What you do in the tent

Texas Barbecue in the afternoon; buffalo, pork, chicken, beef, tamales, pasta and salads. Cold lemonade and iced tea. There were 1500 to 2000 people passing through camp on Saturday, and volunteer duties included icing bottles of water, and then transferring them, chilled, to big coolers near the food tables. Chito- camp hero- drove ice and water in all weekend, but the ice melts quickly, so pre-chilling was necessary. If you dump warm bottles into a cooler, the ice commences to melt, so we’d reserved several coolers for warm bottles, which were then transferred to several reserved only for chilled bottles. In this way, only 1/2 of the coolers needed refilling when Chito would arrive with new ice.

Other volunteer duties included carrying water around in trays, making sure that all guests had a bottle in their hands at all times. One of the Mds also carried powdered Gatorade, checking each table to make sure people were hydrated. Carrying water, umbrellas, etc outside to the traffic volunteers and checking on the people in line in the sun for a privy were duties that everyone pitched in with. I made a few additional signs for the traffic folks- there were lines of cars stretched in every direction all day. Whenever a bus would arrive, a contingent would welcome it curbside with cheers, water, umbrellas. Tina and I spent some time at the ice trays; it took two of us so that one could hold the umbrella. As people walked by, we’d smile and offer cups of ice, and help direct them to whatever else they might need to find. You meet the nicest people doing jobs like that.