My First Anniversary of Tent Living

I don't remember the exact date that I spent my first night in the tent, but I do remember that it was right after Thanksgiving 2011. So it's been a year now.

I remember how tough the first few weeks in the tent were. I was still constructing my front door, so there was nothing but a zippered entrance in the canvas. And the canvas was stretches so tight over the metal frame that I couldn't zip the entrance closed. So I draped a blanket over the opening, but the cold night air moved in freely.

And I was having a tough time installing the wood stove. There was nothing to hang the stove pipe from. Everything moved, nothing was solid. It would take me three attempts and plenty of smoky failures to finally get it right. In the meantime, I was heating with kerosene, but it just couldn't keep up with all the air infiltration.

No toilet in those first few weeks, either. And no dump sink. Much of my morning routine was spent outside. I'd bring a warm cup of water outside and brush my teeth. And I dug a temporary trench for my toilet.

I was cold all the time. Really cold. I slept on a futon mattress on the floor since I was still building my bed, too. Cold. And full of doubt. I felt like I had jumped in over my head. Could I really pull this off? What was I thinking?

But tent living is all about acclimating, and learning as you go. Some problems you can solve. Others just fade away as you get used to the new lifestyle.

During those first weeks, I dreaded going to bed. I didn't trust the kerosene heater through the night so I'd shut it down just before bed. The warmth lingered for awhile, but soon the cold night winds would sweep it away through the canvas walls and out the blanket-covered entrance. Within 10 minutes, the inside of the tent would reach the same temperature as the outside. I'd curl up in a ball in my bed with just my nose and a small bit of my face exposed and try to fall asleep as doubt started playing in my mind. What was I doing out here? What the hell was I thinking?

Then one night, sometime in December, something came over me. It was my first real turning point. I had been living in the tent for some weeks and had gotten used to many of the discomforts. The cold didn't seem to bother me as much, and I was building confidence with each successful day. So that night, I turned off the kerosene heater as I had always done. But instead of dreading the coming cold, I walked over to the door and ripped down the blanket! Cold air blasted in immediately and the heat was gone in seconds! I thought to myself, "Come on in, you bastard! You're gonna anyway!" Then I crawled into bed, laid flat on my back, looked around the moonlit tent, and started smiling, then laughing! My fears and doubts were fading. My confidence was building.

By January, things finally came together. My door was in, the wood stove was working, and my toilet and dump sink were installed. My mornings became much more comfortable. Things got a lot easier, and I finished out the winter without too much discomfort.

Spring was easy. I moved to a new location in April, so that set me back a few weeks, but it was a great time of year to move. By May I was pretty much back on my feet again, and the weather was great!

About that time, I noticed another change that had been taking place in me. It had happened over a course of months, and the change was so gradual that I hadn't noticed it. It was my stress level. Sometime in June, I hit a stressful period at work and I started thinking about work during my off-hours, especially at night while I was trying to sleep. It was during that period that I realised how well I'd been sleeping up to that point, and how the stress of my previous lifestyle had just faded away over time. The temporary stress at work had awakened me to this gradual change and helped me realise how relaxed and carefree I had become.

By July, the summer heat was inescapable and it took me until August to figure out how to deal with it. Again, acclimating my body to the outside temperatures played a big role, as it had during the winter months. And getting some shade over my tent made a huge difference. And just like winter, by the time I got things figured out, the season was over and the next one had arrived.

Autumn was an easy time. A time for rest and reflection, and preparing for winter. Autumn was the time that I noticed another change in me. The novelty of tent living had worn off. This place was now my home. Months before, I would often stand and look around my place and smile. Living this lifestyle was a dream of mine that I had finally realised and I would often stop and take the time to appreciate what I had accomplished. But now, several months later, I'd come home from work, walk in the door, light my lamps, change my clothes, and start dinner without thinking twice about my surroundings. Over the months, the tent had become my home and the novelty had disappeared.

And now, once again, winter is only days away. It's been a year now, and oh what a year. This winter will be so much different than last. I'm all set up and ready for cold weather. No doubts. No fears. Just hanging out in the woods this winter, enjoying a lifestyle that now seems more and more normal, my memories of my old lifestyle fading as the days march on.