If you catch fish, fillet or use headless depending on size of fish. Do not remove the scales. Lay on tin foil over the grill. Salt and pepper whatever. Leaving the scales on keeps the fish from sticking to the foil. The fish will cook fast so watch them.

Thanks for the food suggestions. I'll try them another time. I was mostly excited about what I had planned ;)

It rained. Again. But, I managed to get all the food cooked before it did. There were 10+ mph winds and wind. I definitely need a new tent. The walls were soaked and my sleeping bag, air mattress, clothes, anything touching the walls was wet. There was even a puddle of water when I cleaned everything up the next day. Not good. Drops of water on my face through the mesh.

So, on the hunt for a tent now. If anyone has any suggestions. Or even things to look for in a tent. Only if REI sells it. So I can take it back if I hate it. I'll have pictures later.

A good design of a tent will have a rainfly that covers the entire tent, but is some distance away from the tent, so when the water soaks into the rainfly and beads up on the underside, it doesn't touch the inner tent to get it wet.

Condensation is usually a bigger problem. It's almost always warmer and more humid inside a tent than outside the tent. It's most pronounced in cooler weather, but can happen on a hot summer night too. Moisture from your breath collects on the inside of the tent and condenses there where it meets the slightly cooler temperature from the outside.

The ideal way to avoid condensation is to have lots of ventilation. Again, the best tents for fighting moisture have a nice big rainfly that stands off the tent by several inches. The fly will get wet from rain or condensation, but the inner tent stays dry. Helps if the inner tent has a lot of screening for ventilation.

I have a Slumberjack Trail 3 that is really good at keeping me dry in rain and condensation situations. But it's a heavy 8 pounds. Not too expensive at around $110.

REI probably doesn't sell it. Not expensive enough for them.

This is going to severely limit you.

Prior to the 1980s, REI was a wonderful place. They used the experienced staff's knowledge and the co-op's buying power to select the best brand name products on the market, in each price range, and make them affordable to more people. There was something for everyone.

They changed, going for increased profits by handling only the big sellers, the higher profit margin brand names (even if they weren't as good as others) and having lesser quality stuff (with similar features) made at lower cost to them under their own brand name.

Now, it's primarily a place for novices. It's also fine for little items and for when you need something on short notice. Most of the people who can give you good advice on what's best; however, even just what's best within a price range, have moved on from REI and you're wasting their time. If you want suggestions on only REI merchandise, that's what the REI staff is for.

BTW, I've been an REI member for 30 years and despite that as a member I still get dividends, I haven't shopped there in over 10 years.

Several sites recommend the Coleman Sundome. Amazon has the 2 person for $38.22 and 4 person for $52.97. Not much risk there.

Not sure if you don't know what an REI dividend is or you don't know how to tell time or you're just making shit up, but since REI dividends are only issued to active members, your statement can't be true.

My membership is lifetime. Notice that I didn't say I was an active member. If I walk in and make a purchase, I become an active member again for that year and I get dividends. Perhaps I should have said that I CAN (what I was implying) still get dividends. I hope that clarifies it for you. It's not that complicated.

The point; however, was that even though I still get dividends (because I'm still a member) if I were to make purchases there, it's not enough to entice me to shop there anymore.

@glatt - thanks for the tips. I am looking at ones that have full size rainflys. If I thought I could, I'd make one for my tent. This one does have a lot of venting - almost too much when it's cold (for me) out. Luckily, the sleeping bag seemed to work well in keeping me warm this time.

@sexobon - Yep, I understand it's limiting. You give me another option that allows 100% refund in one year regardless of the condition of the item that isn't Costco or something similar and I will check it out.

@Bruce - unfortunately, that's the one I have. The rainfly isn't large enough. I don't know who those people are that are saying that they are staying dry in a storm, but I don't think they have the same definition of storm. Or they're lying.

A post so nice she said it twice.:D

Whoops! I blame my shitty computer. I swear I only clicked post once!! Fixed :D

Why not add a bigger fly to the tent you have?

In what way? I've looked and I don't see a DIY article out there that can help. They don't seem to sell rainflys alone.

I've made the food pics into collages for easier viewing. The first night, I got there late, so I just had some soup. It wasn't exciting, so I didn't take a picture. It was even missing chicken because I was smart and brought the canned chicken that needed a can opener. :right:


The next day, it was supposed to rain. I wanted to make sure that I got to use my hot dog fork, so that's what I had for breakfast :biggrin:

I also successfully cooked a potato! Remember last time it got all burned?? I'm learning.
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Before lunch, I decided to experiment with some small loaf pans I got at the grocery store. Potatoes and eggs. I thought it would be a neat thing to make breakfast in a loaf pan. Unfortunately, I over cooked it slightly. It still needs some tweaking. The potatoes on the other hand, were great! Such a lovely crust on the bottom
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For my actual lunch meal, I had some of the potatoes, steak, and frozen cauliflower. That, too, needs some tweaking. The coals under it were too hot or I left it too long. Still, I enjoyed it. The steak was slightly underdone for me, but still good. Luckily, it was still in my tasty range. Do you see the crust on the taters? It's a little over because I "reheated" them on some coals before lunch
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This next one was an experiment I was eager to try - mashed potatoes, chicken gravy, and chicken (of course). I used instant mashed potatoes with powdered milk. I think it worked out ok. It might have been better with something other than non-fat milk. It looks a little grey. I also used butter buds, but I don't think I added enough, I couldn't taste anything buttery at all. I added the dry ingredients to my insulated jar, poured in boiling water, closed it, and let it sit. Next, I heated up the chicken I cooked earlier (a little well done). The gravy mix said to mix it with cold water, so I used the dry potato jar to do that. I boiled some more water and added that to finish it. The potatoes were still hot in the jar, add some chicken, and gravy on top. This would have been better without the burned chicken, but I think it was an over all successful experiment
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Sounds pretty good.

A rainfly is nothing but a damn tarp to keep the rain off the tent, preferably not touching the tent.