[Rockhounds] Accommodations

Thu Nov 29 07:15:32 PST 2007

The summer of 2005 found several club members, Mid-Hudson Valley Gem &
Mineral Society of Poughkeepsie, NY, traveling to Bancroft, Ontario, Canada.
It was the weekend of the annual Gemboree so getting a place to stay had
been reserved ahead of time. We had two rooms behind a corner store and
restaurant.  There was water, AC, TV, suitable beds, misplaced sink faucet
so you couldn't get a glass under it and weird wallpaper - an adventure.
The weather was extremely hot for there, hovering during the daytime at 102
degrees.
Late afternoon, while were at roadside collecting diopside and scapolite
huge towering clouds were developing and we could hear the rumble of
thunder. Being originally from Kansas I knew we were in for a big storm. We
went about our way and finally stopped  at a pizza restaurant for dinner.
Then the storm hit, lights went out! Sideways high thrashing wind and
flashing lightning accompanied our dinner. We watched their pizza sign as it
swung nearly bending to the ground. Luckily our pizza had already been
prepared so we ate by candlelight.  Being loony rockhounds we decided to do
some night collecting with our UV lamps, it certainly was dark enough. We
crawled over the C & N rock pile with both sw and lw lamps.The rain had
abated somewhat and thankfully we didn't attract lightning as the storm
continued to move south. The collecting was good and there was the
excitement of living on the edge. We arrived at our place to stay to find
the electric out, which meant no AC or water. Here we were dirty, grungy,
hot and sticky and the mosquitoes were as large as the loons.  The power was
out for two days and nights. The storm was wide spread and had generated
several tornadoes. In some areas there was quite a bit of damage. The
conditions didn't dissuade us and we continued to go to new collecting sites
each day. Finally the power was back on and we had water at last; we reveled
in the cleanup.  Some might consider our time there a bit of a disaster, but
I feel if you get home safely with your treasure, you have a good story to
tell!

Carolyn Reynard

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Margaret Malm" <kadok at infowest.com>
To: <kugeln at peoplepc.com>; "'Rockhounds at drizzle.com: A mailing list for rock
and gem collectors'" <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 9:32 PM
Subject: RE: [Rockhounds] Accommodations (Was: Vehicles)

> The Aussies do have some very ingenious car tents. I have friends who have
a
> "rig" that, when traveling, is just a small trailer, about 6 ft x 6 (or
> maybe 8) feet x about a foot or so deep. Trails very nicely. Stop and the
> top folds back and down making a sort of vestibule that extends the
> sleeping/living area, a top goes up over all of it and another one also
> extends out to the side as a fly. A table pulls out from the trailer,
also,
> under the fly. All goes up /down in just a few minutes.
>
> Margaret
>
> Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] Accommodations (Was: Vehicles)
>
> Pete,
>
> If you search for Australian car tents you'll eventually find your way to
> very ingeneous rooftop tents.
>
> John
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <Pmodreski at aol.com>
> To: <rockhounds at lists.drizzle.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 7:18 AM
> Subject: Re: [Rockhounds] Accommodations (Was: Vehicles)
>
>
> >
> > I can't resist responding to this line of thought...
> >
> > In a message dated 11/27/2007 12:47:31 PM Mountain Standard Time,
> > ajs at frii.com writes:
> >
> >>  ...weirdest, most primitive (or high-end), most dangerous or coolest
> >>  place that members have camped, boarded or otherwise racked out during
> >>  a rockhound trip.
> >
> >
> >
> > About three years ago, heading home after the Tucson Show, I left Tucson
> > after dark Sunday evening and planned to camp out in the desert; I knew
of
>
> > a
> > good place to get off I-10 onto some dirt roads near the AZ-NM border
> > (Steins
> > Pass), where I'd stopped on my way out and gone for a little hike--found
> > some
> > neat volcanic rocks there, though no minerals of note.  So I pulled
off;
> > since
> > I knew where I wanted to go it was easy even in the dark; and parked
> > about a
> > mile from the interstate.  Well, because it was (a) pitch dark, (b)
> > ground
> > all rocks & cactus, and (c) it had been a rainy last few days so all
was
> > quite
> > damp, and as I've mentioned there isn't quite room enough to sleep in
the
> > back of my Cherokee especially when it's packed full of stuff, I just
> > tossed  my
> > air matress & sleeping bag up on the roof, carefully climbed up there
(so
> > as
> > not to dent the sheet metal with a knee or a foot), and slept very
> > comfortably on the roof--first time, then or since, that I've ever done
> > that.  My Jeep
> > has a little roof rack, so the railing provided reasonable  assurance
that
>
> > I
> > wouldn't roll off.  In the morning I was treated to about  the most
> > magnicent
> > sunrise I'd ever seen; clouds and colors kept changing as the  sun moved
> > up
> > toward the various hanging clouds and fog banks down low in the  valleys
> > to the
> > south, and I took "gazilions" of pictures with my digital  camera.
> >
> > Pete Modreski, Denver CO
> >
> >
> >
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> >
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> >
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