Rain Check - filled!

Newfie Speed and Sport (aka Canadian Tire) is an entertaining enterprise. Sometimes I am amazed at how they manage to stay in business.

Tonight I decided to go get myself a WINs number and a fishing license so I can go fishing with Darren, Arturo and Blaine tomorrow. I thought it was going to cost me 50 bucks, but it ended up being much cheaper than that and I am now set up for about 28 dollars.

While I was there I thought to myself... "heck, just for shits and giggles - lets see if this guy can find the 11 'in stock' tents that the girl couldn't track down on Tuesday". I explain to the guy all about my situation and how I'd been searching for one of these tents, how I ended up with a rain check, and how - when I keep checking the updated inventory on line, that it insists that Canadian Tire (at this location) has some of these bad boys in stock. "sure I'll go look for them" he says. The crafty bugger actually returns with one!!

Marvelous. :)

It costs me a bit of time, but the guy actually comes through for me. They *were* in the wharehouse, but it appears whoever did the search on Tuesday didn't look hard enough. Lucky me!! So now I have the tent I first bought 2 weeks ago. Only this time it was a 100 bucks cheaper.

Now I just have to find time to set it up and get it ready for next weekend. Maybe I'll do some camping. :)

Tent Shopping update...

So, I've been hunting around for a new tent to suit my camping needs and you know what they say... bigger is better! I started my search at the Army & Navy store here in Calgary. Lots of selection, plenty of big tents, and very decent prices. However, most of their tents still use the "sleeve" style for securing tent poles. I just find that waaaay to cumbersome to work with, making the whole process for setting up your tent a little more time consuming.

So I sauntered over to Newfie Speed and Sport (Canadian Tire for those that have never lived in McMurray) and had a look at their selection. Unfortunately they don't have anything set up so you can see what it looks like. I perused their selection and made some notes. They have a few tents that are in the size range that I'm looking for (5-6 man) with the sport hub pole system for setting up the tent.

Next I made my way over to campers village. Lots of expensive stuff just like Mountain Equipment Coop and then a few things that are more in my price range. They had a nice tent with a vestibule that also slept 6 people that was in my price range. Still - no sport hub tent pole system with the clip on's rather than the sleeves.... decent tents... but they might be a bit troublesome to set up.

I ended up going back to Canadian Tire and picked up a 6 man tent they had there since it was the last one and I wasn't sure if they would be bringing in any more tents. $240.00 bucks.... there goes my budge ($150.00) but at least I have a tent I'm pretty sure I'll be happy with. Took it home and was going to set it up but it threatened rain and I wanted a couple days to have it up to air out and "season" so to speak.

Then a colleague of mine at work told me about the great deals that Costco had on so I zipped over there to take a look. Not much for selection but they did have a 5 man tent with vestibule for a hundred bucks. Nice! It doesn't use the sport hub system, but the tent poles do clip on instead of going through the sleeves. I zipped back home with the tent, returned my Canadian Tire jobbie and set up the Costco version in my back yard.

I made it about 1/2 way through, cursing the whole time I was setting it up. This motha was a b!tch to set up. And Lordy... does it take up real estate. Good Gawd... the foot print almost sucks up my whole back yard!!! Man... this is almost a 2 person job.

When I got to the fly, the instructions said... "slide the pole through the sleeve in the fly (how did I miss that? Sleeve? There's not supposed to be any sleeves on this thing), then bend to fit in the ferrule and then peg down to secure. This is quite dificult and may require a bit of strength to accomplish"

It actually said that.... "may require a bit of strength to accomplish"..... oh oh.... warning bells start going off in my head. This does not bode well.

I figure what the hey... lets give it a shot. at first glance it looks like the pole will work out ok. Then as you feed it through the sleeve it appears to be too long. Wtf? So I start creating an arc, trying to bend the pole to fit in the ferrule. Sonofa.... bloody thing just doesn't want to arc anymore. The sleeve is holding it back. Ok... maybe I'm just not doing it right. I re-thread it through the sleeve and try again. Nadda.... still too long. So I re-read the instructions...

..... "may require a bit of strength to accomplish".....

Ok... I'm not Mr Universe, but surely I'm not such a pussy that I can't set up a tent and bend a pole to work in the fly. So I keep trying... bending .... bending.... bending.... Jeeez---us... this just doesn't want to work. Well, I may be a wuss, but I'm not stupid, I know how to use leverage to my advantage. I prop the pole up, and use my foot to create a leverage point and start bending it... .ahhhh much better.... bending.... bending... bending.... just a little bit more.....

"CRAAAACCCCKKKK" .... SONOFA GAWDDAMN MOTHAF@CK3R piece of sh!t tent!!!!!....

I'm sweating my bag off... I've had enough... I can't finish setting it up. So I toss the fly and all the rest of the gear inside the part of the tent that I already have set up, close it up and leave it. I'm taking it down and returning it. A couple of days later I finally get around to taking everything down and rolling it up.... bloody thing doesn't fit in the bag it came in either. Grrrrr... yet another reason to give it back. Well, time to find my receipt and take it back.

In the meantime, a flyer came out from Canadian Tire marking down the tent I originally bought and have already returned. 100 bucks off!! whoo hoo. So I hustle accross to their store and go looking for one. The only one they have left is one that looks like someone had already opened it and tried to stuff it back in the bag. Yikes. The bag is ripped and I can't say for sure what the condition of the tent inside is like. So I ask a friendly clerk to see if she can get one from the wharehouse for me (11 left in stock according to their computers). The wharehouse guy can't find any, and she figures that their computers just haven't caught up to the till reciepts for the tents that have been leaving the floor. Nuts. Luckily she offers a comprimise. I get myself a "rain check" and now I get to wait till the end of the month when their next shipment comes in. I sure hope they get some more in.

Whew... what a rigamarole huh? Who knew tent shopping could get so complicated. :)

Time for a new tent...

I did it. I survived my first foray into the woods for the summer camping season of 2007. Yaaaay and there was much rejoicing.

It was very good to get away from the city even if it was for only a couple of days. There were 5 of us that ended up camping for the weekend. Darren & Lori, Myself and Marc & Alison. There were supposed to be a few more, but alas, sometimes life just gets in the way.

I managed to get the Friday off and despite my best intentions I didn’t make it out to our campsite till about 2:30pm or so. I had originally planned to be out there for Friday morning. I was worried that the campground we had planned to go to, would be full in short order. They don’t take reservations for the Interlakes Campground in Kananaskis so you have to take your chances and go out early if you want a spot. I didn’t have anything to worry about though. The original forecast that predicted beautiful weather for the weekend, gradually turned sour. So I think that kept a lot of people at home that might otherwise have been there.

When I showed up at 230, all the lakeside spots were gone but there were still lots of other spots left over. They were actually pretty big sites too, so we had room to accommodate 3 or more tents and a truck with camper (plus all the other vehicles). Coincidentally, it was the last of the side by side spots as well. I think we did pretty good finding the spots although the next time I’m there I’ll try to get a spot on the lakeside with perhaps one directly across from it along the road.

Despite what the forecast had planned for us, the weather actually cooperated for the most part. There were moments of rain (that lasted all of about 20 mins) but the rest of the time it was pretty sunny. I don’t think anyone would have gotten a suntan from the exposure mind you... but it was still quite enjoyable. We ended up going for a stoll along the beach, checked out other campsites for potential spots next time, and we even managed to play a bit of Yahtzee too! The beer was cold, the company was good and the scenery was beautiful... what more could you ask for?

Well apparently we don’t get enough snow in our lives. Saturday night I went to bed and it was raining, but by Sunday morning the rain had stopped, but was replaced by Snow! I thought I had heard one of our tarps falling down earlier in the night. I was too lazy to get up to fix it though and didn’t pay much attention to it. Then at about 6:30am, I suddenly found myself pressed against the roof of my tent. At first I thought it was one of my friends playing a joke on me, and I assumed they had pushed the tent down on me. When no one replied or responded to the stream of curses that were emanating from me, I knew it must have been an act of God. I pushed the ceiling off of me, and knew right away that something was different when the snow started sliding off. Even after the snow was gone from the roof of my tent, something was still wrong. It didn’t flex back into place and that’s when I was sure that my tent was broken. Crap. It was a tent pole that broke under the weight of the snow. It would have to be a custom tent pole configuration too. Which meant either pricey repairs or not replaceable at all.

Looks like I have an excuse to buy a new tent. It really is too much effort to try to save the old one and I’ve been meaning to get a new one anyway. I lost a tarp out of the deal too. There's a nice big whole in it where one of the support sticks ripped through it. So I ended up just leaving the both of them behind for the trash. I just couldn’t justify it till now. When you have one already, a second one doesn’t necessarily make sense. I think I’ll get something bigger this time... perhaps something I can stand up in. If you have any suggestions for brand or style, feel free to let me know! I have a feeling it will just end up being another Canadian Tire special for a hundred bucks.

On a somewhat related note... My experiments with heating my sleeping bag went pretty good. I filled a hot water bottle one night and tucked it into my sleeping bag. The bottle was still warm (just a touch) when I got up in the morning! The next night I tried running a heating blanket off an inverter I brought with me. That also worked really well. Especially since the heating blanket actually has an auto shut off, I didn’t wear down the battery unnecessarily either. That might be worth a second try. The water bottle trick is worth revisiting too, but I need to find covers for them, ‘cause when they first go in, they’re almost too hot to the touch. I’d also need to get a second one, since the first one just warms a small area. The other problem with the bottle is that it requires some advance planning and you have to make sure (even in a drunken stupor) that you heat some water before going to bed. Of course the heating blanket means you have to remember the inverter and battery (and not to go crazy with it either – you need the juice! Be conservative). The last experiment I want to try involves some lava rock (the BBQ kind) and a pouch to hold them. The rock should be able to be heated by the campfire and then put in a pouch of some kind. Used much the same way as a hot water bottle, I expect to get similar results.