The Clam

Momma Sharon suffers from a particular camping addiction that involves awnings and screen rooms. As long as I have known her (10 camping seasons), she has been on a quest to find the perfect auxiliary camping structure.  She has acquired quite a collection over the years in that quest.

Well, when Uncle Rob told her about a screen room called The Clam that he and Friend Mark had found, her radar kicked in.  New shade structure?  What color?  Can one person put it up?  How much?  How big? ??? Pod's Dad said that he would have it in The Holler and she could see it up close and personal.  I snitched a photo from R&T's Pod blog so you can see it too.  When I saw it, I knew we were in trouble!!

From my vantage point next door, I saw that it has 6 sides that bow outward and a fine mesh screen to keep out those no-see-ums. Around the bottom is a 12-inch wide strip of nylon that sheds water away from the interior.  The doorway has two rigid poles and tie-backs for the zippered panels.  There are hooks inside at each corner to hammer down stakes to anchor The Clam.  On each corner outside, there are also hooks to run guy lines.

The folks sat inside during a couple of torrential afternoon downpours and not a drop of water came in.  The mesh is so fine that the water just runs down the side.  

Inside there was room for all of Uncle Rob's cooking station, three folding chairs, two folding footstools, 3 humans, and 3 dogs.  I knew the real test would be the ease of putting it up and taking it down.  On Saturday afternoon, we all watched as Rob took it down and packed it up all by himself in just a matter of minutes.  Uh-oh . . . Mom had her camera and caught all the action.

Now in all fairness to the Camper Mom, she DID sell one of her awnings at the recent Blue Ridge Rally and she is thinking of parting with another one.  I was really proud of her for waiting until we got home to order it.  The order was placed on Monday and our new Clam arrived yesterday!  That means we will have it for the upcoming MD DOG and the Coastal Caravan!

Aunt Becky came over and together they had it up in a matter of minutes.  Talk about easy peasy!! This is going to be a great addition to our camping family.  I told Momma Sharon that it's going to have to travel inside of me on the bed when we are on the road because it's too long to go in Splish.  Oh, they took it down and packed it in the nylon bag in a matter of minutes too.  Sweeeeeet!

I appreciate you dropping by for a Thursday Story.  I think I may have another one tomorrow, so until then, always remember . . . 

"Peace, Love & Mom's New Awning"