A tent in the living room takes up a LOT of space!

Hi everyone, sorry for the late update.  Originally Matt was going to help write posts more....but he's reffing a bunch this month so I guess I'll have to pick up my pace :-)  There hasn't been much exciting going on here at any rate, so I thought I'd add a post about our new tent and and quick note about the last two dehydrated meals we tested.  If anyone has noticed that this information is not what one would call organized.....well, you're right!  I'm basically just posting what I happen to be thinking about or working on that day so I can promise a fair amount of jumping around :-)  Just FYI.

On the meal front we tried out Hamburger soup and Curry Chicken (both from TDB) and both passed the taste test.  I need to dehydrate some more food this weekend and do some shopping so we can finish up our testing this coming week and begin the massive batch processing that needs to take place.  And then figure out some sort of system so my fabulous in-laws (who have agreed to send us all our food) don't want to strangle us while trying to ship our food.

And now for the super fun part of the day......we set up our new tent!  We had previously been planning on using the 3 person QuarterDome tent from REI, but the thing weighed in at nearly 6 pounds and while fairly easy to set up as far as tents go, perhaps not as easy to set up in the pouring rain without getting everything wet.  We started to consider a tarp, but I have some major issues with the whole lack of bug netting (yes, I know there will be bugs on the trail but that doesn't mean I have to sleep with them!).  I started researching how to make a tarp with attached netting and came across Tarptents.  Best. Idea. Ever.  These guys are freaking amazing.   We opted for the Rainshadow 2, which weighs in at just over 2 pounds, uses our treking poles for front pole(s) (multi-use is a key component of lightweight) and has a reasonable price tag of $265.  They even tell you to seal the seams with a homemade sealent (and tell you how to make it) and send scrap silnylon to make repairs for free!  Here's a picture of our tent set up in our living room, as we were too lazy to go outside.

Sorry the picture is horrible, I couldn't back up enough in my tiny apartment to get a better view.  This thing is huge!  It basically took up most of our living room and it wasn't even pulled open all the way.  It is also the easiest tent to set up I have ever seen.  When they say you can set up in under 2 minutes with a little practice, they aren't kidding!  The top front comes up to Matt's chest and we can both easily sit up inside. 

Needless to say we're thrilled with our choice and will be taking our old tent back to REI posthaste!  Don't get me wrong, I love REI (especially their fabulous return policy) but when it comes to lightweight long distance hiking I think it can pay off to seek out specialty vendors.