Random notes

So for all I know, all you guys might be expert campers, and I'm the only one who didn't really know how to do it. I did know that a lot of preparation and forethought had to go into it, and that if you did it wrong you could end up cold and wet, or-- in special circumstances-- in great danger and/or trouble. I knew all this, but yet I didn't know too much specifically about camping before starting this tour.

Pitching a tent: easy! Making one that lasts through torrential downpours okay and knowing how to take care of it afterwards? I had to ask an eagle scout about that before I left.

Cooking with a camp stove? I can currently start the process alright, but there's some weird fuel conservation thing at the end that Stephanie still does for me. On my travel partner I do depend.

Getting not eaten by bears? After a few Educational words from Stephanie I'm at least conscientious of the power of our food and scents to bring grizzly deaths to us all. I now drink the dishwater and seal most of the food in scent-proof bags, but I am a little worried about the bear country we'll be in tomorrow. The day after, in particular, we will reach the city of Big Bear. Hm...

Other wild animals: last night's campground had posters all around about a cougar sighting. Having read, as a child, a book documenting all the cougar attacks in North America (in great detail), I was more than healthily paranoid. Unhealthily paranoid, you might say. The bathroom facility had an open entrance so I would imagine a catamount walking in and biting my feet from under the stall door. It was worst when I woke up in the middle of the night feeling quite urgent while at the same time knowing it would not be worth it to sacrifice my life to the cats of prey merely for the temporal pleasure of relieving my bladder. But a full bladder is a hard thing to say no to. Aaah!

I also almost ran over a snake lying in the bike lane (reminding me of that time I almost ran/leapt straight onto this viper on an old mining road in Kamioka, Japan), biked thirstily by a dead eagle? (I was sure it died of dehydration), seen loads and loads of bunnies, and been warned by today's campground manager of the squirrels coming to try and take our food. Feisty little devils!

Showers: when facilities permit, we can get about 4 or 5 minutes per dollar. And a dollar it is. I already have a pretty good shower routine down so I can clean myself the first 2 minutes, stand around for a minute, and then remember I have clothes to wash and scrub at them for the 1 or 2 minutes remaining.

Dr. Bronner's soap: I first read about this in Entrepeneur magazine, in a profile about the original Dr Bronner's grandson. The girl who owned the Idyllwild camping store (the PCT runs through here so camping as well as Sierra Cascades biking is good business here) told me it makes effective, if gross-tasting, toothpaste. Now a lady such as I could never attest as to whether she has tried such things or not, but it does sud quite nicely.