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Great Canadian Rust Junkie Fest 2023

darrin1200

Darrin
Not sure if anyone here is interested. This is a great day out in Eastern Ontario, just southwest of Ottawa. What started out as a bunch of guys meeting up to sell and swap a few tools, has turned into a full blown event with a sell and swap in the morning, demonstrations throughout the day and a bbq. For the really adventurous, there is an evening campfire with singing and libations. Jack has a very large yard available to set up tents in. The demos in the last couple of years have included hand scraping metal, setting up VFD’s and there is a blacksmith shop on site.
While it started for woodworkers, there are a lot of metal rats there as well. Hope some of you guys may show up.


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Susquatch

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My dream on my Christmas wish list every year is my wife and me in a pup tent in the rockies.
 

Susquatch

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I thought Sasquatches slept out under the stars. And you should look into that not sleeping thing. Probably sleep apnea......

Funny story.

I once went on an off-road trip in the mountains near Lake Tahoe. There was an uneven number of men and women there and I got paired with a woman to share a tent. For reasons I'll never understand, she was quite nervous. So I told her not to worry, packed up my sleeping bag, and headed off to high Country to sleep under the stars. We had all been warned to keep food in the vehicles not in the tents because of bears. So everyone thought I was crazy.

I had a great night's sleep but the camp got trashed by bears overnight. I don't know why so few people know that bears like their food wrapped in canvas. The next night she asked me to stay in the tent but I politely declined.

I actually do prefer open air camping but my bride - well, not so much.
 

Dan Dubeau

Ultra Member
I've camped under the stars a few times. Long over due for another one, but my back decides where I sleep these days, and my bed at home is pretty convincing. Closest I get is an afternoon nap in the hammock when I'm "out doing yard stuff" ;)

Never had bears invade a campsite, but did wake up to a herd of cows coming through one time lol.
 
I have never camped in the open air, always in a tent or in my car. Too afraid of the wild beasties especially the two legged kind. Had a raccoon try to get into my tent once and had a poacher running from the cops try to break into my car once.

Was told an interesting story from a friend who went botanizing in remote places in Mexico. He was hiking into a very remote area in Mexico one time. When the sun set it was so dark there was no way he could continue. He just rolled out his cot on the ground and went to sleep. When he woke up in the morning he was dismayed to discover that he was surrounded by a swarm of hundreds of Tarantulas.
 

Dan Dubeau

Ultra Member
When I got my first motorcycle I used to camp at the roadside with nothing more than my tankbag for a pillow. Ride north and explore the backroads till it got dark, find a nice spot to pull over and sleep, then ride home in the morning. Slept in all my gear (helmet, gloves, etc) a few times too, just so I wouldn't get eaten alive by the bugs. I did that almost every Thursday night after work all that summer. Then life started getting in the way....

Best part was always the small town diner breakfast in the morning. If I could find one. That bike and those adventures ate my entire paycheque every week.
 

slow-poke

Ultra Member
I think sleeping under the stars mostly comes down to the mosquito situation. I have done quite a lot of camping in northern Manitoba and trying to sleep without some form of tent or bughouse would mean very little sleep, and thousands of bites. My father and brother camped by canoe as far south as the Amazon rain forest and down there they would simply sleep in a thin Canadian army nylon shell nothing else and have few bug bites. The worst mosquito situation we encountered was actually in Minnesota, the air was thick much like that old "Off!" ad, we were breathing them in a few every breath. I hate mosquitoes!!!

This is the ad.
 
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