Well, in the vein of better late than never:
In June I had my very first "real" hang! And it was great!
I was "camping" with my friend's family, and thier trailer -thankfully- didn't have any room for me, so I happily offered to bring my hammock. I have a HH, with a JRB Nest UQ and stock fly. I added the no-modification ring buckles just before I left home and only did one test hang with them, but figured that they were simple enough that I didn't need to practice anymore (oops, lol).
At about 3pm - just as it started raining (of course) we were packed and hit the road. The plan was to stay at Coombs Country Campground with a bunch of friends, but the (light) rain put a hold on that plan. The campground looked ok for a big group, but since it was just us because everyone else chickened out it wasn't going to be a good solution, so we ended up camping out in friends' driveway/yard. Worked out great since the little people with us had people to play with and we had grown ups to play cards with
Shortly before full dark I staggered... um, I mean walked... outside and hung my hammock for my first "not in my back yard" hang (Hey, it wasn't MY yard, and it wasn't the back yard! It was in the FRONT yard. It does SO count!).
Took me a while to get it centered but finally I was happy with it. Just a small piece of advice... don't try setting up a new suspension system in the dark, under the influence, unless you want to spend enough time doing it that the group sends someone out to make sure you haven't died, lol.
Slept warm (even though I was using a +50F "indoor" sleeping bag I bought at Walmart years ago for a top quilt) and dry and happyI was actually worried about being to warm as I had the exact same setup out at home to about 40F and our forcast was for high 60F's overnight, but it was perfect!
Used the hammock to corral the kids while we packed to head to the "real" campground (the under 4 set not being much help in packing... and also not being able to get out of a HH without help, lol). Worked great for that too, and the kids had fun 'shock testing' the rig, lol.
Set up was much faster the next time. Could be the practice... probably the lack of alcohol in my system. LOL. This time I pegged out the hammock as well as the fly, which was a mistake. The overnight temps weren't any warmer, and there was a bit of a breeze off the lake. At about 2am I got up and pulled the pegs and crawled back inside and -lesson learned - was warm and toasty for the rest of the night of our stay.
I slept better than anywhere but home, and didn't hear any of the kids (or adults) getting up to go to the washroom in the night, or anything else.
Teardown time was just as amazing. Almost before they finished saying "Hey I think we want to go soon" I was packed and ready for the road. I'm addicted for life.
Now my only decision is which to buy next... a new (larger/lighter) tarp or a (smaller/warmer) overquilt, lol. Suggestions?
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