My yearly trek to the Christian event, Lifest, grew each year. From just the four of us the first year, we grew in 2003 to five girls, me and a woman I work with and go to church with, along with adding her tent to our camper and my in-law’s Blazer. In 2004, there were, I think, the same number of kids and one more adult.
Both of those years, rains forced the event organizers to change around camping spots due to flooding in places. That wasn’t the only water problem.
Can you imagine a fairgrounds filled with over 10,000 people camping out for four days all trying to shower at some point throughout the day? Depending on the year and what facilities were open at any given time, an average of eight showers was available for each sex. Especially challenging when a lot of these participants were teenage girls, who don’t let sleeping in a tent and then jumping up and down in a mosh pit prevent them from their daily preening.
The first year we went, I got up around 7:30 the first morning and thought I would get in a quick shower, figuring that most of the girls on the grounds were still sleeping. Wrong, I waited in line for an hour and a half. I kept thinking that I should go back to the camp and come back later, but didn't know whether or not the line ever went away. By the next afternoon, I discovered that three o’clock in the afternoon or during one of the head line bands in the evening was the optimal time to shower. Unless you were exceptionally unlucky and the showers were closed for cleaning when you got there.
Of course, most years, it was hot and dusty during the day and warm and sticky at night, so it was kind of a toss up as to whether or not a shower was even ever worth it.
I will not even take you to the porta-potties.
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