Re: being alone.
Well, I mean ALONE !!! Not even the wife. Just me and the BOB.

There is a corniche area a few miles away. But I will not be really relaxed , especially after reading news a few days ago about armed robberies in one restuarnt, one business van, and some resort area. I am not in shape to fight 3 armed teens nor ready to lose my wallet and car.

I wanted a very safe place .... and that campground is PERRRRRRRFECT, except for that annoying guy.

My best bet is go back there before the vacation ends, pay the guy and ask him :
please, please ... do not bother me

Only then I can spend a few hours, totally relaxed.

Who do you help? I dont know,I havent really got it figured out.I dont like seeing cold hungry people...I know that.Thats who I try to give enough to to eat and Im far more likely to give to someone who isnt in my face 'demanding' help.

Aggressive panhandling drives me nuts when they do it professionally,just lazy young(ish) plenty healthy types make me pass up those who need a helping hand.

What I do know is I could do better and always seem to forget that when the situation presents.

It doesnt take much to make someones day who truly is in need.
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Example-Jaded me,sitting in line at Jack In the Box,man about 30 comes up to window,can you help me? I wave him off,really didnt look at him. He says,you know what,I hope youre in this situation someday. Then I looked.He was clean,not some druggy type,and wasnt being aggressive.Walked away.See him go across the street to Lady and 2 kids in 8 year old range,also clean as situation allowed,they didnt have the trashy look.They had the poor look.

So I bought a bag of 1 buck jumbo Jacks and took them over to them.Guy says thank you very much,looked embarrassed as did wife.Turns out they were moving,car died and had NOTHING,and if they were scammers than so be it,he looked like a lower middle class family to me.In fact he looked a lot like me,and Ive been hungry too,never again by the Grace of God is how I see it.A man in need of feeding his family,and I almost blew them off.

So something very easy and cheap for me got a family a warm meal.What makes me angry is the scammers that cause me to ignore those truly in need.

Only big charity I trust is Salvation Army.

I do my scam research on the internet. Everyone knows it's true if they read it on the Internet!

http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/salvhist.htm

My mother told me stories about my grandfather who fought in WWI in France about how the Salvation Army probably saved his life more times than he could count. It also allowed him to get money back home so my grandmother and her kids didn't starve.

The Salvation Army is probably one of the most respectable charities around in my opinion.

"Only big charity I trust is Salvation Army.
I don't know if they're a charity but I like the American Red Cross. When the United Way campaign materials go round the office, I decline and tell people I prefer to donate directly to the Salvation Army, American Red Cross, Boy Scouts of America, and ,of course, my church.

I wish to sometimes stumble in such people . I would gladly help.

Please don;t laugh at my fantasy-type thinking . I saw this video a while ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8zrkENy9QM

The lady cuts open a milk bottle and fills it with food and other stuff to make 72-hour kit. I thought of the 10-liter ( 2.5 gallon) water bottles I have aound and thought of making "emergency cache" stations around the areas I go camping. Several times we read sad stories of people getting lost ..etc. So, every "cache station" would have an original bottle of water (un-opened), and another bottle filled with food and shelter materials like the one in the video. I asked local forum members if they would support this but they warned that vandals will take them and the purpose will not materialise.

Instead , local campers made a different campaign of "winter kits" where they assemble kits of warm underwear plus some food and give these kits to poor camel herders they meet in the desert ( these are usually not local desert dwelling nomads, they are hired from other poor countries like Sudan and Bangladesh, and sometimes their employers do not treat them humanely enough).

I agree their idea is better than mine, but I still fantasize about one of those lost and almost dying, the ones we occasionaly read about in the newspapers, and they find one of my life saving kits.

Nice kit for a car, since bottled water can be carried in a car and swapped out as needed.

The milk jug carrying case is ingenious and the packaging tape will provide a good seal, IMO.

Probably most of the kits would be used inappropriately, but every once in a while they would serve their intended purpose. It reminds me of local custom in Arizona, at least, back in the 1950s when I began to get involved in the outdoors. The typical back country cabin was left unlocked and you were welcome to use it. The unwritten rule was to leave it clean, with particular attention to a nice pile of dry kindling next to the stove. I know this was true of both gov't and private (line camp) shacks. In fact, in the two line cabins I had occasion to use, standard equipment included a loaded lever action 30-30, tucked under the mattress (discovered and admired, but returned intact and operational). This delightful custom went away with the back packing boom of the 1960s-70s

What some folks do here is leave in roadside turnouts a few gallons water in milk jugs labeled for radiators as lots of folks overheat driving up mtn. They do get used.

Thats a great idea.

Chisel,those 2 young ladies have a site here I see thats very good. Small world,I bought my wondermill from them,they had best price on net at the time.

BTW,I will swear to wondermill being a fine product.And they were good sellers.Oh,they have a deal on the sun oven too,free dehydrator racks and a turkey rack.

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/