I've long been fascinated by deserts. Growing up in MI they were foreign to my realm of experience. The whole environment seemed as alien to me as the Moon. In school I learned more than nothing about desert life. Plants and animals somehow made a living in what seemed a brutal climate. Scorching days. Freezing nights. Scarce water. I didn't quite get it. Not fully. But I was curious.
I started experiencing the desert well into adulthood. First, a motorcycle trip to AZ to visit friends. Later, some business trips to NM. I guess the more I saw of - and learned about - the southwest, the more intrigued I became. Once I started full time RVing, my first three winters I aimed for desert.
Frugality helped me embrace desert life. Being stingy with water proved good strategy. I'm still learning tricks to make every gallon of water go further. Living in the little Scamp without plumbing hasn't been much of a hardship to me. Sure I miss long, hot showers, for example. But I think it's like a lot of things in life. When you go without something for a while, especially something you really enjoy, then you appreciate it all the more. Absence makes the heart grow fonder?
Over the weekend I had neighbors at an adjacent site. A young couple car camping. They were pretty cool. In the morning she scrubbed down a mat then did yoga. Privacy is limited in the desert so you either don't look, or pretend not to. Pretending doesn't work for me. So I strike up conversation. You never know what you might learn from others.
I was tickled how they worked together doing dishes after breakfast. They had one of those (6-gal I believe) plastic water jugs. Standard equipment. The kind with a big threaded cap on one top corner. Under the cover/plug/thing is where the spout is stored. You just reverse it so it sticks out and set the cover/plug/thing in your pocket, for example. The other top corner has a little breather hole with a plug.
Most folks leave the breather open and pour from the spout. Not these two. He left the spout stowed under the cap. When he tipped the jug, water dribbled out of the little breather hole. Clever! I remarked how much I admired their teamwork. I couldn't tell whether they blushed or beamed. Maybe a little of both. It worked for them.
I reciprocated by sharing my latest personal discovery in the fine art of water conservation. While at Laguna refuge it was tropical so we had lots of bugs. I treated my work clothes, and bedding, with Sawyer Permethrin. Wonderful stuff! Thanks, Hilary for getting me hooked on it. LOL
Anywho, the spray bottle worked so well I couldn't bring myself to discard it once I'd used up it's bugaway goodness. I sterilized it in a pot of boiling water on the stove. Rinse and repeat. Literally. Hot water helped remove the stickers and residual glue. That left a clean, unmarked spray bottle to do with whatever I wanted. At the time I didn't yet know. I just liked the bottle.
You're probably wondering what's so special about that particular spray bottle. Sure, they're cheap enough. A clean, unmarked sprayer is just a buck away. Most dollar stores have them. Sometimes you get what you pay for. When using this sprayer I liked how it worked. Check it out.
The nozzle had both mist and stream settings. Both of which produced proper mists and streams. Plus two off positions that really worked. Go ahead. Squeeze the trigger. Nothing comes out. Like it shouldn't. I mean, off is supposed to mean off. Right? But wait - there's more.
They weren't stingy with the little tube inside that sucks up the liquid. A little excess properly tucked along the front edge lets it keep working not just when held vertically but much closer to horizontal. So you can use just about all it's contents before losing prime. And! The bottle is rectangular not round. So it stows and rides much better in the Scamp, which is notorious for harsh ride. It's a keeper for sure.
So what use did I find for it? And did I first bore them with my tangent about where I got the bottle? Of course I did. Duh! They loved it. They hadn't used that product yet. They appreciated the info. Especially when they learned how little water it took to rinse my dishes. I bet they'll be picking up a sprayer PDQ. Maybe from the next dollar store. Still an improvement.
Then I explained how, before they arrived the night before (so they missed a demo opp - sorry) I used the sprayer to wash my hair in camp. It took maybe eight ounces of water to lather up and rinse off. Maybe not rinsed as thoroughly as a proper shower. Eventually you get tired of squeezing the trigger and call it good enough. Funny how that works out.
I have another use in mind for my sprayer. I've rarely resorted to this trick myself. But reserve the right to do so in perpetuity. If you're ever too hot to sleep, consider this. Dampen the front of your night shirt. Body heat evaporates the water which cools your chest. And since that's where your heart is, circulation spreads the coolness to your extremities. You can dampen your shirt however you like. But I think a good sprayer would be handy. And if that amuses (or excites) your bed buddy, all the better.
In the desert, sleeping hasn't been much of a problem for me. Sunset usually cools everything down. Warm days and cool nights are part of the desert's charm. It's when days get more than just warm that create challenges. For me in general and my Scamp fridge in particular. Saturday it was 91 in Big Bend NP. At least it's a dry heat. Right.
Still hot though. I saw it coming in the forecast. So I let the fridge bank some cold the night before. The wireless remote fridge thermometer went from 21 at sunup to 41 by sundown. That was running flat out, full throttle on LP gas. Moreover, I didn't open the door all day. If I had it would've lost its cool and fallen further behind. Cold breakfast and lunch were just fine by me. I just deferred dinner until after dark. Once it cooled down enough outside the fridge regained cooling capacity. Then I could heat and eat my meat. Us carnivores are funny that way.
I wasn't sure which side of the equation was hurting worse. Inside temp of solar soaked cabin several degrees higher than ambient. Basically leaking heat into the fridge through the door. Or the back side works. Not enough heat transfer with high ambient so poor thermal drop potential. I decided to attack both to at least see if more cooling capacity was possible.
I already had the fridge on the shady side of the camper. But I turned it a little more so wind could help push heat out of the back side compartment of the fridge. I also left the louvered fridge vent intake door ajar a few inches to assist air flow a little. Then to reduce interior temp somewhat I covered the two windows on that side with shirts (ready for laundry anyway). The synthetic flannel material over the cranked out window allowed decent air flow.
I also finally got around to adding a 12V outlet. Fortunately I had parts in my stash that would do. Not supposed to be pretty yet. Just functional enough to try something out as a field test. Mainly a portable fan that I also happened to have stashed along. I intended to use it on this Scamp. Maybe built in at that. Possibly in the side wall over the stove. I'm loathe to violate such a clean roof line. So while waffling over that decision the fan was available to at least stir some air inside the camper. Once I had an outlet to plug it into. Sure, the O2 Cool fan also works on eight D cell batteries. No thanks.
Those things helped a little. The Scamp didn't feel so stuffy inside. But the fridge didn't cool any better. LP mode should be more efficient. It needs tuning of the air mixture I believe because the flame is often more yellow, less blue. The rear compartment also needs better convective airflow to wash heat away as it works. Both mods are on tap ... once I get a suitable place to work later this season. Meanwhile, baseline performance is good to know.
