Took the day off today for no particular reason, just needed to get some stuff done that I was not getting done. So, probably now did too much, going to be sore as hell. Typical.

I did take a bit of a break and try out some of my camping equipment to see what kind of shape it's in and if any work needs to be done to it for future use. Set up my cot, which I purchased fairly recently. It's called an "EasyCot" and it is just that. Very east to set up, and very easy to sleep on, for a cot. I've mainly used army cots my entire life and this is a VAST improvement over those. Very comfortable with no added parts or padding, so when I add a camping air mattress it is divine.

Also got out my newer type army sleep "system" as they call it, I call it a sleeping bag inside another sleeping bag inside a sleeping bag cover. First time I've unrolled it since I bought it a couple of years ago. I still have my old army sleeping bag from when I was still in, and there is really no comparison between the two. My old bag is the same old one they'd been using when my dad was in the army as I used his to go camping in when I was in the Boy Scouts! So there'd been NO improvement over that long of a time. The one I bought is actually the last model they had put out before they came out with the one currently in use by our troops. But it's brand new and very, very nice. So I tried it out. I put it on the cot, which had the air mattress on it, and slid inside.

Now, you have to imagine that I used to fit in one of these things very nicely with lots of room left over. When I was 20. When I weighed about 170 pounds. Now, not so much. Oh, it would do in a pinch, I could fit in it and zip it up but it was a bit cramped. My legs were fine, but once you got up to the hips, abdomen, chest and shoulders, I could tell I would NOT like it to be fully zipped up at all. So, it's now the backup bag for when it's really cold outside, lol.

I shall continue to use the nice flannel lined bags I bought for the kids to use when we went camping and you could fit three or four kids in each one if you needed to. Lots of room, even for me, so they will be the primary for now. The cot is a solid go. The air mattress I currently have will be replaced with one that is wider so I don't feel like I'm sliding off the thing on one side or the other (it used to be perfect when I was still using the old army bag and army cot, oh well). I found just the one and I can get it at REI before I hit the road. I look forward to the camping experience once again, it's been too long.

Mac