Mobile Abode Theory
I like my tent. I really like it. I paid $30 for it at wal-mart and the very few times I used it impressed me vividly. What I like about it?
The geometry, surprisingly. The idea of a collapsible protective barrier against the elements fills me with joy, especially awakening in the dark of morning to a ferocious thunder storm. There is simply no more comforting experience for me than lying in bed to the sound of rainfall. I’ve felt this way for as long as I can remember, and when it happens with the only barrier being a thin layer of fabric the experience is magickal.
There is however a giant drawback. The ground. In most cases you will be trying to find the flattest, softest spot to set up and even when you think you’ve got it right when you have a lay it feels like being on a bed of stones. If you can somehow manage to get a good anchor on a beach it can be a bit more forgiving. But this expedition is about selecting the most advanced technology, so why are we talking about tents? Why did you even bring it up? You troglodyte!
To quote Mr. Homer J. Simpson, “What you guys need is hammocks!”
Yes, hammocks ladies and gentlemen have made astounding progress in recent years to bring us something who’s design looks similar to the spacecraft in Flight of the Navigator.
I give you the Hennessy Hammock.
It’s lightweight, very collapsible, supports any weight class besides morbidly obese, it keeps you off the ground and because of the asymmetrical design allows your body to lie completely flat inside. The rainfly keeps the inside dry on wet days and on dry days you can remove it and marvel at the stars in luxury thanks to its screen top. All you need to set up anywhere is a minimum of two trees relatively close to each other, and thanks to the special webbing rope attachments, which come complimentary with each hammock, the trees will keep their bark undisturbed as you visit them for the evening.
This is a different style of hunt than our computer. Here our constants are design, lightweight and collapsible and everything else is a potential variable. I’ve done minimal research to find the Hennessy. Reviews look mostly good. Drawbacks are the need to be flexible for getting in the hammock then into the sleeping bag. But that isn’t a problem. The main concern about the design is also its best feature. Because it is off the ground, it loses the insulation of the ground, which means on cooler nights the hammock will be cold.
In preparation for those nights, a needed accessory in our hunt will be the best insulator to put at the bottom of the hammock on which we lay so the wind rushing beneath the hammock has some sort of extra barrier.
Is Hennessy the best hammock? The only way to be certain is to do extensive testing with several models of several brands in various weather conditions over long periods of time. But instead of doing all that we will rely on the connections. For the computer, I know what is good already. I have plenty of experience to know that Asus has great manufacturing quality of service standards. I also know their construction personally so when they break down I can have them popped open in seconds to examine the components. But for hammocks I really know nothing. When I first read about someone suggesting to use a hammock while camping I thought they were quite daft! So I must do exhaustive research to learn. I’ll be looking at their construction, materials, geometry. I’ll also be looking at every brand of camping hammocks available. Examine their similarities and disparities, read opposing viewpoints on many websites, hopefully finding feedback from both regular and occasional campers. I’ll also be looking at the salesman lies to find the areas of the products which they downplay or neglect to mention.
If that feels a bit overwhelming to you, don’t be alarmed. This is over the course of months. It is just a small part of the Treasure Hunter lifestyle.
I hope these ramblings one day persuade you to join me in this experiment.
ttfn Gnite!
p.s. just think, right now we could be rocking gently to sleep in our hammocks.
