Camping in cold temps, bad idea?

rexlion wrote:

wa8yxm wrote:
True Story. This was around 1971 give or take a year.> Temps in Lower Lower MI hit -40 and then some (past -40 in the negative direction) Propane would not vaporize. Fuel oil gelled.. Many people .. Er.. Froze their... you know what.

One gentleman in I think Wisconsin had made a bet.. He claimed (in advance) that on what by coincidence turned out to be the coldest night in a long time He'd be comfortable in a sleeping bag in a pup tent on the xx Green at the local golf course.. And he had the most comfortable night's sleep of anyone in that town... (He had the proper bag you see.. artic grade).

As for me.. Well we had heat (natural gas) where I was so it was not too bad but then I went to Church, where the sign said "For your health and comfort the FUEL fund deserves your generous support" It was Fr's annual State of the Parish financial sermon...

He explained how the parish had had to invest in a physical (heat) plant due to the closure of the commercial steam plant that used to serve Downtown Battle Creek (MI) and how for the first time in the Parish history they had to borrow money to do it.. But Greyhound had decided some land the parish owned that was not good for much other than wearing out lawn mowers (Land there is terraced and the parish owned land on 2 levels. this was the lower level and a fairly narrow strip) was the perfect palce for a new Bus Station.

So the boilers are paid for
They don't work... but they are paid for.

MAN was it cold in church.

Hmmmm. I grew up in MI (closer to Bay City, a ways north of Battle Creek) and I don’t recall any -40F or anything close to that, in any winter. As an 8th grader on a farm, I had to get up well before dawn to feed the cattle in ‘71; I think I would have noticed temps that low. Are you sure this isn’t one of those fish stories, like where the fish gets bigger over time? ;)

coldest recorded temps per state

My dad worked in the oilfields of ND for a few years before we moved to Texas. He said that life takes on a special level of suck working there in the winter. Up to almost the day he retired, during the winter he always kept several blankets and about a weeks worth of non-perishable food in the trunk of his work car. He said that was instilled in him for survival training during winter work ther because that was pre-cell phones and if you broke down somewhere in the sticks, you might not see another person for a while