>From macklow@sybase.com  Tue Oct 18 10:55:52 1994
>From: macklow@sybase.com (Jim Macklow)

>Just out of curiousity, what do you camper owners use 
>the pop-top for?  Added headroom, or do you actually 
>sleep up there as well? I can't imagine leaving the 
>top up when it's 10 below. Do you just have it open 
>when cooking, etc, and then close it (in the cold > 
>months) when it's time sleep?

>-Jim

Well, there's a lot to be said for the added head-
room, alone. Unless you're 6'5" (or otherwise
vertically-gifted), the extra headroom goes a long
way! Your neck and back don't hurt so much from
constantly leaning down (without a pop-top).

We have the small pop-top on our '67 camper. Some-
times I wish we had the full pop-top, which I see
mostly on buses and later, cos it seems that it
might be fun to sleep up there.

When we camped thru New England, NY state, and
Quebec in Sept., we hit some cooler weather. There
were some nites we left the top down - sometimes
it had to do with extremely windy conditions, though.

Snuggled in our sleeping bags (zipped together), with
maybe an extra blanket down by our legs, we still
usually left the top *up* and didn't even need to
put sweatpants on. 
 
The microbuses had vinyl upholstery on those back
seats - they felt cold at nite. We needed a blanket
underneath the sleeping bag, and occasionally a
sweat-shirt on. With the buses, I imagine the cloth 
seats would be warmer to the touch. But the pop-top
itself was not usually a problem! We didn't hit 10
below (Fahrenheit) conditions, though - we don't
camp in that type of weather! 

Oh, and about cooking - our micro was not equipped
with a stove. So we use propane and only cook out-
side, not affecting the pop-top usage at all.  

Lori