Found another reason to have a TD instead of a tent...

[Woodstramp]

I've had plenty of camp-outs ruined by all sorts of things over the decades....Rain, cold, heat, illness, etc.

After 50 years of life I just discovered another. Wind. Was sure glad we all had something solid to sleep in.

We just came back from a family camp-out this weekend. My daughter and her husband came home from OK. They were in a tent. My other daughter and her cousin were in another. Wife and I in the TTT. Clear and cool, fall colors raging near Cheaha Mt.....perfect. Perfect untill the wind started getting rough on Sat night. Got so rough last night (Sun) that my married daughter's tent cracked a pole....they moved thier bed to thier Blazer... We moved our other daughter and her cousin to our Suburban.

The wind was so rough that this AM when we woke (to more wind) we found that not only had the tents completely collapsed, but the food bins and stuff has been thrown off the benches and down the bank. Never did find all the cups and bowls. Never seen anything like that during cool dry weather. The TTT was the least substantial of the three sleeping quarter units, but we survived.

[hoytedow]

Thanks for the enjoyable post. We have been wanting to go to Cheaha SP for a while. Hopefully it won't be too long. I have also found the teardrop to be superior in many ways including in inclement weather.

[canned o minimum]

One a my first camp outs was with my daughter and my sister in law..They slept in the tent and it rained...

I offered the TD to then the 2nd nite and they declined.. I told em I wasn't gonna beg them to use it.. they declined again.

Well.. it rained like the dickens and they got soaked !

"I" was snug as a bug in a rug !

[stumphugger]

Yes, it is nice not to have a tent hitting you in the face. However, my sleep was interrupted because I put my little awning tent too close and part of the tent frame was hitting my trailer. My trailer was rocking a bit in the wind. It was so nasty that I didn't want to go out and fix it.

[Woodstramp]

We have been wanting to go to Cheaha SP for a while. Hopefully it won't be too long.

Hoytedow,

The fall colors up there right now are at the peak. If that dang wind keeps up like it was this weekend all the trees will be slap naked in a week or two. There are two main full hookup camps in the park. One, on top of the mountain and another across from Cheaha lake. I prefer the one below the lake. Nicer views. If you need GPS coordinates for either I can shoot them to you.

[hoytedow]

Thanks, Woodstramp. We probably won't get up there until next summer or later. WE've been talking about it for a couple of years now. Hectic life at the moment.

[Wolfscout]

The camp trips we've taken in ours have far surpassed any bad weather tent camping trip we had in the past. Makes me wonder what took me so long to move on building my own. It's not perfect. It's not High dollar or extreme quality. it's just pure functionality.
I can't wait till our next big trip - a two week trip to Edisto Beach Next May time period. Probably be some small week-enders before that. But we'll be "snug as a bug" with heat and insulated dwelling. *nods* Can't beat that with any kind of tent.

[hugh]

I have tented all my life, summer, winter, in all kinds of weather. Since discovering this site and building my little trailer I have had my best sleeps out in the woods, up off the ground, no danger of getting wet, one of the best things I,ve ever made. Now I am thinking of another, I just bought a 1947 Jeep CJ2A that needs to be put back together. Depending on which direction I go with the jeep I will either build a super lightweight Teardrop or I may strip my current trailer and build it from 8 feet long inside to 12 feet and tow the CJ to the woods then sleep in the lengthened trailer. A whole winter to think about and plan while redoing the jeep.

[mkitchen]

Mo is going to a "Sisters on the Fly" camp in Joshua Tree NP this coming weekend and it is predicting rain. If we were using our tent still, I think she would bow out, but with the TD, it just makes for a more interesting time. She is well equipted for hiking in the rain so she will be fine. Wish I was going.
Mikey