People have carried on their backs Optimus 111's to the very ends of the earth because of their power and reliability. Thanks, John, for bringing all the suit case stoves. Some of us lack the storage capacity for such gems. I've restricted myself to backpacking type stoves only, but a couple of suitcases and lanterns have managed to sneak in, like the 242C that you helped me identify (see below). HJ
Finally got some time to optimize and post my pictures from CASG8. I arrived Friday before noon and left with the gang for Mothers Day Brunch on Sunday, and what a bunch of mothers we were. Rats I only got a few images thru Optimizer and now it doesn't work. I tried using it with IE and Chrome browsers, nuthin. Been stuck a couple days now. hmmm. So here are the few that made it thru, and they are not very interesting since they are as I journeyed thru the entrance of the park... Alas, the "action shots" are still waiting in my camera. Maybe If I try my computer at home instead of at work, Optimizer might work. Arrrr, now I see. Uploads are limited to 5M and the couple next in line exceed that so will post what fits and decrease the size of the beeg ones. Jim Henderson
Hey, Guys, I will definitely post around 100 photos. Just don't have time to do it, right now. After our next two jobs, our largest of the year, I'll do it, or sooner, if I can. I've got some good ones, so I hope you will enjoy them when they are finally posted. Take care, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
Some more pics... Last of the "We are getting there" pics. I is here pic. Looking out over my back fence towards the daytime Picnic Shelter. BTW, the website campground pictures do not do this campground (Cottonwood) justice. The official pictures show typical desert parking lot style camp spots, very flat very dull. This camp ground exceeded all of our expectations I believe. Good rolling terrain, some pleasant hiking trails, an ampitheater with evening educational slide show and very pleasant weather except for the last night, what a howler. My humble camp kitchen. Almost everything there is Coleman including the kitchen sink and keychain. Some odd bags and pans are not Coleman and there are a couple Campingaz appliances there for convenience but otherwise, almost all Coleman. When asked why I wasn't fettling, I had to exclaim, "When has any of my Colemans ever failed to work?, harumph" Looking west towards one of group 3's camp shelters. The shade from these shelters cannot be overestimated. What a blessed relief these shelters were in comparison to other open desert camps many of us have tried. The main group 3 shelter where all the fettling and main cooking was done. Also plenty of room for chewing the fat and displaying our toys. Even room for Doc to perform major surgery, thank god this didn't need to be done. A coffee klatch picture of group 3, left to right sort of... Arch (facing); Trojan Dog (rearing); Doc fussing; Trojan wife seated head shot; Sweet Bride (Doc's not mine, facing); Mrs Arch (seated, rear); Mrs Flivver side) Rotated view of aforementioned distaff. Mr. Flivver discussing critical stovie protocol. Possibly my favorite shot of this adventure. Doc staring in disbelief at his trusty Coleman. "Here we go boys, this has been in storage with fuel for 25 years and it will fire right up." I think that was 2 days before I arrived and it was questionable till the night before we left. Doc was doing the classic Coleman test, holding the fuel tank and spraying, hopefully volatile vapors in the air amongst a setting of maybe 150 plus stoves and potential sources of flame. We could smell it 20 feet away. Doc will do anything to bring out his first aid kit. It is debated whether the fuel in said stove was just old and funky smelling or whether it was a mix of kerosene and Coleman fuel. Some evidence might lead us toward mixed fuels since Doc apparently doesn't label his fuel cans and had to sniff all his cans before using them and was uncertain more than half the time. He fettled endlessly on this Coleman, but in my opinion it wasn't the stove's fault. And Furry Flivver with new addition, Armadillo Flivver a sythetically furred Flivver. Last of this batch... Left Trojan Dog, Mrs. TD, Mrs Flivver, Arch at the end. Right Doc, hogging his side of the picture, so can't id the rest. All eating braised lamb shanks courtesy of Sweet Bride. I, not having opportunity to eat much lamb at home, stuck to my previously planned and well anticipated grilled lamb chops, none of that soft old people's food for me, ha. Stay tuned for more... Jim Henderson
This series is just moments before sunrise on Saturday. A bright and beautiful day. It was warm but not uncomfortably so. A moderate breeze stirred most of the day and made it very pleasant. Even napping in my tent was comfortable since I had judiciously oriented my tent so the breeze blew up my skirt and out the back of the tent. Later that night the breeze kicked up to be quite bad. Many loose items were blown off tables,none of my stuff, guess Coleman is too heavy, and my tent did unleash itself from one tent stake but I got up to restake it and it was good the rest of the night. My tent is a big slab sided affair and I did not expect to survive the night without feeling like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. But all was well except for noise. Even the Yodel Dogs, aka Coyotes refused to sing to us that night or morning. The next series reminds me of when I was a wee lad first going to Disneyland. Jim Henderson
2 more sets. Mostly rocks. The reason I mentioned Disneyland last post was that Now, after almost 50 years I finally figured out that the cast and molded rockery at Disneyland, especially in the 1950/60s "Grand Canyon Adventure" were not imaginary. The artist must have gone to these rocks at White Tank Campground. Even the texture was similar, and the color was right on. A typical campsite at White Tank. these sites are scattered amongst the boulders nd are concentrated within a short walk. This is the smaller of the three site(Bell, Cottonwood, White tank) that I have seen in this park. A cozy campsite , Officially at 3800 feet per Joshua Tree National Park Brochure and my altimeter just as we crested the rise to White Tank. there was some dispute about whether this site was more at 5,000 feet, but it is not. It is however about 800 feet higher than Cottonwood so you might expect some cooler temps. However, an overheard conversation was that some one at this camp ground had their tent torn apart by the horrific winds Saturday night. This site is more exposed so you might expect more wind. The next few pics are on the short trail to the eponymous Arch Rock. Arch must have some pull, getting a rock named after him, AND getting us Group Camp 3. This is posted as 1/2 mile trail but I think it is less and it is not strenuous. Anyone able to walk slightly broken terrain could make it, probably not a wheelchair. And, of course, Arch Rock. And Arch himself in front of Arch Rock, and I think Hiking Jim. Next set coming up... Jim Henderson
This should be the last batch of pics from me. And, Doc facing camera, I think Arch under the Arch, and Hiking Jim on top o the Arch. One of the local cactus. I think this is one of the varieties of Cholla Cactus. Some say the little balls of thorns will leap out at you to embed their prickly thorns in your succulent flesh. I avoid them, so should you. In the middle midground is one of the parks many Joshua Trees, which strangely enough the park is named after them and not some arch. Supposedly these trees are named after the Biblical Joshua holding his arms up to heaven. I think these trees are just looking for some water. Well That's All Folks. If this trip could have been better, it might be just a tad cooler with less wind. I would guess temps never got above say low to mid 90s, and with a breeze most of the time it was pleasant. Only the last night's wind was too much. We are kind of kicking around the idea of perhaps doing this every year in April when it should be a tad cooler. Or wild guess maybe for independent campers, it might be nice as fall rolls around, say October or later. Unless you would like to know what the inside of a Coleman oven feels like (Hot as hell but breezy) I would probably avoid June thru say September. Good Luck, Jim Henderson
Thanks Jim, it's almost like being there. These are great photos and entertaining commentary. Ken in NC
Howdy, All, Here are a few more shots, taken by Sweet Bride, of our Gathering: We were all excited that Terry and Lin, from the UK, were going to be joining us for this event, and Sweet Bride and I were additionally excited that they were going to come up to our mountain home, afterwards!! They were excellent guests, and very kind, thoughtful, and generous! Here, Terry presented me with a lovely little Lamb "Governor" stove, something I've never seen in the US!! Terry also housed it in a sturdy Brit Military case, and the fit was perfect! Thank you, very much, Terry! And, here's a better shot of the "Governor". Whilst Terry merrily fettled stoves and lanterns, Lin kept busy with needlepoint, and reading, both of which she appears to love. Flivver spent a little time, sort of half-heartedly fettling a little Primus 71 that he'd picked up. But, he had no luck, and labelled it a complete POS!! I should note that this type of stove is not really Mike's cup of tea, and so I decided to jump in a see what I could do. After replacing the wick, and fuel cap gasket, the little 71 cleared it's throat and roared back to life!! As Flivver had no interest in it, Mac bought if for a very nice price, and was quite happy with is score! Here's an additional entertainment, that none of us had anticipated: Flivver taught our CASG Mascot, Furry Flivver, how to climb walls, and hang there, all day long, as a furry decoration!!! Don't believe me? Well, here's the proof: OK, so I wandered off the truthful path, just a little.... in point of fact, Charlie (Furry Flivver) just loved being where ever we all congregated, and when we fettled together, Charlie wanted to be right there with us, and loved sprawling out on the cool concrete, and taking myriad naps each day. We all love Charlie, and it's a joy to have him be a part of our CASG Family! Here are a few of our "homes, away from home": Sweet Bride and I enjoyed living in our MSR Hubba Hubba tent, as always. It's perfect for camping in hot weather, and since it's mostly net in it's body, is very comfortable in such conditions. Terry and Lin brought a wonderful tent from The North Face, the VE Oval 25. The area in which they pitched it was quite sandy, and unfortunately, their tent stakes would not take hold firmly. So, they brilliantly used large rocks to hold down the tent, and it worked perfectly (until the last morning!!). And, of course, the fabuous Flivver Family Compound, which, as always, was a true joy to behold!! One thing that you NEVER want to do, CCS Friends, is brag about a stove in such a way that you totally jinx yourself, and said stove!! I learned that lesson the hard way, at CASG #8!! The kiss of death was when I very confidently told the group, "Hey watch this! This old Coleman has been in storage for around 25+ years, with the same fuel in it's tank. It will light straight away!!" Well, it did nothing of the sort.....!!! 8-[ 8-[ This stove, which was always totally reliable, back when we used it, simply refused to fire up. Over the course of several days, I fettled, cussed, fettled some more, cussed more vehemently, and fettled yet more, all to no avail!!! The generator was taken down and cleaned; the fuel cap checked; the valve assembly was totally taken down and checked;, and the entire burner assembly was dismantled, cleaned, and reassembled. NO LUCK, whatsoever!!! All along the way, quite a few of my CCS Mates suggested that maybe I had filled the tank with kerosene, which, in truth, I did not. But, there "was" something about the fuel in that tank, that did not quite smell right. I smelled all the fuel bottles I had brought, and could not match the stinky aroma to any of the known fuels at hand!! Everybody got a good laugh at my travails, and hey, so did I, AFTER I dumped out the old fuel, and saw how horribly dirty, and silted up it was!!! All's well that ends well, though, and once the tank was emptied, cleaned out, and refilled with fresh Coleman Fuel, that little stove fired right up, just like it was brand new!!! HOLY MOLY!! I still don't know what fuel was in that tank, but whatever it was, it did not stand up against the passage of time. Neither Sweet Bride, nor me, can remember loaning that stove out to a friend, but it's totally possible that we did, all those years ago. In any case, the little Coleman is now working as it should have all along, and I've learned yet another very valuable lesson: Check your fuel, first, if a stove is giving trouble. Had I done that, I'd have saved more than a little frustration, and would not have taught poor Terry and Lin all those Texas-type cuss words!! Here, Terry offers a few tips on what he thought I should do..... (when all your Mates suggest you inspect your fuel, listen to them!)! Lots of us took photos of our fettling, and I still have tons more to post here. But, with our two biggest jobs of the year looming around the next corner, I'll have to dribble all those photos in, when time permits. Thanks for your patience and understanding, and I look forward to seeing what other photos our friends at CASG #8 post, and to posting more, myself! Here, Mac snaps a few shots of his latest fettle. And, finally, here are a few lovely goodies that Terry and Lin gifted us at CASG #8! Thanks, Friends, and we'll most certainly make good use of all these tasty comestibles!!! Well, Mates, that's about all that I can post right now. Many more photos to come, and I will probably continue posting them for the next month!! Thanks for sharing our CASG, and God Bless! Every Good Wish, Doc
Hi Jim and Doc - great photos and commentary! I love that little Lamb stove with its pickup ring. I also see that it has the smallest, cutest fuel funnel as well. I have a Lamb somewhere in my garage (OMG!) and also a military case. I must find them both and try putting them together. I love the photos of the surrounding area, and of course I recognise it well. When I was a kid, I saw hundreds of cowboy movies and TV series - surely they were all made there!!!
Hi Trevor. I think the little funnels were five for £3.99 with free postage off Ebay. I'll post a link when I get back to the UK. Regards, Terry
