Among the best things in life (insert Conan quote here) is sitting around a campfire listening to stories. What a great evening.
Folks who build boats (no surprise here) “think outside the box”. They find unique solutions to life’s problems. While I’d been fretting over “operation old guy” everyone had their own thing going on.
One of the guys hadn’t even set up a tent! The sky was cloudy and “troubled”; hot and muggy air might very well resolve into a rainstorm. At first, I thought “this dude is totally hard-core” and felt oddly guilty about my “supertent”. I’ve often laid a sleeping bag on the ground tossed a tarp over my body and called it good… but I never liked that for rainy conditions. With the huge flashy tent had I betrayed the “toughness” of youthful times?
Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! I was reading it all wrong! Eventually the tentless fellow wanders off towards “car jail” mentioning something about “sleeping in my Prius”. I was about to make a joke about it when I remembered the vehicle back at “car jail”. It was hitched to a trailer with a cool, long and narrow “sailing canoe-ish” craft. (I’m sure there’s a nautical term for that kind of boat but I don’t know it.) He’s probably getting a zillion miles an hour to tow his sleek narrow boat. The perfect fit of tow vehicle and trailer gives me new respect for Prii (that’s the plural right?).
My “solution” is crude by comparison. Running the biggest consumer diesel on the market to drag a 100 pound craft is hurling dollars out the window.
Then he mentioned he can run the AC all night long in a Prius. It’ll cycle the engine on and off silently as needed. I was in the presence of genius!
I went ape coming up with my tent / cot combo and it truly is the lap of luxury… but AC all night long? That’s leveling up!
A few other folks were already asleep in their boats; happily anchored off shore. That seems pretty cool. My little boat isn’t suitable for such shenanigans. (That said, there are lunatics on the ‘net who’ve slept in tiny PDRs like mine. My back aches even mentioning it.)
Another guy had neither a boat nor a car. How the heck did he get there? Apparently, he just met the Prius fellow and he tagged along. He’d brought a tent but no car or boat. Easy peasy. Carpooling all day in a car with a stranger is what will happen to me if I’ve sinned and go to hell. Yet these two hit it off great. People impress me. I mentioned I know jack shit about sailing but I have a boat. His ears perked up and soon I had a knowledgeable “first mate” for tomorrow’s sailing. How awesome is that?
I’d have liked to have sat by the fire forever but bourbon and the long drive had taxed me. I retired to my cot (in what was now forever cemented in my mind as the “supertent”). I collapsed on the soft mattress but slept uneasily in the heat. I dreamed of air conditioning.
Two camping successes merit mention. First, if you’re of the sort that defaults to overly heavy sleeping bags, bring a sheet when it’s hot. A $6 sheet from Walmart was a big help. Also, my “bug zapper flashlight lantern” really worked. I hung it from the “supertent” ceiling, set it on the blue “bug zap” setting, and ignored it. In a half hour the handful of mosquitoes that would’ve pissed me off all night were dead. Wow! The screened in tent was a perfect use for an “attract and kill” approach.
Later that night the wind picked up. I zipped up the windows and since I had room I pulled in my tote-o-gear and my chair. (Nobody likes a wet chair in the morning.) Perhaps this was unnecessary, a tiny hint of clear sky at the horizon hinted it would pass quickly.
WRONG! The tiny hint of clear sky was receding.
ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE! Lightning, thunder, torrential downpour, four horsemen of the apocalypse, etc… As with the windstorm on my first trip the tent walls bowed in. However, the wind on the last trip had been completely off the hook and this was just a normal thunderstorm. It seemed no big deal for the tent.
I couldn’t sleep in the racket so I clicked on my lantern, sat in my chair, put my feet on the tote, and read a book. I have never ever sat upright in a folding chair inside a tent… much less while riding out a serious thunderstorm. Nice!
Soon it passed and the temperature was 40 degrees cooler. I burrowed back in my bag (which was ideal for the cooler weather) and slept like a baby.
Eventually I’ll hit the water, stay tuned.
A.C.
P.S. The next morning I noted with embarrassment that my outlandish showy tent “shook a bit” in the storm. Folks had been asking me about its performance and I felt obligated to admit it was “a bit loud” during the worst of it. Everyone laughed. I was the only one in camp that didn’t get either wholly or partly soaked in the downpour. Another successful test of the “supertent”.
P.S. A battery powered mosquito fryer seemed suspiciously like a dumb gadget when I got it. However, it has been surprisingly handy. It’s great as a lantern, battery life is fine, and the zapper really zaps. It not a magic wand in the forest but it’s quite efficient in the enclosed space of a tent (or Pruis?). You’ll do well to add a Nebo 6587 Z-Bug lantern to your multi-layered bug defense. Don’t let the toy like appearance dissuade you.
We had enough room in a tent once for me to sit in the camp chair and read a book one rainy morning, it was really different!
I went out to the table to fix coffee 🙂
It’s a huge game changer isn’t it?
Funny, just yesterday I said camping would be
perfect enjoyable pleasanttolerable except for the heat/humidity/bugs. Obviously, I need a Prius (hawk, spit) and one ah them bug lights. Heat index was 109 yesterday.Have you a tarp, AC? If not – that is absolutely mandatory. I got onto them years ago and will never camp without one again.
Please keep us posted about Operation Old Guy. Parallel operations are in motion elsewhere. 😉
All men always have a tarp. It’s part of the “guy code”.
When in the actual backcountry I carry a cheap 5’x7′ from walmart. Been pleased with the smaller size. Usually just toss it over my Duluth Packs but if it rains I set it up. I’ve never spent money on a “backpacking tarp” but I did rent one once… they’re very nice but delicate and expensive. I can trash my walmart tarp and not care. Once a tarp gets trashed, it goes to duty covering the woodpile. Biggest drawback is the annoying noise of the plastic.
For “operation old guy” I’ve got a couple generic tarps in the truck toolbox. So far, I’ve been too busy with the boat and my other toys to set one up. Having a luxurious “stand up inside” tent makes a tarp less urgent than when you’re squeezed in a mountaineering tent the size of a ziplock bag.
My long term plan is to hack together some sort of baker tent. Probably with Tyvek and gorilla tape. No rush, that’s more of a bad weather thing and lately it’s been way to hot to ponder spreading tarps on the lawn and noodling about with them.
Good luck with your parallel operations. Cheapskates that like to camp need to share info! We can’t let spandex clad millenials colonize the whole damn forest.
“spandex clad millenials” Like rabbits, there’s no bag limit, right?
Tarps are a good thing.
They seem to multiply like rabbits so why not?
Can we get rundown on your camping equipment? (Or is that glamping?)
I saved a link to the cot, though I’m still of 2 minds on cots vs really good air-mattresses. But the other stuff… sounds like it really is working. (I am old enough that the idea of sleeping on the ground has lost its appeal.)
I’ll probably post it all in due time but here’s a start:
I’m still “Tweaking” the perfect “operation old guy” gear but right now the core is a T4-Gazelle Tent, the Teton XXL cot, the Teton Pad (which is an encumbrance carrying it around in your vehicle but amazing to sleep on), and a Teton 0 degree bag. I’d say any bag is OK but for comfort (i.e. when you’re definitely not backpacking) go for a square bag. Leave mummy bags for climbing snowy mountains where every ounce and degree matters. Zero degrees is overkill on a summer like this one but I tent to “push it” so overkill is better than assuming I’ll be wise enough to avoid the cold. YMMV.
[Note: If you don’t go for the XXL cot you may get by with the less opulaten T3 Gazelle. It’s the dimensions of the cot that drove me to the 4 man tent size. It’s huge to carry but awesome at camp. Both probably set up at same speed… which is fast.]
Bugs are part of the summer equation. I have a multi-layer approach. In the tent use the bug zapper / light. Outside and whenever the air is still use a couple of Thermacells. Treat your clothes with Peremethrin. Wipe your exposed skin with DEET wipes (this is inadequate for hard core pursuits like logging but fine for recreating). I’ll list all that on a future blog post shortly.
Cooking is another “experiment”. I’ve ditched my ultra-light and super efficient Jet-Boil and switched to an old school percolator (the one from my shop woodstove Betsy). I park that on a cheap propane burner with a 1 pound tank. It’s sub-optimal for efficiency but one of the joys of life is listening to it perk. If you have time to kill and the scene is nice… percolate.
Camp chairs come in a million types. I’m using an $8 cheapo for now. I will probably upgrade.
I also sprang for a Tilley Hat. Pretentiously expensive but I like it.
More to come but that’ll get you started. BTW: If you buy from my links to Amazon (regardless of what you buy) I get a tuppence from Amazon and it costs you nothing. No pressure but I’m just puttin’ it out there.
Tilley Hat: on my third but only bought one. The first replacement for the worn-out original was free and took 30 seconds at the REI customer service counter. The clerk said “Yep, that’s worn out. Go get a new hat. You can keep the old one. No paperwork.” Tilley’s policy change meant the second replacement required that I return the hat for inspection and pay $9(?) for the convenience of not getting a new hat immediately. I got to keep the old one at my discretion but it was marked to preclude returning it again. I suspect hat number four will require 20 pieces of silver and an anal probe from TSA. Pretentiously priced is right- I intend to get my money’s worth.
Aside: the 360 brim makes for an enlivened auditory experience if you wear hearing aids.
Looking forward to yer gear reviews.
I’m not used to an expensive hat. I have this urge to douse it with peremethrin and then remind myself this ins’t a “freebie” trucker’s cap. Also, it’s been blown into a lake twice.
Use both straps and it will stay on.
Permethrin impregnated is good.
Soaked with (the now withdrawn) Scotchguard, not so much- it’ll keep the rain off but you will be drenched with your own sweat. I figured if it worked to keep Marine DIs lookin’ fresh ‘n dry , it oughtta work on my hat. It was not a good idea.
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