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In my life, I have learned that there are some things that are worth spending a little extra money on to get a "good" one (or at least a "better" one). In my opinion, the following items are in this category (this list is definitely not exhaustive):

• Spices (especially pepper, cinnamon, chili powder... I could go on like this forever)
• Kitchen knives
• Mouse and keyboard
• Guitar strings
• Sheets

Now, I'm not saying you should spend $1,000 on something where a $50 version will do 95% of the job, but sometimes a little extra money is worth it.

I recently had one particular item reinforced on my list: TENTS.

First, some background -

A few years ago, Nicole and I bought some camping gear for Christmas and I decided that I wanted to spend a disproportionate amount of our "camping budget" on a high quality tent. Maybe it was too many nights sleeping in a leaky tent as a boy scout in Oregon. Or maybe it was the memory of waking up with a sopping wet sleeping bag because it happened to be up against the wall of the tent and all the dew seeped through in the early morning. Or maybe it was the memories of trying to quickly set up an already wet tent in the pouring rain (trying to feed the poles through the sleeves on the outside of a tent in these conditions takes FOR-EV-ER).

So we bought a Mountain Hardwear tent. It had sealed seams, a full rain fly, a matching footprint, and no "sleeve-feeding" so it can be pitched solo in just a few minutes. (Our tent, the Alcove 3, is pictured at the top of the post while camping in Indiana. They don't make this model anymore - we bought it in 2005 - but I'd feel good about any of their tents.)

Now to the story -

As part of my calling in church, I went to a scout outdoor leadership training campout a few weeks ago. Some severe storms had been forecast for that night so I wasn't surprised when it started to rain a few minutes after I arrived at the campsite. I quickly started pitching the tent and a couple people came over to help. By the time the tent was up and the rain fly in place, it had begun to "rain like hail" (you have to say that out loud). The hail wasn't huge... maybe a bit smaller than a marble, but it marked the beginning of the tornado warning that would keep us inside the scout office building's basement until after midnight.

I had tossed my iPhone into the tent just before I ran for cover since I knew for sure it would end up wet in the pocket of my jeans as I ran through the storm to the pavilion where everybody was meeting. The whole time we were inside during the pouring rain, hail, and howling wind, I just pictured my phone sitting at the bottom of a puddle of water in the middle of my tent. I kept regretting having not staked out the rain fly at the front and back of the tent to keep the rain further away from the doors of the tent.

A few hours later we returned to our tents for the moment of truth. A few people had to literally pour out their tents and re-pitch them (this is particularly unenjoyable at 1 am). I opened my tent, expecting the worst, but not a drop of rain had made it inside the tent. The wind and rain picked up again during the night, but I stayed nice and dry (though it is a little disconcerting when the wind squashes your tent down enough where you can reach up and touch the ceiling when it's normally about 4-5 feet tall).

Nicole is going to be using our tent for a week while at girls camp next month, but I know she'll stay nice and dry. Unless a tornado touches down close by... but we're not going to think about that yet ;)

~Kevin