1. Floor, either the manufacturer's or a poly tarp tacked down with landscpaing staples.

2. Rain fly, adds insulation and protects tent from embers from wood buring stove.

3. Make sure you have ventilation at each end of the tent, two doors or a door and a window; if you have a wood stove, it is just a matter of time before you screw up and need to get the smoke out of the tent and end to end cross ventilation is the key.

4. Wood burning stove: fire that baby up at home and cure the paint and oxidize the galvinizing in the flue, you DON'T want to do that while you are living in that tent, yuck!

5. Wood burning stove: make sure you take some newspapers with you for starting, or our favorite corn cobs and kerosene.

6. Have all your stuff and load it up once a month before you are leaving.

7. An outhouse tent with a potty chair over a nice deep hole is is a real nice addition and don't cost much. Put a propane lantern on a short propane tree and it takes the edge of off freezing morning trips to the outhouse.... first guy just leaves it on.

Some of this makes a difference whether you are talking spike camp or main camp alongsidethe road.