MIKE BRAUN A cooler way to take hot food

If you've ever gone camping and found yourself with a cooler full of soggy or waterlogged food, or arrived at the family picnic with offerings that are more luke than warm, then a cooler developed by the people at Coleman may be just the thing for you.
Called thermoelectric coolers, these relatively new offerings by the camping gear producer come in two versions, a smaller, 16-quart personal cooler with interchangeable lid, and the larger, 40-quart minirefrigerator-style cooler.
Both work well when you are looking to haul food without ice or cooling blocks to a campsite, fishing hole, ballpark, concert or other event, or even if you have an emergency with your refrigerator and need a fast and easy place to store your perishables.
A test run
I got the chance recently to test both versions of this cooler and they both performed admirably.
While these are not refrigerators and won't keep ice cream and other freezer foods frozen, the coolers do work well when it comes to keeping cold foods chilled.
On a several-days trip my wife and I took, the larger cooler kept our drinks cold and had enough room to let us to store leftovers from a restaurant and some other perishables we purchased. The nice part is that the cooler has a convertor available that allowed us to bring it into the hotel room with us, plug it in, and keep everything cool overnight. Coleman's specifications say the cooler, without any ice, will keep items at 40 degrees below the ambient temperature (whatever the surrounding temperature is).
The smaller device was perfect for another recent trip we took with our youngest daughter, Raquel. It fit perfectly on the back seat floor of our SUV, giving us accessibility and letting us store cooler snacks (puddings, yogurt, juice, etc..) for our 3-year-old passenger.
If you wish to use the "cooler" as a "heater" instead, just flip the color-coded cord around (blue-on-blue for cold to red-on-red for hot -- pretty easy) and it will keep things at 100 degrees above the ambient temperature. This is perfect for transporting foods to picnics, special events, or even family dinners over the river and through the woods.
The coolers are not cost-prohibitive either, retailing for around $90 (with the converter) for the smaller version and about $140 for the larger model and at many area department and sporting goods stores.
Coleman isn't the only maker of this type of cooler and I've seen other brands advertised at area stores. But Coleman does have the name and the reliability backed by years of offering quality equipment for the outdoors.
New products
Coleman is also offering -- for the second year -- a new line of products for the camper who likes to rough it a bit more than usual.
Called the Exponent product line, Coleman offers everything from lanterns, stoves, flashlights, cook kits, backpacks, frames, tents and sleeping bags.
These products, Coleman says, are "ultrarugged, ergonomic, high-performance" and "specifically created for adventurers who enjoy camping in more remote, less civilized places." In other words, the items in the Exponent line are more for those "extreme" campers who like to immerse themselves in the outdoors experience sans things like RVs, motel rooms and olympic-sized swimming pools.
Additions to the Exponent line for 2002 include a full-size cooking stove, backpacker's table, additional models of tents, small lumbar pack, piggyback daypack and four weather-resistant aluminum flashlights.
All of the product lines offered by Coleman can be seen at the company's excellent Web site, www.coleman.com.
Fishing free days
You can take advantage today of the second Ohio fishing for free day by heading to any of Ohio's public waters without having to buy a fishing license.
A $16 resident license is normally needed to fish any public site-- unless you are under age 16 -- but the state offers two days a year when Ohio residents don't need one.
While we have any number of great public waters in our area to give fishing-for-free days a try, if you drive about 45 minutes from here, there are some fishing ponds geared specifically for the kids.
At the headquarters for the Ohio Division of Wildlife District Three, at 912 Portage Lakes Drive in Akron, fishing ponds for those 15 and younger are open for free fishing today -- and EVERY weekend.
Children can come and fish all day, catch as much as they want, but take only one fish home. Adults may come with the children, but are not allowed to fish.
The ponds are regularly stocked and there is an attendant on duty with picnic tables and restrooms also available.
For more information on these ponds, or anything else concerning the DOW, call (330) 644-2293.
Take advantage of the final fish-for-free day today at an area lake, river or pond, or take your child to the Division of Wildlife HQ any weekend. Either way, it will be time well spent.
mbraun@vindy.com