Solar Shower

Here is a little project I took on last time up at Camp May. While our camper has a bathroom with a shower head, it is little larger than the toilet itself and not really practical. I decided I would try a solar shower. If you ever perused a camping or boating catalog, then you know what I am talking about. It is nothing more than a heavy duty black plastic bag that can hold about five gallons of water, and has some sort of simple shower head. The bag is filled with water, left out in the sun for a few hours, then suspended overhead to make for a simple warm shower.

I invested $8 at Wal-Mart one weekend to find out how well it worked. Surprisingly enough, it did make hot water after a couple hours in the sun, and the water runs for about 9 minutes. Heartened by this experiment, I set about making a decent outdoor shower area for the camp.



The first step was to find a suitable place with conveniently placed trees. I am not too worried about drainage. Even after one all night thunderstorm, our lot was drained and dry by mid morning, as if it had not rained at all. That is one advantage of the rocky soil and steep terrain. I tied a rope between two trees, with another hanging down to hold the shower bag.



It would not do to stand on the ground while showering. We are not barbarians after all. I picked up the this piece of flagstone at the home improvement store. Sure, the hill I am standing on is made of the stuff, but it is well worth the $12 for an already dug up and squared piece. I first laid the stone in place so that I could mark where I would dig.



I dug down just a couple inches, past the shallow roots, before hitting the rocky stuff. I back filled with sand and leveled it.



Well, not really level, but evened. I wanted some slope so the water would drain off the stone and in to the ground. I found this handy little bubble level in the camper.



Once the stone was set, I made a border with stones I gathered around the vicinity. I think it looks sufficiently rustic.



Here are the solar shower bags heating up in the morning. The tree canopy over the camp is too thick too heat any one spot for hours. I put the bags out on the road, where the sun is pretty brutal.



Here is the shower hanging in place. I tied a steel hook to the end of the vertical rope to hang the bag by its handle. I would like to figure out some sort of clever pulley system, but that is a project for later.



For the sake of modesty, this enclosure completes the outdoor shower. It is one of those tent structures that folds up to the shape of a pizza, and instantly unfolds to shape when you toss it in the air.

Lizz Does Something Dumb

This is a year old, but I am playing with uploading video, and this is a really good one. This is the Canyon Swing into the Shotover Canyon near Queenstown on the south island of New Zealand. Lizz and I both did it. I went first, and then filmed Lizz making her jump.



The swing involves an initial 60 meter free fall, then the swing takes hold and arcs out through another 200m. Listen for the two screams, first the loud initial scream, a slight pause, then the fainter one from the bottom. That is me providing commentary, of course.

Memorial Day

I uploaded some pictures of this year's Memorial Day get together with family at my parents' place in DC. Click the picture to go to the photo gallery.

Memorial Day 07

Toys

Truck, bike, and Weber grill. Does this look like the start of a good weekend or what?



The motorcycle made the move to its new WV home. I am looking forward to a summer of sparsely populated, and lightly patrolled, winding mountain roads.

Capon Valley Run

The weekend after the Race for Hope, we participated in another charity run. Considering that it was a 50k, through the woods, up and down mountain and stream, for this one we volunteered.



136 runners starting the race, almost all finished.



We helped man an aid station 19 miles into the course, set up where the running trail crosses the road. The runners were remarkable athletes. The first two showed up at our aid station 2 hours and 20 minutes after starting. Both passed us by without stopping, just waved and said a few cheerful words as they passed. The lead runner was the fittest person I have ever seen. He had hardly broken a sweat, was breathing normally, and basically looked like he was just jogging around the neighborhood.

Fire

Now it is a real camp.

Race for Hope

Lizz and I did the Race for Hope last weekend to benefit brain cancer research. We went as part of the Revolution Health team. This cause is a big one for Revolution, as the founder Steve Case lost his brother to brain cancer. According to interviews with Case, that experience influenced him to get involved in reforming health care and starting Revolution Health.



Steve ran the race too. He ran up and jumped into the picture just as we were taking it, jumped right in front of me. Steve is the guy to the left of the sign, wearing a light blue shirt and no hat. I am the face right behind his. Lizz is the face hanging just over his left shoulder. (This picture is shrunken - click it to get the full picture). Readers from the dot com era will remember Steve as the guy who built AOL, and bought Time Warner just before it all crashed.