The Tent

With hot and humid weather settling over the Plains, I am reconsidering my options.

Once I went through Broadus, Montana, I began to cover the same territory.  From here on in, I will be traveling through country I've visited either on this trip or previous trips.  No more sightseeing will be necessary.  In addition, there are few campsites on the eastern part of North Dakota and some of those were damaged by spring flooding.  It may be another motel is in the cards for me. I'll travel until 9:00 tonight so even if I find a campground, I would sleep in the car, not bothering with making camp.

Thinking of that this morning when I woke up, I looked around my tent and realized I may not use it again on this trip. My little Ozark tent, purchased some years ago for $30, has served me well. 

It has been in three extremely strong wind storms, in Utah, Montana, and North Dakota.  Whenever the tent seemed like it would overturn, I moved my air mattress and sleeping bag to the side the wind was pushing and used my weight to keep the thing in place.  It worked every time.

Gary added sealant to the seams and rain never got in, with one exception.  One night, after I entered the tent, I looked up and realized I missed two of the hooks on the ceiling when I set it up.  What difference will that make, I thought, and went to sleep.

Later that night, I got a splash of rain water in my face.  Yes, those two hooks made a difference.  I never made that mistake again.

So, today is the last performance at Dickinson, North Dakota. I'll lose an hour as I pass into Central Time just  east of here, but will drive for four hours.   I may push on Tuesday with a 12 hour drive and get back home.  We'll see.  This trip has given me many surprises so I don't count on anything.