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I grew up in the "Cowboy State" of Wyoming, and my cousins are all professional rodeo stars, so evey year I attend the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Nevada, just to see how many bones they have broken this year.
And every year the Cowboy Christmas Gift Show (at the Venician Hotel) keeps on growing, and I always stumble across new and unique ranch gear, usually made of leather. This year canvas caught my interest with David Ellis' Canvas Products, a complete line of range tents, and really wonderful bedrolls. I don't know how many times I have slept out under the stars on the hard ground, but with Dave's cool canvas bedrolls, it will be a whole lot more comfort next time. I like his slogan as well: "Providing Nomadic Housing for the American Cowboy." Here are just some of Dave and Kelly's outdoor products that you need to add into your next Cowboy Christmas list.
CANVAS TENTS are more comfortable than synthetic tents because they breathe. Yes they weigh more so don’t think you are going to back pack them. But if you want to set up a campsite that will show off an attitude start with a canvas tent. Dave calls it a COWBOYCAMP. Check the website at www.cowboycamp.net
The Range Tent — (the cowboy tipi) is a historical tent that can be seen in many accounts of car camping or ranch camping. When ever there is a chuck wagon involved there is usually a Range Tent close by. It is held up with one interior pole. Dave suspends the tent from the outside using an A-frame, this way the interior will be free from a pole support. Four stakes hold it to the ground and set up is a snap. If these stakes stay in the ground the wind can’t blow it down. In fact Artic expeditions always use this tent for this reason.
Dave's Range Tent, with its nylon loop sewn into the peak, can be suspended from a tree limb to avoid packing poles. It’s made of 10.38 ounces of Sunforger Army Duck, with a vinyl coated polyester duck (calliope) sewn-in floor. "The Army Duck is a tightly woven double fill cotton canvas, and Sunforger is a marine treatment for water and mildew resistance," says Dave.
David Ellis
Canvas Products
387 County Road 234
Durango, CO 81301
970/259-2050
www.cowboycamp.net
The advanced feature designed into the Range Tent is the way the canvas is cut, creating a para-wing design where it is connected to the floor. This upward arc keeps the canvas from touching the wet ground and eliminates the need for center staking. The seam here is double sewn, not simply bound, and this allows water to flow over, not into the seam.
Dave makes three sizes: 8’ square & 7’ tall; 10’ square & 8’ tall; and 12’ square & 9’ tall. The 10’ range tent is the most common and ecominical.
With D-rings attached on three walls, you can increase the inside space by pulling out the walls. The door is zippered shut with a #10 nylon coil zipper that is concealed with a 2.5" weather flap. Snap hooks are sewn into the inside to hang a lantern. This tent looks really cool lit up at night.
Range Tent Awning —
Get the Range Tent Awning add-on. The awning makes it so you can have the door open while it is raining. The top of the add-on awning scoops over the top of the Range Tent exposing the nylon loop. At the bottom, bungee loops secure the awning to the front tent stakes. There is a 5’ pole that lifts the awning over the door of the tent and is guyed out to the front.
Bedrolls —
Bedrolls are the cowboy suitcase. When "Buckwheat" gathered up his worldly possessions and tied them to a stick in a canvas table cloth, he was conceptualizing a cowboy bedroll. If there ever was a useful tool in the wilderness it would be a sheet of canvas. The military’s version focuses more on sleeping and less on tarping, unless we're talking about tarping while sleeping through a rain storm.
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About the Author
Kriss Hammond, Editor, Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com Join the Travel Writers Network.
