For the first time last weekend, I slept in a Jeep Wrangler while camping. Sleeping in a Jeep is highly un-recommended. Here's the picture:
Assuming you're going to try to sleep in a half-reclined front seat - you weren't going to sleep in the back, were you? Have you ever seen the back seat of a Jeep? It's about 3" across and about 2" deep. So, if you're not going to drape yourself over the hood (which you considered, in order to get the heat from the engine), you're sleeping in the front seat. Now, in order to be able to recline the front seat a bit, there can be nothing in the back seat. For someone like me who takes about 800 cubic feet of equipment and gear along on a camping trip, this poses a problem - where does the stuff go if it doesn't go in the back seat?
You really don't want to know. At this point, just assume you get the front seat to recline.
You get in the seat and close the door. Or, try to close the door. Your arm and body are in the way, so you lean over and close it, getting your arm hair pinched in the door anyway.
Once in the seat, you realize that - yes, it's cold. Of course, somewhere in the 30 boxes of equipment you've brought along, there is a sleeping bag. Let's assume you find the bag (remember, it's not in the back seat anymore.....). You take it out of its bag, and as it expands, it fills up every remaining square inch of the very un-spacious Jeep. If you thought moving 30 boxes out of the back seat and figuring out what to do with them was difficult, you now realize your real dilemma: how in the dickens are you going to maneuver around inside your cramped, teeny cocoon and get inside the sleeping bag while sitting/laying down in the chair, while your arm hairs are still caught in the door? You ponder this, but realize you must act quickly - much longer, and hypothermia will lull you into a false sense of warmth - which, at this point, you almost decide that fake warmth would be good enough.
2 hours later, don't ask me how, you find yourself mostly inside the sleeping bag. You just start to feel the chill of the air dissipate. Only then do you realize that...you forgot to go to the bathroom.....
Back in the Jeep, having gone through the exercise once, you are happy to find that it only takes you 30 minutes this time to get situated in the sleeping bag. You settle in for the night.
Just as you drift off, you wake up - what's that sticking in your back side? Oh, a seat adjustment lever. No problem, just a little shift here and there. Drifting off again...sweet slumber...Ouch! Why did they put the stick shift there? What a dumb place...Ah, warmth is almost yours...why do you feel movement? The wind wasn't that strong...Oh, bother, you accidentally clicked off the parking brake and are headed off over a cliff - in hindsight, you should have chocked the wheels. It appears you are headed for the trailer parked next to you...well, it will serve them right, all tucked in a comfortable bed like they are with a heater running...let's see how they like to come out here in the cold and see what went bump in the night.
All night long, little decisions: if you move, you displace the warm air pockets - but if you don't move, your muscles will continue to scream out in pain for having to adjust to the contour of the car door, the dash, and the center console that seemed so friendly and comfortable while you were driving.
Morning arrives. You open the door and fall out – it turns out your feet were still in the sleeping bag. The people in the trailer next to you ask how you slept in that thing. You cheerfully reply, "Oh, it's actually quite comfortable."
Assuming you're going to try to sleep in a half-reclined front seat - you weren't going to sleep in the back, were you? Have you ever seen the back seat of a Jeep? It's about 3" across and about 2" deep. So, if you're not going to drape yourself over the hood (which you considered, in order to get the heat from the engine), you're sleeping in the front seat. Now, in order to be able to recline the front seat a bit, there can be nothing in the back seat. For someone like me who takes about 800 cubic feet of equipment and gear along on a camping trip, this poses a problem - where does the stuff go if it doesn't go in the back seat?
You really don't want to know. At this point, just assume you get the front seat to recline.
You get in the seat and close the door. Or, try to close the door. Your arm and body are in the way, so you lean over and close it, getting your arm hair pinched in the door anyway.
Once in the seat, you realize that - yes, it's cold. Of course, somewhere in the 30 boxes of equipment you've brought along, there is a sleeping bag. Let's assume you find the bag (remember, it's not in the back seat anymore.....). You take it out of its bag, and as it expands, it fills up every remaining square inch of the very un-spacious Jeep. If you thought moving 30 boxes out of the back seat and figuring out what to do with them was difficult, you now realize your real dilemma: how in the dickens are you going to maneuver around inside your cramped, teeny cocoon and get inside the sleeping bag while sitting/laying down in the chair, while your arm hairs are still caught in the door? You ponder this, but realize you must act quickly - much longer, and hypothermia will lull you into a false sense of warmth - which, at this point, you almost decide that fake warmth would be good enough.
2 hours later, don't ask me how, you find yourself mostly inside the sleeping bag. You just start to feel the chill of the air dissipate. Only then do you realize that...you forgot to go to the bathroom.....
Back in the Jeep, having gone through the exercise once, you are happy to find that it only takes you 30 minutes this time to get situated in the sleeping bag. You settle in for the night.
Just as you drift off, you wake up - what's that sticking in your back side? Oh, a seat adjustment lever. No problem, just a little shift here and there. Drifting off again...sweet slumber...Ouch! Why did they put the stick shift there? What a dumb place...Ah, warmth is almost yours...why do you feel movement? The wind wasn't that strong...Oh, bother, you accidentally clicked off the parking brake and are headed off over a cliff - in hindsight, you should have chocked the wheels. It appears you are headed for the trailer parked next to you...well, it will serve them right, all tucked in a comfortable bed like they are with a heater running...let's see how they like to come out here in the cold and see what went bump in the night.
All night long, little decisions: if you move, you displace the warm air pockets - but if you don't move, your muscles will continue to scream out in pain for having to adjust to the contour of the car door, the dash, and the center console that seemed so friendly and comfortable while you were driving.
Morning arrives. You open the door and fall out – it turns out your feet were still in the sleeping bag. The people in the trailer next to you ask how you slept in that thing. You cheerfully reply, "Oh, it's actually quite comfortable."
