The Auto Touring Outfit 
Set Rules Should Not Be Adhered To, 
But Here Are Some Valuable Suggestions 
N preparing a touring outfit one may 
purchase an exact list which has 
served the purposes of tourists on 
thousands of miles of highway, camp- 
ing out, and the whole list may prove 
just enough wrong to be wholly ex- 
asperating to the traveler and forever 
set him against writers and printed 
lists. The trouble is, every kind and 
make of car, every group of tourists, 
every region to be visited requires dif- 
ferent equipment. 
The all around outfit is like the all 
around gun, or rifle, or fishing rod. 
There is no such thing. For the hotel 
tourist east of the Missouri river and 
north of the Ohio, suit cases or touring 
trunks full of appropriate clothes, in- 
cluding a crawl-under suit, and a 
waterproof tarpaulin of canvas to 
throw under the car in an emergency 
is an “outfit.” 
But only one article is of universal 
usefulness. That is a water tank of 
some kind. Ev’ Freeman made me a 
tank of heavy tinned copper eighteen 
inches long, thirteen inches high and 
seven inches wide. A milk-can friction 
top, large enough to admit the hand 
for washing the inside and a bulldog 
tap hanging over the running board, 
to draw water, are prime features. 
Water, no matter where one goes, is 
often indispensible. A party of tourists 
in the desert may need several gallons, 
and a cubic foot, say seven or eight 
gallons, of good water on the running 
board is a blessing undisguised. It 
may be warm, but it is life-saving at 
the best and radiator cooling in ordi- 
nary service. 
Water, oftener than any other part 
of the outfit, is neglected. And yet I 
have known of tourists to lose a life 
because of carelessness as regards 
water supply. Often, it is better to 
suffer actual thirst than risk drinking 
doubtful streams, pools, springs, wells, 
etc. The fact that local people, with 
impunity, drink at the town pump may 
mean merely the survival of the accli- 
mated. In the deserts, ample water is 
absolutely necessary for car and people. 
A can of water makes dry camps of 
favorable aspects everywhere available. 
pee night’s sleep every night is 
of utmost touring importance. If 
one has a good sleep, morning sees most 
difficulties outgrown, and _ forgotten. 
The bed must be at least good enough. 
By RAYMOND S. SPEARS 
But only a bold man, or a_ cocksure 
man, would declare this or that the 
perfect bed. Much depends on the 
region. The western dry regions are 
open to tarpaulin ground beds, but it 
would be foolish to think of sleeping 
on the ground in the southern wet 
states, as on the Gulf coast, in Florida, 
or even south of the Potomac. 
Hammocks serve well in some cir- 
cumstances. A hammock with an eight 
or ten foot tarpaulin to drape over it, 
like an A-tent, will sleep tight in a 
furious rain, but a pair of slip-on rub- 
bers, after a night of rain, may be 
needed to keep one dry shod when 
water is in a puddle a few inches deep 
all over the camp grounds. 
OST tourists are coming to rely on 
folding cots. A 25-pound cot sleeps 
one easily. It can be put up anywhere. 
Buta double cot is a delusion, and my 
experience with one is that two single 
cots are far better, at slight increase 
of weight and bulk. A 
two bushel wheat bag 
carries two cots nicely. 
They ride on the fender 
against the hood, too, 
and may be tied to the 
headlight bracket, if 
the bracket is well 
braced. 
All-weather bedding 
would include a 16 by 6 
foot tarpaulin, well 
waterproofed. This will 
cover two folding cots. 
Then a heavy auto robe, 
or even a rug will serve 
asa mattress. A woolen 
blanket on this, and 
two over, and all cov- 
ered up by the up-flap 
of the tarpaulin, will 
serve adequately in 
freezing weather. The 
same arrangement on a 
‘running board bed is 
good, too. If in a close tent, or out of 
the wind, nothing more is apt to be 
needed. 
Cotton quilts are not much use, espe-_ 
cially in damp or wet weather regions. 
Wool is best for all bed purposes, ex- 
cept the tarpaulin, which is of course, 
cotton. 
I’ve never used a seat-back auto bed. 
They rest on the seats, and for two 
people unquestionably serve well. But 

the lean-to tent is necessary alongside 
for dressing in the morning, and un- 
dressing at night. No one is going to 
sleep in his clothes, or her clothes, on 
long tours, and not endure more than 
is necessary. 
TENT is always advisable, except 
for hotel tourists. For four people, 
two lean-to auto tents are better than 
one double tent. The overhangs lap 
on the car top, and each one covers two 
cots, and gives a small dressing space. 
Running board beds are sometimes 
provided with tents the size of the bed, 
and no more. These tents should be 
at least two, and better yet, three feet 
wider than the bed, in order to give 
dressing space. 
Running-board beds are sometimes 
provided with tents the size of the bed, 
and no more. These tents should be 
at least two, and better yet, three feet 
wider than the bed, in order to give 
dressing space. Also, a piece of canvas, 
or waterproof thrown 
down to dress on is 
worth having. The 
spotlight mirror serves 
for shaving and hair 
combing, by the way. 
Many people go forth 
expecting to sleep on 
the ground, and old- 
timers always did sleep 
on the ground. But 
when one is soft, it 
takes two weeks to 
grow used to this 
“roughing it,” and lack 
of cots or running- 
board bed means loss of 
sleep, or nights in the 
car, or hotel accommo- 
dations in weather 
stress. Confirmed tour- 
ists will not go to shel- 
ter except under stress 
of garage sieges, or 
other hard luck. 
A running-board bed will weigh up 
to sixty pounds. Cots run around 25 
pounds each. Robe or carpet to serve 
as a mattress may weigh fifteen 
pounds. Tarpaulins will weigh ten to 
fifteen pounds each. Blankets two to 
five pounds. The tarps serve as wind 
breaks, waterproofs against leaky 
tents, and will serve as tent, sun- 
shelter, etc. 
(Continued on page 761) 
731 
