For weeks, Robert has been surfing the web for rooftop tents for the Jeep. He’s itching to go where no RV will go. I have to admit, rooftop tents are cool, and someday I’m sure we’ll have one. In the mean time, Robert had other ideas. Recently, we were visiting family in St. Louis. Robert and my uncle Larry got to talking about camping. All of a sudden, Larry brought out a cot-tent that he and my aunt weren’t using. It seems that Robert has seen on the web that guys (yes, I’m going to say guys) have modified cot-tents to fit in roof-racks. Larry was kind enough to give us the cot-tent to see if we can use it as a roof-top tent. I have to tell you, Robert was DELIGHTED!
This weekend was our opportunity to try it out. Robert was playing a gig in Eminence, MO and he was determined that we were going to camp out. It’s a perfect because it’s a beautiful area, right in the midst of the Ozark national Scenic Riverways. Secretly, I was hoping for rain, but actually, I suppose I was up for the adventure.
We got to Eminence in plenty of time to toodle around and found our camping spot. We had next to no cell and internet service. What a nice little vacation from technology. Before going to the gig, we did a little prep work at our camp spot. Robert had brought our traditional tent and wanted to set it up to show that the spot was taken. We went ahead and unpacked and aired up the mattress to have it ready in the tent when we returned from the gig.
Off to the show we went after a bit of freshening up. A fun night with The Band Special 20 at Salty Jacks. After giggles and ribbing remarks from all the band members about our determination to actually sleep on top of the Jeep, we got back to our campsite at about 2am. I’m so glad we were the only ones around. I couldn’t help but smile because we had a perfectly good tent already set up with the air mattress ready to lay down on, yet we are folding out the cot-tent and strapping it on top of the Jeep. It was 2am and I was tired, but at the same time, I think I was just as intrigued as Robert to see if the cot-tent would actually be usable. The Jeep only has a 3-inch lift on it, but I think either I’m getting shorter or the Jeep is getting taller. We had a fun time laughing at ourselves getting everything set up. We shoved in the air mattress, threw in our pillows and it was ready to heave-ho up onto the roof. Robert did a great job with securing the tent down to our roof rack. Before long, it was time to climb up and test it out. You know, the thing that kept running through my mind was, we are not in our twenties anymore and it is a long way down.
We were going to do this so we climbed up and got all comfy. It took me just a second to realize, we forgot the blanket. Robert was great and climbed down to retrieve it. It was a beautiful night for camping. I enjoyed staring out the tent’s window and just embrace the peacefulness.
The next morning, we needed to pack up and be on our way before the storms were upon us. Luckily, we weren’t too rushed. I had to take pictures of our contraption and say to myself, “Are we adventurous or redneck?” I hope we are the first, but most likely we are a bit of both. This won’t be the last time we use the cot-tent as our roof-top tent. Someday we’ll have the real thing, but until then, we will have a great summer going where our RV can’t go and doing some old-fashioned camping.
