The Tent

We can’t go any longer on this trip without talking about our tent. As you know, Peter Glenn of Vermont is one of our trip sponsors, and we have blessed them so many times, I can’t even count. They donated a Columbia Raptor (actually it’s the Cougar Flats model) – which must be the king and queen of tents. It’s actually a two-room tent – I kid you not – and it has been our home for many, many nights now. It’s incredibly easy to set up – it takes us only about 10-15 minutes to get it all set up, including the rain fly. It has two large doors, one picture window, two bay windows, and two other large windows. It’s even tall enough for Alex, at 6’2”, to stand up fully in, and would sleep 8 in a pinch, or 6 comfortably. Alex has his own “room” and Chelsea and I have our own. It even has two small zipper sections to let the air flow in and out so that condensation doesn’t build up inside the tent.

We are delighted every single day with this tent – we can sit inside and play cards, eat, read, work on the laptop, and it’s just like a screened in porch. I must admit, however, that so far we just fall into it and go straight to sleep, but the star watching is wonderful (in those precious few moments before our eyes close) when we can have the rain fly off. It comes in its own zippered, expandable, wheeled carry case. How cool is that? However, at 50 lbs., it’s a car camping kind of tent. 🙂

Many, many thanks to Peter Glenn of Vermont – if you are lucky enough to be near any of their stores, check them out. We are also using those nifty high-tech towels, various pieces of clothing, socks, riding gloves, and a number of other incredibly useful and high quality things that we got at their stores.