It is getting nicer in the midwest, and my nephew and neice wanted to camp in their backyard. So, last Friday, I helped them setup their tent for the night, which is the tent Ibought used at the REI Garage sale in Chicago. I then constructed a shelter for myself using two medium sized tarps, a little bit of rope, a few stakes a ski pole, and the bottom half of a Chicago Cubs "W" flag pole.
According to the weather report that I had read several hours earlier, it was supposed to rain torrentially--this I was prepared for. I think my shelter was ideally suited for rain.
After I made cobbler in a dutch oven on the campfire, we went to our seperate shelters. After a few minutes of lightning, my sister brought in her kids for safety. But even though there was lighting cthunder crashing around the neighborhood, I felt warm, dry and safe under the protecting arms of a few old maple trees(see. Dangerous sleeping habits)
After a few drops of rain, the storm was blown away. It was blown away by a weather system with wind gusts of 40+ miles per hour, and it seemed to be coming from both the north and south of my shelter. Unfortunately, I had not had time to test my shelter in a wind tunnel. It was not meant to endure these winds. My shelter was in a state of constant flap. I was essentially sleeping in a windsock. I barely slept. At one point I had to remove some supports and create what resembled a bivvy shelter or tarp cacoon(I am currently copywriting/patenting the tarp cacoon, so do not steal my idea.)
Shortly after this, I began to hear the old maple trees above me begin to groan, creak, and crack. I began to worry a little about my safety. If a tree limb fell on me, what would they say at my funeral? "What an idiot!"
What had I accomplished with my life? ......not much.
What would the newspaper say?
"Pretend Survival Situation turns deadly"
"Local Idiot crushed while sleeping in tarp cacoon"
This was unacceptable. At 4:30 AM, I brought my mummy bag and thermarest inside and slept on the couch.
When I awoke, I went outside to take a picture of my shelter, and to gather the rest of my gear. The trees were still intact. But the tarp cocoon had been ravaged by the winds. It didn't survive the night, pictures would be too gruesome to show, just imaging what a yard sale looks like.
I learned a few things about weather reports, and shelter placement, and that wind is the main enemy of bootleg survival shelters.
