Author Archives: Roy Scribner

How to Use an Ice Chest

1-gallon milk jugs work great for making your own block ice

1-gallon milk jugs work great for making your own block ice

It sounds simple; dump a bag of crushed ice into the ice chest, put in the food and drinks and then if you are really serious, layer another bag of crushed ice on top. This works fine if you are going on a picnic, but simply tossing a couple bags of crushed ice into the ice chest is completely inadequate for even short weekend camping trips.

The key to an ice chest is, of course, the ice. But the key to ice is mass, since an object with greater mass will hold its temperature longer than a similar object with less mass. For this reason a big block of solid ice, instead of hundreds of small cubes of ice, will last much longer, even if the block of ice and the bag of crushed ice are the same weight.

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10 Must-Have Plugins for your WordPress Blog

10 Must-Have Plugins for WordPress

10 Must-Have Plugins for WordPress

In the first post of this series I talked about the importance of the Thesis Theme, in setting up CampingBlogger. In this post, I will highlight the ten most important plugins that I used in setting up the Blog. Out of the box, if software were to actually come in a box anymore, WordPress is a robust and capable content management (CM) system that provides you with 90% of the functionality required to setup your own blog. Where WordPress falls short – that last 10% of the solution – is primarily in the user interface, where user is a potential reader of your blog. One of the reasons I switched from Movable Type to a WordPress based CM systems is the abundant amount of third-party tools, called plugins, which extend and enhance the WordPress user interface. With that in mind, and in alphabetical order, here are the ten most important plugins that I used in setting up CampingBlogger.

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Creating a WordPress Blog

Not pictured: coffee mug

Not pictured: coffee mug

Changing my Blog from Movable Type to WordPress was both frustrating and enjoyable. In the coming weeks, I’ll share some of my experiences in setting up a new Blog and working with WordPress.

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Win a Garmin Summit HC GPS Receiver

Just in time for Christmas, I am celebrating the grand opening of CampingBlogger with a contest for a brand new eTrex Summit® HC, from Garminâ„¢. The Summit is one of the best handheld GPS receivers for hiking, backpacking and general outdoor use. It has a high-sensitivity GPS engine, which allows the Summit to track the GPS signal under some pretty harsh conditions, like thick tree canopy or deep canyons. In addtion, the GPS engine can also process the WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System) signal, which increases the accuracy of the GPS receiver. And as if that wasn’t enough, the Summit has an integrated barometric altimeter, which provides better elevation accuracy than the GPS position, and an electronic compass for picking an azimuth even when stationary. It’s a great little handheld and you can learn more about this $229.99 beauty on the Summit HC product page.

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