Camp ALPHA

Camp ALPHA has been established. It is a very meager camp, but it suits my needs very well.

The tent, isn’t exactly really a tent. It is actually designed for being a temporary shed, and a nearly identical to one I used in the past for bee keeping storage. It held up to the elements extremely well for two years so far, so it was my go to choice. Its much more like an outfitter tent, but heavily rubberized throughout. The tent has a framed rigid structure inside, including ridge poles, rafters, and crossing bracing poles. It may seem like overkill but there is some very strong winds at this location. Also, the tent is not breezy. It only has two minimal vents at the very top (front and back). I will probably hit it with some waterproofer in the futue, but the previous one didn’t seem to need it.

Inside the tent, yea… its a bit cramped. I was able to get a full sized memory foam bed into the tent… so that is pretty comfy. But what wasn’t comfy was when the temperature dropped below freezing on Friday night. It was definitely a cold night, and I wrapped Tyr (my dog, more on him in a later post) into a few blankets to get him to stop shivering. Also not comfy is that I am sleeping directly next to all my tools, equipment, and food. So, that’s not comfortable either. But, its a start.

So to prevent someone from stealing my land, you need a flag. This windsock will do for now. Why a windsock? I sometimes want to know where the wind is blowing from and at what speed. Examples so far: spreading grass seed, curiosity of how hard the wind is blowing at night, or when building a fire.

So, speaking of fire, I did gather a few rocks from a rock pile someone else created, but was located on my land. The distance was several hundred feet, and without a wheelbarrow or wagon… this is as much as I got done. Good enough for now, will improve later.

Finally, the wood burning stove in the photo at the top. While the wood burning stove I thought was going to be a good idea for Camp ALPHA, it totally wasn’t. It didn’t spread heat well nor really keep me warm. Granted, a stove like this should be used inside a tent (and will be used for this in Camp BRAVO), but even the functionality of the stove was.. limited. While I know the paint on the stove is really cheap and will burn off, I have already bought high temperature paint to recoat it. Also, there is a (not shown) water heater attachment, that leaked completely. Will need to go back to the instructions to see if there is a problem with my assembly, or if its just not going to work.

Finally, apologies to Tyr. The car was REALLY loaded up to get everything out there. Don’t knock the station wagon: excellent gas mileage, storage, and 0-60 in “eventually”. But I will be getting the truck soon to avoid stuff like this.

Camp Alpha

Established: 30 March 2018

Goal: establish a working base to live out of until refinements to land and accomodations can be made

Expected duration: About 2 weeks, until replaced by Camp BRAVO

Items that will be reused in the future:

Tent: will be first shelter, then storage shelter for tools later, then finally used as a wood shed
Stove: will be used for heat and hot water (fail) for now, then used in a larger outfitter tent later

Issues: