Re: Colorado campgrounds

From: jon@dakota-truck.net
Date: Fri Apr 08 2005 - 15:04:16 EDT


Josh Battles <josh@omg-stfu.com> wrote:

: Jason Bleazard wrote:
:>
:> Yeah, I agree. The rules in an organized campground might be kind of a
:> bummer, though. We'll probably have to just put up with some level of
:> restrictions on noise level and bonfire size. But, I think we'll be
:> better off someplace where we can get cleaned up, especially if we think
:> we're going to want to be going in to town to check out museums or shops
:> or whatever other touristy thing we might decide to do.

: Definately. The rules don't really bother me much though, as long as
: we're "reasonable and prudent" I don't see any problems. We'll just
: have to make sure that the leprechaun dust stays at home for that trip.

   "Normal people reasonable" or "DML reasonable"? ;-)

:> Another thing to think about is Internet access. It would be kind of cool
:> to be able to set up a webcam or two and post real-time updates for anyone
:> who can't make it. I found a list of campgrounds that have wireless
:> access:
:> http://rvtravel.com/publish/ontheroad/wifiwest.shtml#co
:>
:> Although I have no idea how comprehensive or accurate that list is, it's a
:> good place to start.

: You know, I'd thought about intarwebnet access but then dismissed it as
: something that wasn't *really* important to me. Seriously, we're
: camping out... In a way it's kinda sad really, that we can't unplug for
: a week or so and just enjoy life. That's one of my favorite things
: about the BBQ, that there really isn't a sense of time or anything, just
: a bunch of people hanging out doing whatever. Besides, how much time do
: we really spend on the web at Jon's anyway?

: The only real use I could think of for this would be to post pics to the
: list or something, but if we don't have it that's more of an enticement
: for those who are iffy on attending, because there'll be no way to know
: what's going on.

   Yep, I'm sort've torn on the 'net access issue myself. I guess where
I'm at right now, I'm of the opinion that it would be cool if it were
available, but I'm not going to lose much sleep over it if we can't manage
it. As I see it, the main benefit would be to keep the list appraised
of the goings-on. Tom did a great job during the last BBQ with his daily
status updates, which not only keeps the list informed, but makes up for
lapses in memory later on when trying to put together a meet report or
just trying to remember what happened when. :-) (Granted, a "status
report" could be written in notepad and saved for later, but without
an imediate posting, the motiviation to do so might not be there.) :-)

   I suppose it would be sort've nice too to be able to take all of
the digital pics everybody had taken for the day and just dump them
to a web page somewhere (even if it were just a directory listing
without thumbnails), just to give people something to look at.

   As far as having a webcam goes, at this point I'm not 100% sure how
that might work out. We have one during the DML BBQ obviously, but I
have a feeling its more of a novelty than anything else. :-) That is,
you see so little through the eyes of the webcam, in the end I'm not sure
how much value it truly is. You might see some people walking around,
Daks parked in a row, etc. I guess the attraction would be "hey, that's
the national DML meet and its live! I have no idea what they are doing
right now, but they are doing it right NOW!" :-) Plus, we'll probably be
away for most of the day doing offroading, drag racing, or tourist-y stuff
(similar to how the BBQ cam is pretty boring most of the day until all the
trucks come back). Unless of course we can figure out how to get a full
video and sound feed wired into a DBDoMPfIWUMOT hat, and con Tom into
wearing it around all day. :-)

   Another whole factor in the net access/webcam thing is we'd need a
source of power. The best we can probably expect is a site with RV hookups
which might allow us to charge up laptops and cellphones in Jason & Norah's
camper, but I'm skeptical that we'd be able to get constant power throughout
the meet. Generators might be an option, but they have limitations also.
For example, I have a generator but trust me, you do NOT want to be anywhere
near it when that thing is running! Plus, I think most campgrounds have
rules about generators; the ones that allow them I think make you shut
'em off at a certain time so that everybody else can get to sleep. :-)

   As far as net access goes in general, does anyone have any suggestions
or input in this area? I know there are a few DMLers who work in this
industry... Basically my thoughts as far as possibilities are as follows:

   - Campground with WiFi access
 
     - Everyone with a WiFi card (802.11b I assume) could just access the
       provided signal. Depending on wether the campground charges or not
       and depending on the price, that might be cost prohibitive. A
       possibility here is for us to set up a wireless router and/or an
       ethernet hub to allow all DMLers to connect via one account.
        
       
   - Satellite

     - If anyone has something like DirecWay and feels like brining their
       dish and modem along, we may be able to set up a wireless and/or
       ethernet router to provide service to everybody. Perhaps set up
       the dish on/near Jason & Norah's camper connected to a WiFi rounter
       and set up a directional antennna to blast the signal over to the
       DML tent area of the campsite?
       

   - Broadband Cellular

     - Similar to Satellite, above except we'd probably need to set up
       a laptop to do NAT. (Unless of course the plan is not unlimited in
       which case we might want to do something more like "Dial-up", below)

   - Dial up
 
     - If all else fails, and all we want to do is at the very least send
       daily status reports to the DML, we could use a cellular modem to
       dial in somewhere, connect, and send, or possibly do the same from
       someplace in a town that offers internet access like a library.

  That's about all I can come up with; there might be other options that
I don't know about, which somebody could fill us in on. Obviously, we'd
want to do this for as close to "free" as is monitarily possible. :-)

-- 
                                          -Jon-

.-- Jon Steiger ---- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com --. | 1970 Barracuda - 1990 Dakota 'vert - 1992 Ram 4x4 - 1996 Dakota | | 1996 Intruder 1400 - 1996 Kolb FireFly - 2001 Ram QC 3500 CTD | `------------------------------------ http://www.jonsteiger.com --'



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