Wide open spaces: Suburbanites will set up just about anything in their yards–swimming pools, patio furniture, bird baths, even a tepee.
Yes, Gary Rickman has set up a replica American Indian tepee at his Homewood home. Call it the extra quarters, if you will. “It’s beautiful in there,” he says. “The hard part is learning to set it up.”
Rickman is becoming adept at arranging the 17 24-foot pine support poles and correctly wrapping the canvas around them. The tepee measures 18 feet in diameter, and Rickman has comfortably had as many as nine people inside.
The Rickman tepee will seem more natural in the family’s summer vacation settings in the Great Plains and Colorado. But if they’re forced to stay in a public campground, they’ll have to be content in a traditional tent. “The tepee is too big for campground spaces,” Rickman explained.