Outdoor adventure: From traditional camping tents to a James Baroud rooftop tent
1 Oct, 2024
I grew up camping. Summers were filled with outdoor adventure with state park destinations throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond – Dad behind the wheel of the 70s Chrysler Town & Country with simulated wood siding; Mom with her carefully curated, checked, and double-checked lists of just the right whatnots needed for a memorable weekend in the tent; and my siblings and me roosting in our pecking-order-defined spots in the second and third rows of the wagon, the third row facing our past.
These camping weekends away were filled with daydreams, swimming, biking, badminton, campground crushes, fetch with our Springer Spaniel “Faf”, and the kind of sleep that can only follow bone-deep exhaustion. We loved it! None of us questioned for a moment the folly in sleeping on a tent floor in garage sale sleeping bags with no temperature rating. As long as mornings included Mom’s breakfast hash and dinners were followed by smores, my siblings and I couldn’t have enjoyed ourselves more.
Outdoor adventures: Family and memories
One summer we really broke out. Dad took an entire week off work and rented a pop-up tent trailer that he hitched to the wagon. Destinations? The Grand Canyon and Coral Pink Sand Dunes. With the latest in tent tech, we were destined for greatness. Except… our first night along The Snake River in Idaho, we awoke missing a camper. My year-old younger sister was not in the tent trailer. She and I were sharing one of two fold-out beds, and my sister was on the outside edge where the tent was supposed to fasten to the metal bedframe. That step somehow eluded the tent erectors (uh, my older brother and me). After waves of panic and systematic fanning out across the campground, my sister emerged, groggy but unscathed. Being a very deep sleeper, she had rolled to the outside edge where the tent gladly opened and released her, having not been properly fastened. She landed on the hood of the Chrysler Town & Country, which had been carefully stuffed under her end of the tent trailer to optimize camp spot space; then rolled off the hood onto the ground; and finally rolled under the engine, all without waking. Panic waned. The tent trailer canvas was securely fastened to the metal bedframe and double, maybe even triple checked. The incident began fading into lore.
From ground tents to a James Baroud rooftop tent for outdoor adventures
My wife and I are now empty nesters, living in Boise, Idaho. Our three children are out in the world successfully making their own ways. Somehow, my own family missed that narrow window where just the right family camping trip at just the right moment in a family’s emotional development cements camping as a passionate pastime. So, our children did not grow up camping like I did, but camping remains ingrained in my world view and values. Then I saw my first rooftop tent – an elegant hard-shelled version, and it was sitting over the bed of a truck! Clearly this was wizardry, and I had a truck.
Through some good fortune and a key connection in the family, I was able to order a James Baroud Odyssey as a foundational step in my reentry to camping. That would mean I had evolved from sleeping on the ground in a tent to sleeping just off the ground in a tent trailer to sleeping elevated above the creepy-crawlies in a high-rise-like rooftop tent over the bed of my 2020 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Bison. However, ordering does not equal owning. My Odyssey, in nearly identical gray to The Bison, was not scheduled to arrive for several weeks so I had to distract myself by obtaining and installing a Yakima OverHaul HD rack system upon which my Odyssey would eventually rest. This rack system is engineered like it’s meant to hold up a skyscraper. While it took several hours to get it all mounted and balanced, my confidence in its structural prowess swelled during the process, leaving me with no doubt it’s up to the challenge of underpinning my Odyssey condo.
Then I received the text: “…we will deliver your shipment; someone must be present…” Giddy up! My rooftop tent was nearly here. I had the Odyssey delivered to my in-law’s business address in Las Vegas, a place with extra hands, a warehouse, and a forklift, in the hope I might get horribly spoiled with help and enthusiasm for a cool new toy. I was. The installation went smoothly with no lack of managerial oversight.
My First journey with the James Baroud rooftop tent
Because of the timing of the delivery, I was unable to properly christen my new rooftop tent on the drive back to Boise with a stop at a campsite or a dispersed camping overnight, but I was able to confirm that my Odyssey sits silently and sturdily atop the Yakima rack system making no discernable noise, even at 80 mph. Additionally, I connected with folks from the James Baroud headquarters in Portugal, who coincidentally happened to be attending the Outdoor Retailer trade show at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, which was on my route home. Talk about great service! In a 2-hour free parking zone around the corner from the Convention Center, I received a roadside upgrade to my Odyssey along with some other useful adjustments. When the support team was done, I still had an hour left before my free parking would expire.
I am back in Boise now, wrapping up my 101st iteration of a carefully curated, checked, and double-checked camping list that would have made Mom proud while finalizing plans for my first overnight outing. My tent condo has a high-density foam mattress, and the sleeping bags are rated to -20 degrees Fahrenheit. The anticipation is thick like peanut butter on the roof of your mouth. I know I will get countless details wrong these first few outings, but likewise know it’s a process, and I will eventually remember how bone-deep exhaustion feels.
Author
David Gonzalez is a tech veteran with 30+ years of experience applying his physics, computer science, and business prowess to helping early-stage companies innovate and accelerate across numerous industries including handwriting and voice recognition, mortgages, renewable energy, storm water management and mental health.
Intermingled amongst these professional endeavors, David is also a family man. While devoted to his wife of 30+ years and his three uniquely insightful and grown children, he remains an avid athlete, favoring soccer, cycling, skiing, tennis, hiking and any opportunity to get the family into the wild.
David’s ideal evening? That’d be sitting around a campfire with his family, eating from rehydrated food pouches and regaling each other with tales of greatness from the day.