I bring rain with me. It’s a blessing and a curse. I recently discovered how much of a curse it can be. Where do I begin?
We are driving up to Alaska. We are currently in Idaho, and last night, we camped out. Now, I love camping. Minnesota is a great place to camp, and I tried to get out there often. Last night, we set up the tents. My tent, a little OzarkTrail tent I bought at walmart for $30, we couldn’t stake down because it was too rocky. Oh well, right? As we began to eat dinner, the clouds rolled in. Not just those big fluffy clouds that make you want to take a nap in them, oh no. We’re talking about big, dark ominous clouds. I knew, at that moment, that it was going to rain.
Blessing of blessings! The wind switched and the clouds started to move. We watched as the clouds passed us to the west. It was amazing to see things change so quickly, but my amazement was short lived.
Around 8 o’clock, we called it a night because it started to rain. How was it raining? Well, the wind switched again. We crawled into the tent that had not been staked down and curled up in the sleeping bags. The rain pounded against the side of the tent and the wind whipped all around… and under the tent rain tarp. For the most part, the tent held up pretty well. I remember thinking that I should write a review stating how well the tent held up through the thunderstorm. …but that was only the first thunderstorm to come through.
The second storm was not long after that and was succeeded by a close third. The winds were stronger and more rain made it through the not awesome tarp. TC had to hold up one side of the tent because the wind was pretty much tipping everything over and we most definitely would have gotten soaked if he hadn’t. TC guessed we had 50mph gusts last night. Keep in mind, the tent was not staked down. We had a sledgehammer holding down one side of the tent, but that was about it. The sleeping bag and pillows were now in a tolerable damp state. We slept.
A couple hours later:
The wind picks up and the lightning flashes. I wake up as the wind throws all its force against the side of our unprotected tent. This time we both held up the side of the tent. Cold water was soaking my hair and pouring down my arms. About the time I realized that the bottom of the sleeping bag was soaking through, TC realized that the top of the sleeping bag was soaking through. We could have easily slept in the FJ, but if we had left the tent, there was a high possibility that it wouldn’t have been there in the morning. The wind would have completely stolen my tent.
We slept until about 7:30, and when we got up the sky was cloudless. Because the wind kept switching, I feel like it was the same storm just bouncing around the mountains and then coming back to kick the dog while it was down. So that you fully understand what happened, I have provided a dramatization of the events of last night. Enjoy.
We are driving up to Alaska. We are currently in Idaho, and last night, we camped out. Now, I love camping. Minnesota is a great place to camp, and I tried to get out there often. Last night, we set up the tents. My tent, a little OzarkTrail tent I bought at walmart for $30, we couldn’t stake down because it was too rocky. Oh well, right? As we began to eat dinner, the clouds rolled in. Not just those big fluffy clouds that make you want to take a nap in them, oh no. We’re talking about big, dark ominous clouds. I knew, at that moment, that it was going to rain.
Blessing of blessings! The wind switched and the clouds started to move. We watched as the clouds passed us to the west. It was amazing to see things change so quickly, but my amazement was short lived.
Around 8 o’clock, we called it a night because it started to rain. How was it raining? Well, the wind switched again. We crawled into the tent that had not been staked down and curled up in the sleeping bags. The rain pounded against the side of the tent and the wind whipped all around… and under the tent rain tarp. For the most part, the tent held up pretty well. I remember thinking that I should write a review stating how well the tent held up through the thunderstorm. …but that was only the first thunderstorm to come through.
The second storm was not long after that and was succeeded by a close third. The winds were stronger and more rain made it through the not awesome tarp. TC had to hold up one side of the tent because the wind was pretty much tipping everything over and we most definitely would have gotten soaked if he hadn’t. TC guessed we had 50mph gusts last night. Keep in mind, the tent was not staked down. We had a sledgehammer holding down one side of the tent, but that was about it. The sleeping bag and pillows were now in a tolerable damp state. We slept.
A couple hours later:
The wind picks up and the lightning flashes. I wake up as the wind throws all its force against the side of our unprotected tent. This time we both held up the side of the tent. Cold water was soaking my hair and pouring down my arms. About the time I realized that the bottom of the sleeping bag was soaking through, TC realized that the top of the sleeping bag was soaking through. We could have easily slept in the FJ, but if we had left the tent, there was a high possibility that it wouldn’t have been there in the morning. The wind would have completely stolen my tent.
We slept until about 7:30, and when we got up the sky was cloudless. Because the wind kept switching, I feel like it was the same storm just bouncing around the mountains and then coming back to kick the dog while it was down. So that you fully understand what happened, I have provided a dramatization of the events of last night. Enjoy.
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