New_to_it

Thanks for all the support and tips. I think boiling extra water makes the most sense, as well as having some back-up in my car (I can freeze a couple of gallons and keep them in a cooler so they may be only warm after a day or two, rather than "freakin' hot and nasty"). I saw that Katadyn has a small filter for only about $30, but I really don't want to buy anything like that yet... I am definitely doing this one step at a time. I'm totally prepared to bail early if I am not having fun -- but I think I'll be fine.

Yeah maybe I am a gutsy little thing or maybe, like they say, if you're gonna be stupid, you'd better be tough... I have camped in Texas in the summer and was (mostly) okay. I don't think I'll set out on a hike at 2 PM again, though.

Oh, but my BEST Texas camping story is the time my sister (from Boston) came to visit me here in Austin one summer years ago, and wanted to go camping in Big Bend. She'd been there a few years before -- IN MARCH. This was August. I had no air conditioning where I lived at the time, and I pointed out to her that the candlesticks I had on the bookshelf had melted to the point where they were gracefully draped over the edge of the shelf... but no, she said "We'll be in the mountains! It will be fine!" So bright and early at the crack of 9:00 AM the next morning, we piled a tent, a cooler, and some food into my non-airconditioned Toyota, and headed out. We arrived there a couple of hours before sunset, and staggered out of the car, positively stupified by the heat and dehydration. The altitude didn't help either. I vaguely remember a meal in an air condtioned restaurant, followed by a miserable night in the tent before we got up the next morning at 4:00 AM to leave before the demon sun began attacking us again...

BUT that was then and this is now, and I've done more moderate summer camping here since. And it is indeed fun with a dog -- more fun than with chickens, I imagine. Not that I have anything against chickens. My dog reminds me that absolutely EVERYTHING is just utterly fabulous and fascinating. Every trail, every animal encountered, wow! We're going to the creek? Wow, great! Water! We're going back to camp to lie down? Wow, great! Dirt! You're going to take a leak? Wow, great, can I come along? (Okay, that part I could do without...)

Okay I'm a little worked up about this trip, enough rambling. I appreciate y'all helping me get over my fear of dehydration. I realize that as I am having my deep backcountry experience, boiling my water and eating my gorp and dehydrated eggs, families with toddlers will probably be ambling by my campsite with strollers. But as the wise ones say -- "Camping? Wow, great!"