Page 144 - REALLY What A time Book IX

REALLY SO WHAT
What A Time

THE GREAT WEST

Pop would haul the tent and iron posts out of the car. Joe
would lay out the ground cover. I would dig the trench
around it, in case of rain. The tent was old, but it had a single
characteristic that no other tent had. It didn’t have a center
pole holding it up. That made it a marvel of engineering for
it’s time.

Once the tent was rolled out flat, Pop would crawl inside with
the ‘Spider’. The ‘Spider’ was a marvel of engineering. Four
long iron rails meeting in the center with a twisted cradle and
swivel crank. On the far end of each rail was a socket.
There were four poles and a sleeve for them in each corner.
One pole was used for the center to temporarily prop up the
‘Spider’. That pole along with one other would be used on
the outside of the tent to prop up the awning. It was also
possible to put sides on the ‘porch’ around the awning, but we
seldom used them.

Pop would get the ‘Spider’ centered and spread out toward
each corner. Mom would slide each post into the corner
sleeves. Pop would then raise the entire tent up, lifting at least
75 pounds, propping the center pole under it to hold, while
mom slipped each post into the ‘Spider’s’ sockets. That done,
he would crank the ‘Spider’ upward until the tent was high
enough for us to stand and walk around underneath. It would
be adjusted depending on the weather. Once set, and this is
the marvelous part, he would swivel the cradle around until it
locked the four rails in place.

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