Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2007 09:38:10 -0700
Reply-To: monte merrick <montemerrick@SPEAKEASY.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: monte merrick <montemerrick@SPEAKEASY.NET>
Subject: Re: Anybody use one of these?
In-Reply-To: <46A22F09.3030606@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
hear! hear!
and really, this is only what it means to be alive- to become always
more aware and more awake to our actual world and to act in accordance
with our findings, no?
happy living my van camping colleagues
monte
On 21 Jul 2007, , at 09:06, Michael Elliott wrote:
> David Kao typed:
>> Please do not start a war on this.
>
> I second that.
>
>> It is really simple, do as much as we can to take care of the gray
>> water.
>
> It wasn't so very long ago that campers routinely took dumps behind
> trees and tossed their garbage down ravines. Fortunately for us
> developed campgrounds provide toilets and dumpsters so we don't have to
> deal with the former occupants' messes, and campers in undeveloped
> areas
> are a little more educated about proper disposal of waste.
>
> By the same token, if gray water from dish washing or showers becomes a
> significant problem more and more camp locations will regulate against
> spilling gray water just as we are expected not to deposit poop or
> strew
> garbage about. Bottling gray water and hauling it out would be a
> hassle,
> but the last place we camped at (Highland Lakes) had no trash pickup
> and
> we were required to haul our own trash out. The price of using the
> place.
>
> If a place to deposit gray water is provided, then the dish wash gray
> water is easy to deal with by using a container under the sink drain or
> a picnic table rinse tub, and dumping it into the provided receptacle.
> Shower gray water is a bit more difficult, as it down at ground level
> and harder to pick up and shift.
>
> If no dump place is available -- and we've never stayed at a place
> where
> there was one -- Mrs Squirrel and I try to dispose of our gray water in
> various random directions away from camp, never the same place twice,
> and spill it slowly to avoid eroding or disturbing the forest floor
> (leaves, needles, twigs, etc.).*
>
> The best thing that we (and all of us) can do is use mild soaps and
> take
> care not to leave a mess behind so whoever moves in after us or has to
> clean up after us doesn't find themselves looking at a soggy mud patch.
>
> ----------
>
> * I don't know if dispersed dumping is any better than dumping it all
> in
> the same place. It might look better to our eyes from our great height,
> but soaps and detergents probably kill lots of little multi- or
> no-legged critters that were otherwise minding their own business
> before
> The Downpour, so spreading the chemical-laden water about may be
> spreading the devastation of the smaller guys. I dunno. My guess is
> that
> a thin but wide spread of gray water is more destructive at their level
> than a dump pit used year after year, but it has less apparent effect
> at
> our level.
>
> --
> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
> 71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
> 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
> 74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
> KG6RCR
>
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