This trip started off as a totally different plan, and then everything changed when my diesel heater failed. The original beach spot was epic, but it was windy and bitter cold, and the heater wouldn’t fire when I needed it. I had the gear to tough it out, but with the dogs along, it just wasn’t worth forcing them to be cold and uncomfortable. So I packed up, fixed the heater, ditched some heavier stuff I didn’t need (like the big chainsaw and the hot tent), and headed inland to a lake where it was absolutely pouring rain. From there it turned into a proper cold, wet truck camping night—2°C rain, soaked clothes, hot coffee, and a campfire right on the lake. I grabbed bone-dry red oak deeper in the woods, got a fire going, and cooked up supper (steaks for me and the dogs, plus mushrooms, onions, and peppers). I also talk about a big safety point: don’t run a diesel heater while you’ve got heavy smoke from a fire/cooking nearby, because that smoke can get pulled into the heater intake and blow right into your rooftop tent. The night wrapped up with the rain hammering the tent, the diesel heater drying everything out, and the dogs passed out. In the morning I fired up a hot espresso with my pocket espresso maker, showed just how much rain pooled up on the tent, and packed up to roll to the next location.