Picacho for Thanksgiving

For the first time in my life, I spent Thanksgiving camping!! I can check that off my bucket list now. I was joined by my oldest daughter, Cheryl and her BF, Orion. What a great way to celebrate the holiday with family.

Dining in the desert

T-shirt weather for Thanksgiving

As you can see in the photos, we enjoyed all of the usual trappings of a Thanksgiving dinner: Turkey with gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, zucchini, and cranberry sauce! With the exception of the turkey that I cooked the day before, we were able to cook up everything else using my trusty Coleman Fold-n-Go stove.

Using my Coleman stove to heat water for my morning coffee.

As a treat, I turned my Roofnest over to my daughter and Orion for Thanksgiving night. They absolutely loved it! They liked it so much, they are seriously considering buying one of their own.

Babies in my "nest"

Of course, this meant I was delegated to the ground floor for one night, but other than the ground being a little cold due to sleeping on top of an inflatable mattress, I was warm and cozy. The secret to cold camping is layers and insulation -- layers of clothing and insulation between you and the surface you're sleeping on. The temperature overnight stayed close to the low 40s, but just before dawn it dipped into the upper 30s. Brrrr. That's downright cold for us here in Arizona.

The crisp air makes for some beautiful blue skies. Here's a shot of Newman Peak looking Northwest from the park.

I'm heading out to Picacho again in a few days to test out another piece of new gear, a 12V heated throw. I'll be able to plug it in to one of my solar generators, which will provide me with hours and hours of use time. I don't plan on using it all night, but it will be nice to warm myself up just in case it gets a bit too chilly. My motto is to hope for the best, but plan for the worst. Having a way to warm myself up without having to run my car engine or use a portable heater is the way to go for me. 

In case, you're wondering, no, I will not be using a portable heater inside my Roofnest (or any other tent) or my cargo trailer. The popular one out there is the Mr. Heater Buddy, but let me tell you, you're asking for trouble using one of those inside a small confined space. When dealing with open flames, all it takes is one small mistake and you have a potential disaster on your hands. There are plenty of YouTube videos and Internet images to confirm that. I won't even use a candle in a tent -- it's just too risky.

Ciao for now!