After I got done with Bluesfest in Canada, I decided to head straight for Rock Fest in Cadott, Wisconsin. Instead of going back to my parents' house in Marshfield, I figured I'd save the three hour round trip and camp early. I found out you could win some stuff for camping early so I thought, "what the heck"? Maybe I'd run into people to party with and pass the time or at least get a little time to work on the blog.
I drove into the campground and then tried to find my spot.
Seeing there weren't any campsite markers, I went back to the main area. I found out I should have flagged someone on a four-wheeler down. I did that and they showed me by spot.
I then filled out the clean campsite form and started setting up in the hot sun. I see the rest of the place was pretty empty. Most of the campers that appeared to be there were just dropped off and nobody was around.
I checked the cellular data in the area and it was really good. It would get worse as more people showed up. It did give me plenty of time to sync Dropbox and backup my phone while setting up.
Now I thought I'd outsmart Mother Nature by putting up a canopy tent over my tent. I figured the sun wouldn't directly beat on my tent and keep me cooler. I also put up a sidewall. This is where Mother Nature got the best of me. The wind eventually ripped the sidewall off later on.
The day I settled in was Monday July 9th. I'd have until Wednesday before anything was going on. It was hot, but I had nothing better to do than walk around. That's what I did to see how full the campground was.
The Rock Fest grounds are in the middle of nowhere. There's farmer's fields and woods on the border of it. You may have noticed this by the pictures. It's kind of a haul to Cadott to buy anything, so I packed all non-perishables. I pretty much lived off of ramen, jerky, chips, and gallons upon gallons of water. I had a warm Hamm's to celebrate.
Tuesday July 10th I woke up and it was kind of warm. I had my Folgers instant coffee with pickled quail eggs and Jack Link's breakfast bacon.
The rest of my day involved watching the workers get the porta potties ready and also filling up swimming pools. I continued to eat my ramen and did my daily walk around.
Finally Wednesday had come! Two nights of sleeping on the ground and trying to keep my tent organized was tiring. There was supposed to be an early show for just the three day pass holders. What I was more concerned with initially was the showers opening up. I did my walk around and then appeared to be the only one thrilled the showers were open. There was no line and I had them all to myself!
One thing I did notice throughout the day was the insane amount of mowing. I couldn't care less if my campsite was mowed but it appears people were very particular about it.
I took my shower and then I went inside the festival grounds and took a bunch of pictures.
On one end of things, it was kind of peaceful camping out before the place packed up. On another end, sleeping on the ground got old fast and was kind of uncomfortable. I slept alright, but I definitely wasn't 100% coming into Wednesday and Thursday when my friends showed up. Driving from Canada didn't help either.
I didn't win anything, so I guess that incentive was thrown out. I tried working on the blog but found the limited electricity I had wasn't enough to do what I wanted. Overall, it was an enlightening experience. I did get more in touch with nature's rhythms and it did put things into perspective in terms of resource usage.
I think next time I do this, I'll wait for some friends to arrive or maybe bring a camper so I can sleep better. I'm sure if it was cooler the experience would have been a lot more pleasant. Sitting in a field by yourself for two days fully off the grid can get old fast. I guess it did add to the story and I did get to see the place fill up.