Things 1st timers might not expect

Car charger is your best bet.

sweet!

the app i was talking about is called vcrumbs. i have a palm pre, idk if it's available for other phones. it was free when i downloaded it about a year ago ???

Yeah I def would like my car right where I'm camping for many diffrent reasons. I did hear it could end up being along walk to centeroo but I'm fine with that. I read a lot about pop up canopys for shade and stuff, I try to picture thousands and thousands of packed in cars, when people talk about those are they mainly talking about putting em over ur tents or is there a fair amount of room? And another question that stems from that, so are u gonna have a better space situation with the more cars u bring in ur group? And grapefruit I have an evo and I found like 3 different ones, so ur post helped just fine thanks

They say you're supposed to have a 10 foot x 10 foot space reserved for camping but it really depends on your parking person. They may try to park you close to your neighbors. If that's the case, make friends with them as soon as you get out of you car because there will likely be a land grab. If they get more space and you're friendly with them, they may let you set up your canopy on their space.

I would put up the canopy wherever I could. Some people put them up over their tents because they like it that way; others because of space issues. If you search, you should be able to find a thread titled "Show Us Your Campsite", and you can see pictures of what people's setups have looked like in the past.

EDIT: I saved you the trouble and found the thread:
bonnaroo.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=logistics&action=display&thread=4860



Once again, it depends on your parking person. It's usually best to have a few cars in your group, but you HAVE to make sure you guys are parked next to each other in order for it to work. That may mean you have to get snappy with your parking person (which we did last year) so they understand.

In '09 I think we had 4 cars in our party. If you have multiple cars make sure to tell the attendants or you'll most likely get separated. We somehow managed to park in a semi-circle, but we were right along the road.

Last year we had 2 cars, parked next to each other and we literally ran out of the car to grab land.

It's a crap shoot

I had kids at home as well and was able to check up on them a couple of times a day. I would call before heading to centeroo, text while there, and usually call again in the evening back at camp. Seems like a lot of checking up I know, but it was my first time away from the kids for more than one night haha

I camped right next to one of those damn lights. Downside: VERY NOISY more or less all night long. (Workaround: stay up until 6am every day?)

energizer makes a 'power pack.' it runs off of batteries and has a usb jack for you to plug your cell phone or whatever device into. it's 15 or 20 bucks i think... the downside is you have to bring batteries. although i think they make some that are rechargable, batteries seem to be more convenient because if the chargable one dies, you're just SOL.

i'd pick up one or two cheap phone batteries off of ebay, charge them before you go, and see if your phone has a power saving mode.

You have to remember a couple of things when it comes to cell phones. First, if you have had your cell phone and the battery that came with it for a year or more, your battery has lost at least 20-30%+ if not more of its ability to hold a charge, depending on how you care for the phone.

Second, heat kills a batteries ability to hold a charge. This also shortens the life span of the battery.

If you couple the two, you will have a tough time keeping a charge. Best way to work around this is to make sure you have a fresh cell phone battery if you can afford it (or if you need it), and make sure to charge in your car every night.

Of course, tent-only campers have to get creative since it's a pita to walk all the way back to your car for a charge, but there are other options.

a solar charger will work great.

www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=solar+charger

I tried out the solar charger approach while I was in the Amazon outside of Iquitos. I was very dissapointed in it personally. It just couldn't keep up with my usage requirements (I was using it for iPod, since you had to have a satellite phone to make a call). However, that being said, they do store a charge so if you pre-charge them you can recharge your phone in a couple of hours.

Otherwise, look at the performance stats. 12-14 hours for sunlight charging. They don't mention that this is baselined off of 12-14 hours of peak sunlight. Considering there is only 12 hours of sunlight at the summer solstace, you can see it takes 2-3 days to fully charge with sunlight.

It might get you enough juice for an emergency, but chances are if you're using your phone this will be a waste of hard earned cash...

I always camp with my car and just run the car charger in the morning while we are getting ready. I've never had my phone die at Bonnaroo, although I don't really use it a whole lot.

Same here. Last year I kept my phone (Droid) in my car the whole time. I would check my texts in the morning and afternoon, but never brought it in Centeroo. Sent out a mass text to my friends in attendance on Day 1 stating my campsite. Stayed charged the whole time.

Just chiming in to say this thread kicks ass!! This year will be my first Roo', and this thread has already got me psyched to be there, and more than enough to be prepared for it!!!!
Thanx, and see y'all on tha farm!!!!