Great ideas if money is really hard to come by. A serviceable rack can be purchased for as little as $40 and tent for under $50 or $60. When I was in college, I did a lot of hitchhiking and backpacking without a tent- just a big piece of visqueen. Back in those days I truly had very little money to spend on camping equipment. Now, I don't want to present the image of a vagabond (not that there is anything wrong with that), because I have found that people are less receptive if they think you are going to ask them for a hand out.