Oshkosh 2003 Redux

"Margy Natalie" wrote in message
...


Jack Allison wrote:. The tricky part at OSH is trying to

dry out a sleeping bag between storms. You walk outside after a seminar
or
after going through the booths, see nasty dark clouds, hear a thunder
clap
and *know* you won't make it back to your camp before it starts raining.
My
bag finally dried out after about three days. Felt like I was sleeping
in a
sponge the first night after it got wet. Ah, but it was all worth it
though. I'm hooked and already thinking about next year.

The "trick" is to hang things inside!! We have a HUGE tent (Eureka - "The
Lodge") that has a sleeping room and a porch (no floor). Both rooms have
huge
windows and we keep the ones in the sleeping room closed at ALL times we
are
away from the tent. Both rooms have rings you can hang ropes from for
drying
things and for hammocks for stuff you want to keep off the ground. We do
string
a laundry line outside also, but only for things we have duplicates of
(towels,
etc.). We have a queen size air mattress so the bags don't get wet. I
also
pack a couple of days clothes in plastic bags. Sometimes I just leave a
bunch
of things in the plane for dryness sake. You really can stay high and dry
in
OSH with a bit of advance planning.

Margy

I'll second Margy's comments about hanging things up. I even was able to do
this in a small, backpack tent that I carried with me on a business trips
some years and was able to steal a couple of days at OSH. In my case, I
just had to be sure that nothing touched the rip-stop fabric (avoid wicking,
obviously), but it was doable even in a small tent. In my larger tent, it
was a piece of cake. Thanks for the reminder, Margy.

As an aside, there's nothing like trying to sleep in a tiny, orange rip-stop
nylon tent when lightning is all around. You would swear that the tent blew
away and the light part of the "show" is right above you. Eventually, I got
used to it. :-)

Michael Pilla