camping around ring road.

No campsite at Jokulsarlon! You can stay at south shore of the lagoon (behind "hills" between lagoon and road). But I would try to get to Hofn on same day. Really.
If you decide to stay somewhere between Akureyri and Reykjavik - try Borgarnes.

As to gas stoves - well, I'll try to check if this self-sealing lindal-valve whatever is available. Also check cooking options at http://www.rusring.net/island/2010/05/how-to-cook-coleman/

Some campsites descriptions - http://www.campingcard.is/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=1
In many places it would be easier to get food at gas stations actually.

right, i know that the campsite is about 7 miles away. was thinking of just wild camping there. not recommended?

Late evening - night - early morning at the Lagoon is worth camping there. But what are you going to do the rest of the time? :-)
Well, you can visit another lagoon nearby - there is yellow bus (US school bus) that going between Skaftafell and lagoons with glacier tours. I would take that one.

As to camping - see the picture. Good thing - there is a cafe with hot soup :-). You can see it at the right upper side of the photo.

yeah, that picture makes it very tempting to just camp there. good to know there is some sort of establishment nearby. is the other lagoon fjallsarlon? totally forgot about that. how far is that (or whichever lagoon you speak of) from either skaftafell or jokulsarlon (can you walk to it)? and what bus tour is that? thank you for enlightening me on these other options.

Good neews about your MSR pocket rocket. You'll get fuel for it - no problem
http://www.rusring.net/island/2010/05/how-to-cook-coleman/

"Establishment" is the Tourist center - with toilet and cafe.

Now about glacier/lagoon tour
http://glacierguide.is/GlacierTripsFromSkaftafell/PickUpSchedule/
And yes, second lagoon is Fjallsarlon
The bus I was talking about - http://fotki.yandex.ru/users/ruslendingar/view/208726?page=0

From Jokulsarlon to Fjallsarlon is about 10 km
See the map (and use it for your trip planning)
http://en.ja.is/kort/#x=633013&y=395635&z=6&services=16%2C18

One must-see place you missing - Snaefellsnes
http://en.ja.is/kort/#x=326446&y=482699&z=3&services=16%2C18
I really would try to get there (from Borgarnes)

And if you have to stay extra in Akureyri - do it.

Feel free to ask any other questions

oh! i came across that page the other day (about gas), didn't know it was yours. thank you so much for researching/updating that!
toilets were my main concern at jokulsarlon. although i'm not sure how one would use the restroom at night when those establishments are closed. may have to rethink this...
also, i read in the most recent lonely planet guidebook that camping around jokulsarlon is not really allowed. but it doesn't say it is completely forbidden either. this must be due to no 24-hour toilets and other human pollution issues, i'm guessing. but you can correct me if i'm wrong, since you mentioned one could stay at the south shore.
seems walking to fjallsarlon from jokulsarlon would take about two hours, assuming there is a shoulder to walk on. forgot about breidarlon as well. thanks for the tour tips, will have to look into those.
snaefellsnes is an area not covered by our bus route, unfortunately. may have to save that for another trip.

There is no shower at Jokulsarlon either! :)
I would use Glacier Tours service from Skaftafell to visit both lagoons although there is no problem to walk between them just straight. You won't be lost as there is no trees and you are between glacier on one side and sea on the other anyway :) In general common sense works in Iceland even better than GPS - in terms of walking and finding places.
This is Fjallsarlon
http://fotki.yandex.ru/users/ruslendingar/view/233263?page=1
http://fotki.yandex.ru/users/ruslendingar/view/204280?page=8
But back to business - if you use Yellow Bus from Skaftafell you can decide on spot weather to stay at Jokulsarlon overnight or not. I mean in case of rain there is no point to do that, right? And it's not really allowed but nobody will shoot you for that neither. We were there at night cause we were on car - and the views were...well you have to see it by yourselves http://fotki.yandex.ru/users/ruslendingar/view/208729?page=1

BTW what bus schedules are you using?
This one http://www.sterna.is/en ?

PS. check your private messages

hmm, yeah. i wouldn't mind going a day without a shower, i guess. will have to think some more about this.
nice pictures. did you stay overnight? if so, how did you use the restroom ,if you don't mind me asking?
not using sterna, but nat.is.

We didn't stay overnight at the lagoon itself as we were with a car (staying in campsite to the east).
As to restrooms - we used same "restrooms" as vikings did before Germans invented WC (aka watercloset) :))))
Just don't drink beer too much!
And as I said - use Glacier tour bus (at least for transportation) and decide on spot. It's really hard to give advice in such cases - so much depends on weather!!! And I don't mean just rain. Some places looks so magical in fog, for instance, that you might decided to spend more time there than you think.

And nat.is site is not that exact as sterna.is (it actually used info from sterna)