Now That's a Pup Tent

After finding that our "tent pad" had been cleared too small to place our tent and trailers, we were a little worried about having the tent up in time to move into it the following week. We found this out the Saturday before we had friends lined up to come out the following Monday night to get the tent set up. We were able to get the excavator to come back out that Wednesday so we changed our tent raising party to Wednesday after work.

Dave was the first to arrive at hour house and he and I began loading the tent into the back of his truck. Chet, Stacey, and Danny showed up soon after and we quickly got the tents and poles loaded. I sent Danny off to pick up some pizzas but forgot to tell him that we would meet him there since it is on our way out of town. After waiting to meet up with him in the parking, we all loaded up in Dave's truck and headed out for Mescal.

Lesley had met the guy from the electric company out on the property earlier in the day so she, the kids, and the dog hung out in Benson until we arrived.

We quickly unloaded the tent on the pad and Dave and Chet, using their combined forty years of experience with the military, got everything situated and ready to erect this enormous pup tent. Dave mentioned that he has set these tents up with a crew of six in six and a half minutes. We moved along pretty smoothly but we were way off from the six and a half minute mark.

Here's a shot of the tent as we are getting all the lines staked and tightened. It went up pretty easy with the help of Chet and Dave.
Here we are still staking and tightening.
Here is a shot of the crew. From left to right: Dave, Livvey, Bella, Lesley, Parkin, Holman, me, Chet, Stacey, Kira, Danny, Reese. Reese came out to help and Kira's family was in the area so they swung by and Kira stuck around to see it through (or just to hang out with Stacey and Lesley).
Here's a shot of the inside. It looks a lot different now with the palette and plywood floor. You'll see some shots in the next post.