It’s the day before the expo.
The day when final decisions are made, bags packed, car checked.
This year is another first for me with the expo. Previous expos I’ve covered I think all the accommodation options you can have while staying over at the expo.
With Diogo joining the family I thought it was asking too much to expect mum to survive nearly four days looking after the Monster Squad. Diogo is a tad too big for mum. Between him and Dolly they’d finish mum off and be ruling the house!
Over the last few days I’ve been flip flopping about what brew kit I’m taking with me.
Originally it was going to be this Fire Maple Lotus Titanium Solid Fuel Stove and a home made meths stove.
The stove is a tiny knife balm tin, that has a screw on lid. I could have just used it as is. However I got some carbon felt and cut a strip that was the same depth as the tin. Then as you can see in the photo curled it into the tin.
The advantage of the carbon felt is it acts as a wick, and makes this stove spill proof. If for whatever reason the stove got knocked over the fuel inside does not spill everywhere.
And boy do these two stoves work well together. The Lotus acting as the pot support and windshield.
I’ve been lighting it with a ferro rod.
This system is so light and takes up so little space.
The other option I had been thinking about was my Trangia burner and the Trangia triangle.
Obviously not as light as the Lotus and my home made stove. But still pretty light.
The big advantage this setup has is that it can hold enough fuel to boil enough water to give me a brew for the larger cup I’m using. I’ve gone from the Kupilka 21 to the 37.
However last week I finally cracked and bought a Fire-Maple Petrel Titanium Ultralight Backpack Stove. Which is a remote canister stove. Paired with the Fire-Maple Petrel Ramen Pot the amount of time it takes to boil enough water for a brew using my Kupilka 37 large cup is blindingly fast. The scary thing is the stove isn’t even at full blast.
The plan is to take my own food and drink to the expo and not buy over priced stuff there.
My original thinking was I’d have noodles and make coffees. With the odd snacks/treats to keep me going.
However with our current heatwave and its continuation over the expo weekend. Although I’ll still make the coffee, I’m not sure I’d cook noodles.
So I’ve switched from hot food to cold. My plan is to take some really fancy sourdough crackers with me, along with some British Army ration pack processed cheese! Plus some small tortillas, British Army ration pack peanut butter and some sachets of jam to make PB&J wraps! Yes I know, how American of me.
I’ll be using my Mazama M!GO bottle for water. The nice thing is scattered around the NEC are free water refill stations. Although the odd one or two have been known to breakdown. But to give the NEC their due they do get repaired fairly quickly.
With the weather changing my food plans I think the stove option is obvious and it’ll be the Trangia going with me.
I’ve also got to make sure I take my copy of Yonder with me to exchange with the publisher because the box lid corner is damaged.
Right I’ve got some fur balls to walk before it gets too hot.