Sorry for the broom!
I like to keep dirt out of the tents.
I like to keep dirt out of the tents.
Large Family Camping = Need Space
These are two 10 x 20 cabin-style tents that allow us stand up straight inside. They divide into three rooms and are quick set up tents. They can be set up in around 5-15 minutes each depending on who is helping me and how windy it is. Each comes with two dividers so they can have three separate rooms if wanted. There is even a panel for an air-conditioner and a special hole for extension cords for those who use them. The closest I could find to them today are here and here.
When our children were younger, we put the children in one tent with boys in one room and girls in the other. The middle held their belongings. Clint and I slept within talking distance in the other tent. The other two-thirds of our tent had gear, a folding table, and plenty of empty space for our chairs in case of rain.
Now, our younger girls sleep in the "children's tent," and most of our adult children have their own tents.
Staked down properly and weighed down with some of our gear, these tents have held up very well in 45 mph sustained winds with 50+ mph gusts. One time, we were staying in a "rustic cabin"* and had only a few pieces of lightweight gear in the tents (less than 50 lbs in each). We only staked four corners because no bad weather was expected. Well, a thunderstorm popped up. We had 70+ mph straight-line winds that took down three trees around us. Yeah, that was something! Our shower tent was completely ruined from the wind. One of the tents you see above collapsed on itself. The other was lifted and rolled three times into a grassy field. It received a tear on the corner which is attached to a support pole and a few holes in the mosquito netting. I'll share how and what I used to make the repair in another post.
To the left is a swing grill. To the right is our folding camp grill. We also use a tripod triangle. With these, we can cook almost anything we want. For one of our meals on this trip, we baked salmon with sundried tomatoes and asparagus. We also had blueberry muffins baked in orange peel halves.
We bought the table holding the water cooler back in the mid-1990s. It was around $40-45. Today, a similar table is around $100. Even at that price, I would purchase one because it makes it easy to clean up after our family of nine plus guests. It has received very heavy and long-term use. Once, we left it in place for four months of extended use. It showed a little more wear afterwards, but it held up just fine!
I recommend a large tarp be used as a rain fly over your camp kitchen if you are going to be camping for more than a few days. This shades your area and will allow you to leave things out if it rains.
Lightweight folding tables and plastic storage containers are a must to keep your food and other belongings clean and secure.
The water cooler provides "running" water to rinse dishes, wash hands, etc. If we are filling it with potable water, we also use it to cook and brush our teeth. Sometimes I will fill the water cooler with stream water, but we will not drink or brush our teeth with it.
I love Fat Max! This rolling toolbox with a telescopic luggage-type handle has earned its original price many times over. Max holds medium-sized pots, plastic plates, eating and cooking utensils, kitchen linens, zipper bags, plastic wrap, aluminum foil, nonstick spray, seasonings, lighter fluid, matches, and so much more. I load "Max" up using every bit of available space. He has held up to at least 15 years of large family abuse.
We own two of these heavy-duty folding wagons which we found at our local Sams Club years ago. This one carries 150 lbs with no problems. When not in use, we keep food (like fruits and snacks) in it set between chairs so we can use the cup holder/table. Keeping the food in it allows us to quickly roll them under a table in case of an unexpected rain shower. We also have a smaller light-duty wagon and a heavy-duty aluminum hand truck we take with us. These make it easier to get our gear to our walk-in campsite.
