While we were in Durango last September, we finally found an RTT.
Now you may be asking yourself, what is and RTT and why would you want one. An RTT is a Roof Top Tent. This s commonly placed on the roof of a car or truck. Much like a normal tent, it opens up and voilà! You now have a mini home to sleep in.
Why had we been looking for a Roof Top Tent? For three years we have been driving around the county in Howl and enjoying every minute of our adventure, but we could also see where we had been missing out. Howl, for all of it’s 15″ of ground clearance, is not an offroad vehicle. Well, maybe it could do it once. and then where would we be? Since we got the Jeep over a year ago we have taken Moro on some amazing off road jaunts in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado as well as the backside of Mt. Lemmon, here outside of Tucson. And as we drove the backwoods off-the-beaten-path trails, we noticed all these amazing campsites. On the side of mountain streams. In a giant field with the mountains looming over us. Deep in the woods with only the whisper of wind through the boughs. We needed to get us some of this. Thus, enter the RTT.
We started seriously looking for a RTT while in Gunnison, CO in June. We scoured Craigslist, FaceBook Market place and local newspapers. Either they were the wrong style or too expensive or way too used up. The one we currently have, and Ironman Cross 1200, we found from a gentleman outside of Durango who was sadly parting ways with it because is larger dog which he camped with just didn’t like the tent on the roof concept. He has only used it 4 times. He went over all of the functioning of the RTT as well as helped us moved it to Moro and get it installed!
We were unable to try out the RTT until this past weekend, Friday, February 6th 2026. It was not hard to determine where to go. In March we leave Tucson and work our way over 2 weeks to Bisbee, AZ (YAY!!) On the way there we have scheduled a stop at the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area (NCA) that is essentially BLM land. BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land is free to stay on for up to 2 weeks. and there are some very large sites here so we can get Howl down the dirt road and to the sites. If any are open.
We left right after work at 3 pm. After only 1 hour we arrived and searched for a spot. Since it was Friday at 4 pm, all the sites had at least one camper already, but we had read that all sites accommodate 2 campers, so we asked John the Vietnam Vet from Indiana if we could pop over to the other side of his site and stay the night. He was delighted to have us.
Setting up only took about an hour and the only issue was that there were no tie downs for the awning over the entrance. Meh, who needs that with no rain in the forecast…. right? Foreshadowing!
After a very nice evening sipping our IPA’s (Ceres from Pueblo Vita!) around the propane firepit we brought with us, we called it a night and climbed into bed. The temps had already dropped from 66 to the low 50’s by this time. Maybe we do need more than the blankets we came with?
“What is that?!??!” We both asked each other as we were woken up to a racket! Turns out we DID need to tie down the awning as a rain cell was passing overhead at about 2:30 am and the accompanying winds were making the awning and fly flap crazily in the wind. Luckily, this only lasted for an hour before it was once again calm and we were back to sawing logs.
Morning found us bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 7:15. Popped up to the sun just coming up and temps in the mid 40’s. First order of the day was to get coffee made. Thanks to Christine for my Christmas present, we were able to boil water in the new Kettle on the new camping stove with the new wind deflector to get the needed hot water to make coffee with our Aeropress. (We have been using this exclusively to make coffee one cup at a time since 2012).
After 1st breakfast we took a nice long 2 mile walk on the trails in the area.
Now, it was time for 2nd breakfast. While Shanin was cooking up the eggs and hashbrowns I pulled out my drone, a DJI Mini 3, and took a few quick shots of the area. As you can see, we are out in the middle of nowhere!
Breakfast was of course, delicious. It’s hard to beat good food made while camping. It just hits different.
Sadly, it was time to pack up. It took about an hour with very little cussing. Before heading back home we turned south and went to the cute little town of Patagonia, AZ once again to wander and see more little town america.
Until next adventure,
Stay Safe. Make Happiness. Repeat
Great pix! Thanks for taking us along!