IC Midwest: Tents get internet access, right?

TiberiusLazarus

Oh... they don't? Guess we'll have to make do then.





What: Camping (Tents, fire, food, fire, drinks, fire, rain (if our previous trips are any indication there will be a random Monsoon)

When: Memorial Day Weekend (Friday, May 25 - Monday, May 28). I could probably be persuaded to take that Friday off and get somewhere Thursday evening or Friday morning.

Where: Good question. Open to options. Southern Iowa? Northern Missouri? Western Illinois?

Who: Whoever. Will need details early to make sure we can get sites reserved depending on where we choose.

People that might be interested: @koreish @cannonfodder @winfrey @fatcat @malia @canti @qch

RyanFodder

We definitely should make coleman fuel soaked torches again. FIRE!

UPSLynx

I'm probably in for this. For the weekend at least. New job doesn't let me work remotely as easy as I did at AMD, but I'm definitely down for the weekend.

Can we push it back by any chance? I'm either moving to LA for my new job the weekend before this or the weekend of the may 25th, and things are going to be complicated. Lots to figure out yet.

Canti

I'm going to suggest Montauk State Park near Rolla, Missouri. http://mostateparks.com/park/montauk-state-park#

I went there with my family every summer from 1988 to about 2001. I haven't been there in about 10 years since I spent most summer's in the 2000s working at scout camp but I remember it was always a good time. The main thing I remember is trout fishing but I'm sure there are several other things in the area to do.

Koreish

There is a fun little camping/canoeing/kayaking town called Eminence near the Ozarks. A little farther out of the way then what Jimmy suggested but, thought I'd throw it out there. About three hours south of Columbia and STL and 5 hours from KCMO.

http://www.eminencemo.com/campgrounds.html

RyanFodder

So... its 1.5 hours to Dubuque, Iowa for @malia. Its ~ 5.25 hours to Columbia from DBQ for the both of us...

Just saying We basically have a day of only driving..

mertesn

I've already got plans for that weekend

malia

Um...In. Plus dog. Am going to put a vote for further north than the ozarks tho, cuz 8-10 hours in car w/ at least 1 dog kinda sucks. Also @cannonfodder and I run out of car games by then. Of course, I have no helpful replacement suggestions...so, whatever .

edit: also also, modern bathrooms, pls??

fatcat

no Iowa state parks, those rangers are dicks. (who the hell invented the one tent per lot rule anyways)

otherwise I'm maybe in

malia

What about one of these? They seem more centrally located?? MO state parks = 6 ppl in 2 tents/site. Plus, they still have a couple reservable campsites.

http://mostateparks.com/park/wakonda-state-park
http://mostateparks.com/park/thousand-hills-state-park

Also, there's a private campground in Hannibal that has a night cave walk that could be interesting??

UPSLynx

I'm just going to say in. You guys do the planning. If my new job prevents me from going, I'll speak up when that happens. Otherwise, expect me to be there. Gonna need a long tent.

RyanFodder

I put my vote in for Mark Twain caves. I like caves

fatcat

so, my Memorial Day's off are Sun, Mon, Tues.

Pretty much the USPS doesn't want its employees ever having normal holidays

Since I'm gonna assume most of you will be doing Fri-Mon, I'm probably out

TiberiusLazarus

How does that even make sense?

fatcat

Sun we are closed. Monday is Holiday. Tuesday is my day off.

Will have to work until 5 or so Saturday

Ryder

something weird happened in this thread with posts.

NiGHTS

Agreed, Fatcat's reply was in Tiberus's reply. What the hell?

CB

There are some great places to camp in Southern Ohio.

fatcat

something weird happened in this thread with posts.

Agreed, Fatcat's reply was in Tiberus's reply. What the hell?

because I have mod and accidently replied within Jimmeh's post instead of quoting

should be fixed now

TiberiusLazarus

While the other parks mentioned are probably nice, I think keeping this North of I70 will keep most people at a fairly even drive. For the 3 Marie listed the longest drives look to be about 4.5 hrs (ryan and marie, and about the same for winfrey if he joins from Springfield). For any of the Mizzou people we could meet in columbia and then drive on to wherever.

Prices are all basically the same. For Mark Twain we can have a max of 4 people per campsite and for MO state parks we can have a max of two tents per site. We'd probably need two sites for either option for 3 nights. ~20 per person for the weekend.

The Mark Twain area sounds pretty cool with the caves and there is a good amount of historical stuff in Hannibal itself, if that interests anyone. I'll ask a couple coworkers from the Hannibal area if they've ever been out to the camp area/caves to see if it is worth it.

TiberiusLazarus

As for camping necessities, I 've got the following around:

pot for boiling/cooking
skillet
cooking utensils (spatula, tongs, grill fork)
standard cooler and a 5 gallon cooler
tent (listed to sleep 3 sardines or 2 comfortably)

ardichoke

I'm just going to say in. You guys do the planning. If my new job prevents me from going, I'll speak up when that happens. Otherwise, expect me to be there. Gonna need a long tent.

Lynx goes camping:

Winfrey

I'm tempted to come join you guys but if I come from Springfield I won't have any camping gear, plus my family usually does stuff Memorial Weekend. Will find out more soon hopefully.

Most of the good camping places I know are closer to Kansas City or way down here closer to Arkansas.

TiberiusLazarus

We're more entertaining than your family

RyanFodder

@Winfrey whens the last time you went camping with us over doing something with your family anyway

Also, I'm all in for the Mark Twain place. I'll have a 6 sardine tent. I highly suggest we reserve the sites NOW.. (or tomorrow) before they all fill up for memorial day weekend.

malia

@tiberiuslazarus: $20...that's it?? Now THAT is a vacation I can afford - I think I spent more than that on a drink in LA

Not to stomp on Ryan's tent offer - anyone who stays with us should prolly have fair warning about Stella the dog's tendency to bark @ squirrels and want a walk at 7 am. However, she's one hell of a tent guard dog :P

@winfrey....you do really need to come; the guys have talked you up too much to not meet you. Truth.

UPSLynx

I'm just going to say in. You guys do the planning. If my new job prevents me from going, I'll speak up when that happens. Otherwise, expect me to be there. Gonna need a long tent.

Lynx goes camping:

\\

Now we're talking!

Straight_Man

Not to stomp on Ryan's tent offer - anyone who stays with us should prolly have fair warning about Stella the dog's tendency to bark @ squirrels and want a walk at 7 am. However, she's one hell of a tent guard dog :P

Best of luck with the camping trip-- but Stella?? My brother Paul has a dog named Stella, an old lab retriever. She is NOT a tent dog. Trattoria Stella in Traverse City MI was named in part after Paul's Stella.

TiberiusLazarus

Going to try to make the reservations tomorrow.

@malia Technically that 20$ only covers 'housing' for a vacation. But if we buy food and drinks at grocery stores instead of at restaurants... Ya.

@winfrey We can come up with some camping gear if you need it. I'll start looking at getting a bigger tent. Could be some deals coming up soon. Might be useful.

fatcat

I'll see what I can do about showing face Sat night/Sunday if you are doing it in Hannibal.

malia

@ straight_man - My Stella is a pound mutt (elkhound + chow mix.....maybe??), so she came pre-named. Ironically, she's jet black She's a good tent dog, except she's too smart for her own good, and can get out if you leave the tiniest crack in the zipper, after which she runs off and brings back, um, let's call them....presents.

@tiberiuslazarus - yeah, but I'm eating whether I'm on vacation or not I'm not one of *those* girls - you've seen the amount of food I can polish off.