Monday, June 18, 2012

Further Justification For A Wall Tent...


I like wall tents. Always have. The one in the picture is, alas, not mine. It's Greg McReynolds' wall tent, looking right at home on the Cimarron National Grasslands in southwest Kansas a couple years ago. It slept three hunters and their dogs very comfortably, and we had the added bonus of being able to sit around a fire, eat dinner and drink beer under the stars, whereas the night before, exhausted after our first day of hunting and with the sun going down and camp not set up, we just said screw it and tumbled into a cheap, sketchy, astoundingly nasty hotel room in nearby Elkhart. Big mistake.

I cannot imagine, nay, I shudder to think what the researchers in this study would have found in our room that night...

From this story on abcnews.com

Picking up the remote control in a hotel room may also mean picking up fecal matter, a new study found. Researchers from the University of Houston swabbed 19 hotel room hideouts, from door handles to headboards, and found the fecal bacterium E. coli hiding on 81 percent of the surfaces, including the remote control, the telephone and the bedside lamp.

“Currently, housekeeping practices vary across brands and properties with little or no standardization industry wide,” Katie Kirsch, an undergraduate student at the University of Houston and author of the study presented at the General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, said in a statement. 

This study “could aid hotels in adopting a proactive approach for reducing potential hazards … and provide a basis for the development of more effective and efficient housekeeping practices.”

Or, it could aid me in finally getting off my ass and buying a wall tent of my own so I don't have to spend any more terrified, disgusting nights paying for the privilege of sleeping in a petri dish...

6 comments:

  1. I could be taking the puss route. My wife's got me leaning fifth wheel. What's wrong with me? Have you seen those geometric planned tents from reliable? Never have I seen one so easy to put up, plus very wind resistant to boot.

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  2. Given the Bedbug Menace, what's a little fecal matter. At least it washes off. :)

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  3. just missed out on a Kifaru Tipi - yet big tent is next on the list
    SBW

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  4. While not a traditional wall tent, in that it has a floor and isn't canvas, a Cabela's Alaknak has given us good service for nearly a decade.

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  5. Good article this one. Try eating steak tartare in the Eko hotel in Lagos. Two days I hugged that bastard toilet. I won my bet though.

    If we are dreaming about tents, here´s my favourite for cold weather:

    http://thecottontentcompany.co.uk/product/complete-8m-jurte/

    You can even light a fire inside it. Cool.

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  6. I think you first two sentences say it all - "I like wall tents. Always have." With fall just around the corner my friends and I are already planning the set up of our, or rather, my friend Mike's, wall tent well before any of our seasons begin. A sure excuse to get away for the weekend, pile in, light a fire, and enjoy a glass of bourbon. As for your hotel adventures, I think you need to begin your search. I'm sure there is a tent out there calling you name!

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