This was going to be my very first star party and it was something that I was eagerly preparing for these last several months. I have been carefully acquiring gear to have a successful first time. My first star party would be the Almost Heaven Star Party or AHSP organized by my local astronomy club NOVAC. As I said in my previous post it was not just a case of preparing the astro-gear but also making sure I had the necessary gear to camp in reasonable comfort.
The last time I camped was probably 20+ years ago. I was in much better shape back then, but even then I remember the discomfort of sleeping on the ground. It was both a combination of the hard ground and the cold. So this time I wanted to take whatever measures and precautions possible to ensure I was reasonably comfortable.
My first step was to assess what I currently had in the way of camping gear. Off with the dust and the cleaning out of the cobwebs and bugs from my tents, backpacks, sleeping bags etc.. After that assessment it was clear, I needed to procure a few items to attain the “reasonably comfortable” level. The main consideration was to get my body off the ground. I began looking on Amazon at a simple cot to put inside one of my tents. Of the two tents I own, one is a very small single person tent and the other a huge 6-7 person tent. The cot would, of course, fit in the larger tent but unfortunately not in the smaller one. I had no desire or need to drag the large tent to the star party…it’s just too big.
Amazon has a way of suggesting things that can really send you down a rabbit hole. But in this case, I felt whatever algorithm they used served me well.
Is it a cot? Is it a tent? No it’s a tentcot.
Enter the “Tent Cot”. As seen here a tent cot is exactly what it sounds like. A tent that’s a cot and cot that’s a tent. This turned out to be a perfect solution. They even make a double wide version, however, I purchased a single wide unit since I know with absolute certainty that my wife would never camp with me unless it’s in an RV. In addition to the tent cot, I purchased a self-inflating sleeping pad.
Self-inflating sleeping pad – oh so comfy!
I can now attest, after camping for four nights at the star party, that both the tent cot and the pad were well worth the expense. However there were other reasons, besides comfort, that sleep was hard to achieve.
More on that in part two of My First Star Party…
