Camera: Canon 5D | Lens: EF24-105mm | Setting: f/6.3, 30 sec, ISO 1000

You don't have to be all that hardcore to be out in the Sonoran Desert in winter. During the day, the ol' mercury could easily rise to to a steamy 80 degrees. At night though, it's not uncommon for the shiver point to begin around 55 or 54 and bottom out at 35. You'll get just a light frost in the morning. It ought to be a crime.

It has some downsides. Like scorpions and a lot of . . .

The old man you see in this photo arose on a typical sultry Southern summer morning in 2009, put on the coffee pot and waited for it to brew a kettleful in the kitchen of his small-town Louisiana home while he worked up a plan for his day. The house is modest yet so full of joy; for evidence, there's a rather old and yellowing crayon drawing taped to his cabinets that was made by one of his granddaughters who's now 27 and working on her Ph.D. The picture is of two figures in a rowboat with fishing poles. The little girl had written across the bottom of her drawing, "PeePaw is special because he takes me fishing."

Once the coffee was brewed, he picked up the pot, filled a mug, left it black and walked it into a dark bedroom in the back of the house . . .

Oh, come on now, it looks much more complicated than it really is. Though they're atypical, roof top tents could very well be the answer to the comfort woes of those who don't approve of sleeping on the ground. Inside (and up top) is a pleasant foam mattress the size of a queen bed. Plus you'll appreciate that private stand-up space within the walls of the lower room when it comes time to change your underwear, take a shower, or bail out of the rain. As you can see, one entire side of that lower portion also detaches and rolls up; it could also be staked outward in awning fashion giving you a lovely veranda under which to sip morning coffee, listen to songbirds, and get amped up for a bike ride in the pines. Or whatever.

Like all things in life, this comfort comes with a trade off or two . . .

Hannibal and Maggiolina Roof Top Tents on the Beach in Baja, Mexico showing off their custom LED light installations

You know the the major problem with owning a roof top tent - and I don't care if it's an Eezi-Awn, a Camping Lab, a Hannibal, or a Technitop, the problem is the same: they're super comfortable, super easy to set up and take down, and they're super irritating because you're still stuck with a headlamp attached to your head if you have any care at all to read a book or put on some jammies.

Seriously, it's like going to an awesome world famous pizzeria with incredible pie, but you have to bring your own cheese. Or worse, it's like going to Mom's house and having to cook your own meals.

Roof top tents have comfy mattresses, superior tent walls and all that jazz but they don't have lights inside. Which is a deficiency of epic proportions. A giant-sized "WTF?"

The big question mark about taking your children on a first camping trip is probably, "will she be able to sleep out there?" Fears about nighttime tears loom over parents, causing some to avoid backcountry traveling as a family for the first year or more of their child's life.

Well, fellow adventurers and worrier-moms, time to confront these fears of the dark. There are a few ways to prepare for the nighttime hours ahead of you as a camping family. Here are 4 top strategies we use for sleep success with our daughter, Chloe, in a tent.

If you have to know, our daughter Chloe wasn't conceived at home, or in a hotel, or in the backseat of a car. So what choice is left?
Get the woman's perspective on this luxurious safari tent that keeps us, warm, dry, and really really comfy when we're on a trip. So comfy, in fact, that we're likely to reproduce.

So what's this business of roof top tents? Mark takes a close look at his purchase after 3 years of ownership.  Are they worth buying?  Just foo-foo nonsense? Let's find out.