Monday, August 15, 2011

Sweating to the oldies

This weekend was a great campout with the Boy Scouts at the DCYC facilities on Lake Dallas.  I was so looking forward to this campout and getting to be around the sail boats.  The only downside was the lack of wind and heat.

Here is my two night palace.  I took my Big Agnes SL2 tent instead of my REI half dome I had written about in another post.  They call this a 3 season tent but, I would say closer to a 2 and a half season tent.  The walls are all mesh and the fly and bottom is this super thin nylon that is ripstop and polyurethane coating for waterproofing.  This tent will never assist in keeping you warm in any degree of fall or winter.  you need a quality sleeping bag to get the third season out of this tent.  To rate this tent I would say the negatives are the front entrance instead of the side entrance is a hassle, the zippers are all done in odd "D" shapes so you need both hands to operate pulling them around the bends.  The front vestibule is about half use full and the end is so far away from the door of the tent that you have to get out and zip it down before getting into the tent.  The positives are that it is ultra light for backpacking which also heat to escape which I needed for this weekend.  The temperatures were still quite warmer than usual for a Texas August.  The last is the quality of the materials are real good and I feel secure in this tent.  Overall rating would be 3 syringes out of 5.  I bet the Lynx Pass models have what I am missing out of the SL models.

Here is a look at The Diabetic Campers tent insides.  Wow am I messy.  Let me start at the top and work my way down.  The plaid is my camping  pillow.  On top of my low profile cot, and you see my orange shammies (I was sweating so bad I used them as a blanket to keep the beads of sweat from waking me up).  I did not bring a backpack since I only needed 2 pairs of shorts, 2 shirts, socks, and underwear besides the usual camping equipment.  I have my personal cooler with insulin and medical equipment being kept cool.  My flashlight and alarm clock (I usually have to pee in the middle of the night and I sleep like a bear).  Then you see my blue sheet, no sleeping bag was needed in 85 degree nights.  Then my universal satchel that keeps my glasses, test equipment, and all sorts of glucose tablets and backup supplies at the base of my cot.  This weekend about 75% of what I brought was precaution for the heat, rain, and excersize for the weekend.  Diabetes is so much fun in extreme weather but it really gets you ready for the real world by testing your limits of preparedness in isolation by limiting your factors.

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