mattress. And put it in reverse to get the air out. After a couple of tries, you will be able to put it up and take it down pretty quickly. Experiment with different sequences of assembly. It also does not have to be completely dry to roll it up. For a couple of days it will be fine. You just have to let it dry completely before you put it back in storage.
@smartasswoman I would volunteer as a camping consultant but next week is not an option. (Classes start the following week)