I guess "oh shit" is somewhat appropriate here.

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Over and over and over and over....

At least he's at someone's house. He could enduring it at a minimal service camp ground with a just a pit.

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When I was in girl scout camp, years ago, the rule-of-thumb was that in California, water above 4500 feet was safe, below it wasn't. (That's long, long gone.) At camp, we had a stretch of river that we could, and did, drink from. My unit once took an overnight hike, just for the sake of a hike and a stay somewhere else, about five miles and a few hundred feet down the hill. The counselors warned us about the river down there. A couple of us listened. The next night, back at the camp, we were the ones nursing the rest of the unit. Fortunately, the end of the session was a couple of days later, so they could go home and medicate.

(Oh, and now, that camp has toilets, to comply with the ADA. We slept outdoors, on the ground, no tents, and had pit toilets. Current campers don't know the joy of hiding in one of the side-by-side huts, very quietly, flashlight in hand, until another camper went into the other hut and sat down. We'd shine our light down into the stew (which reflected back up at us, but also at the person next door) and ROARED down the pit.

Teehee, it was such fun, in retrospect . . . and very mean. But fun. :)

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Campground stories at 10 paces????

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At a large SCA event. A young lady dropped a flashlight down the hole. Wailing and crying, because she had bought the fancy one with her own money.

For 2 days folks publicly praised the organizers for providing a "night light" in the privy. Of course, only when the young lady was present.

The folks started complaining that the night light had gone out and when was it going to be fixed/replaced.


Two months later, the flashlight was presented to the young lady during full court, with many thanks for providing the "night light service" to the other privy users. Seems that after the event, the close down crew found the flashlight floating to the top as they filled in the pit. They claimed that they had thoroughly cleaned it, but many suspected they just a bought her a new one.

Her parents reported that she never lost or even misplaced a piece of camping equipment ever again.

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If this was the case, I would be driving right now.

I've been lucky and have never gotten seriously ill while camping, but I know a few people who have and am in no hurry to experience it.

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Well, now I know what to get him for his birthday... :D

*comfortinghugs* to you and him.

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Oooooh not much fun. I know how he feels and he has my sympathy.

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Wouldn't it be all ironical if he picked it up in San Jose?

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Ooo yeah. The timing is about right too. And San Jose water has a pretty distinct taste too, if you know what I mean.

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Fortunately, nobody else I'm aware of who was at that convention got giardia. And the hotel's water is chlorinated so much, I don't think you could water plants with it.

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Yeah, I feel fine and the rest of the jackal pack seems ok. After questioning, Bax did mention that he had been feeling queasy a little bit before BayCon but had chalked it up to general trail maliase. Now we know.

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Does Cipro affect giardia? Giardia's a protozoan and cipro's an antibacterial, but sometimes those work on other things...

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I'm pretty sure it does. When we were getting the prescription filled, one of the pharmisicts wandered by and did a double take: "Who has giardia?"

We told her nobody did - it was precautionary prescription. She mentioned it was a good one to have on hand when traveling. So it must do the trick. Bax did say that he thought it was helping. I'm mostly concerned about dehydration at this point.

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