Thursday, May 1, 2014

The Tent (and an awning tip!)

http://www.camping-gear-outlet.com/camping-gear-316905.html
 Our Tent

We decided to look for an SUV tent for this year and managed to snag one off Kijiji for $100! Brand new these tents run about $240-$300 depending on size and dealer, so I took a chance and posted my first-ever Kijiji want ad and a family answered right away! What luck! It pays to take a look around. We ended up with the tent in perfect condition, and some bonus pieces that the family added in like extra tent pegs and some pieces of rebar that confused us at first but the 'tent guy' (as I named him) gave us a great tip!

Mark off where your tent awning poles will go and instead of just standing them there and tying up the guide lines for everyone to trip over 50 times, hammer the pieces of rebar into the ground and slide the awning poles over them. TADA. Awning stays up nicely with no extra lines creating a dark night hazzard :) So, thanks Tent Guy!

Anyway, back to the tent... these are made in various sizes to attach to the back of a smaller vehicle such as a hatchback car or larger SUVs. Our's fit on our 94 Yukon easily. We met Tent Guy at a parking lot and hooked it up before purchase to make sure all was well and it fit just right. Yay! It's very tall in the middle. My husband is 6'1 and can move into the tent easily and stand straight up inside. There is plenty of room for all of us to sleep in the tent itself, but we are going to have the kiddos sleep inside the cab of the truck so we have more room in the tent for ourselves. It's also handy for parents to stay up later and not have to climb over children when it's our bed time :) The tent does not have to be hooked up to a vehicle so you can use it anyway you like. The awning is a great addition because it is about 6 feet long and most tents I have seen do not come with this feature. You can also upgrade to one that has a full screen house/tent attachment. Cool!

Huge windows on every side, and there are some in the top as well so if the weather is nice, you don't have to cover the top with the fly. Just star gaze as you are falling asleep :)