Date:         Tue, 01 Nov 1994 15:24:44 EST
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "William R. Kennedy, NJIT CIAT, 201-596-5648" <kennedy@admin.njit.edu>
Subject:      Re: solar panels vs generators vs camping vs kids

Most of my "camping" experience is from the Army (which probably explains why
I have NEVER done any since).  We would adjourn to the German woods, set up
our digital communications sites (which took two semi-trailer vans to provide
paper tape and punch card communications) and follow very stringent guidelines
about noise and light discipline.  Apparently exempt from the noise discipline
were the generators, which were so loud you literally could not be heard 
shouting if you were within 20 or 30 yards.  The repair guys had ear protection
and elaborate hand signals.  I had to suspect that the Russians would not have
a lot of trouble tracking us down.  Incidentally the generators, and a lot of
the trucks, were multifuel, meaning they could run on gasoline, diesel, kero-
sene, jet fuel, and the industrial waste that passed for Russian truck fuel.
I always wondered how that worked -- no adjustments were needed, just pour in
whatever you've got that'll burn.

Back to camping.  I read this thread with interest because I have a 6-year-old
and there is always some chance that he may want to be woodsy.  If so, I know
that (my preferences aside) I will encourage him to see woods and home as two
different places, with different entertainments, different foods, different
safety rules, different schedules, different tolerance for insects and small
mammals, and very different amounts of electrical power.  Is it really the
case that generator usage is tolerated in campgrounds?  I would think that some
anonymous evil would befall a generator in the woods, same as would befall a 
trombone played for most of the day out there.
B.