Originally Posted by
Lovegasoline
... Air mattresses are more fragile and can be threatened by sharp objects, cactus needles (FYI a friend once suggested keeping a lightweight air mattress like the Neoair wrapped in a garbage bag when used in the desert, he claimed that micro cactus needles are distributed everywhere and work their way into air mattresses contributing to deflation and making detection of leaks hard. Maybe so, but a trash bag seems like too much a PITA), etc.
....
There is a local farm supply store (Mills Fleet Farm) that has very high quality thick and large plastic shopping bags. I have slit a few of them down the sides so that they are a long narrow sheet of thick plastic. A lot cheaper than a tent footprint, not as wide but is wider than my air mattress. I have used those both inside and outside the tent if I had any reason to be nervous. Sometimes when I have shopped there and did not buy anything big enough for one of those bags, I have asked for one of the bags, they usually oblige.