Practice, practice, practice.
While I’m not looking to get to Carnegie Hall, being ready for RAGBRAI will suffice. And doing a bit of planning and preparation before the ride is a good idea. My hiking-and-camping friend, Jody, suggested that I rehearse setting up my tent and gear before I got to Iowa.
This actually was a great idea.
With two dogs watching (and the young one somewhat participating), I cleared the living room floor and began. With the clock running I had the tent unpacked and set, the sleeping bag and pad rolled out in just over 5 minutes.
Wow, buying that Reactive Outdoor pop-up tent really was worth it!
The down took a bit more time–a little over 10 minutes.
A few tips I learned from this exercise:
- Pack things in order of being unpacked–put the tent on the top, outside of the bag.
- Spreading a ground cloth helps keep water out from under the tent and also somewhat cushions the ground.
- Putting extras like the fan and light in side pockets also saves time.
- Bring plastic bags to put a wet tent (from dew or light overnight rain) into.
- Blow-up sleeping pads can be a challenge.
Let’s just hope I can repeat this process in the actual setting.
Sergeant Bluff, here I come!
Relentless
