Hurry Up September!

I've been looking at last years weather data to get an idea when things will start cooling off here. I'd like to do another S24O but I'd like to wait until the low temperatures are in the 60' or upper 50's. I can handle hot temperatures during the day but I hate, HATE sweating when I'm trying to sleep. On my first S24O the night time temperature was 77 degrees (25 celsius). It sounds reasonably comfortable but It was significantly warmer in my tent despite the mesh walls. Looking at last years records, September 22 was the first day where the low temperature fell below 65 degrees (18C). The high was 72 degrees (22C). In September 2008 we hit 61 degrees (16C) on the 15th.

So there it is, after a disturbingly careful review of scientific climate records I've determined that my next S24O will take place around September 22nd of this year, destination to be decided later. Anybody else out there interested?

Mid-Week S24O

After collecting bits and pieces of camping equipment for the past few months, I decided it was time to actually put this stuff to use. I try to keep my weekends free for my family, this includes my Friday nights. I planned to head out to Lake Benbrook Tuesday afternoon after work and attempt to be back home Wednesday morning in time to shower, get dressed, and be off to work by 8:oo AM. As it turned out, packing up and leaving camp took longer than expected. I arrived home just before 8:30 AM. I ended up taking the day off since I had some family business to take care of anyway.

I was thankful that the bike lane was shaded on the ride out.

This is one of the newer sections of the Trinity Trails that leads out towards Lake Benbrook.

My campsite with a great view of the lake.

I had some some trouble getting water boiled for my Ramen noodles. I took two stoves, an old Esbit stove and a French military stove (pictured). They both use Esbit fuel tablets. I set up my gear as a windscreen and started off using the French stove. The water got hot but didn't boil before the fuel tablet burnt out. I tried again with the Esbit stove with the same results.

The noodles turned out alright. I will be looking for a new stove with a good windscreen.

I put the rainfly on the tent for privacy until it was dark. My camp site was near the boat ramp and there was foot traffic going by tent until about 9:00 PM. When I took the fly off I was surprised at how transparent the mesh walls were at night. I had a great view of the stars.

As I packed up my gear I was treated to a beautiful sunrise.

This is where one park ends and another begins. You have to lift your bike over the low spot on the fence. The ride back along the lake was excellent. It was still cool and I had a tailwind the whole way.

The cows managed to get out of their fence. They were't in a hurry to go anywhere.

Gearing Up

I've been thinking about doing an S24O for some time, I just needed to gather a few more items to be comfortable. My most pressing need was a decent tent. I thought about toughing it out by sleeping under a tarp and mosquito netting but changed my mind when I visited Backwoods today. I found a relatively inexpensive two man tent with lots of mesh, its a North Face Rock 22. The only thing I'm lacking now is a stove but I'll get by with some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on my first trip.

I bought these bags about 12 years ago, they've been in storage for most of that time. I laid them out to check for spiders. They both need to be washed.

The blue one is a 15 degree North Face Cat's Meow synthetic filled bag. The other is Kelty 15 degree down filled bag.

Old and heavy inflatable sleeping pad.

My new tent. I haven't figured out the best way to carry this. Should I split things up with the rainfly and poles in one smallish pannier and tent body and footprint in the other? I could just bungee cord it to the top of my basket. It's a bit too wide to fit in the basket and is longer than my rear rack.

I hope to get lots of use out of this tent.

If you have kids you know what happens the moment you set up a tent.