2014-06-18 Camping - Sorta

Post date: Jun 19, 2014 1:23:41 PM

I am a lover of history books especially the accounts of earlier explorers and sea voyages to the Pacific Northwest. In those days , there were times when sea captains in an effort to save their ship had to do the unthinkable. They ordered their crew to cut away the riggings and sails if the ship appeared to be at risk of capsizing during a storm in heavy seas and high winds. This was called demasting the ship.

Teresa and I had our "demast" moment last night in Limon, Colorado. We setup our new tent - the one with a ceiling high enough to stand up in amongst scattered rain and moderate winds. Thinking we were good, we quickly filled the tent with our sleeping mattress, bedding, and gear. That's when the wind rose to a roar. That tall tent became the perfect parachute catching the full force of what later we learned was 32 mph wind gusts. It was either drop her or lose her. So, after 5 minutes of hanging onto the sides of the tent against winds that were difficult to stand up in and lively "discussion" between Teresa and I, we opted to pull the poles out of the corner brackets, then jump on top of the tent to deflate it with all our equipment still inside. It's 9 at night. So, we packed up and headed to a 1 - star motel. The last one with vacancy in town.