COMPLETING THE PACKING LIST

After every trip, we revise our list of things to take. There is always room for improvement! We both like our hot coffee/tea in the morning. Preferably right when we wake up. On a campground that is not always an option without getting out of the warm car. Years ago, while working nights at the USPS, we had issues keeping our tea hot through the night. It was very cold at the docks and nothing kept us warm inside, but our tea. We tried multiple different mugs, but by the end of the night, our beverages were lukewarm. The Thermos tumblers ended up being our choice, because our beverages stayed hot until the end of our shift. For our camping trips, we prepare the tea and coffee before we go to bed at night. Tom drinks coffee, and the coffee bags are a tasty alternative to fresh brewed (it's between Army coffee and home brew). I let the tumblers sit, filled with boiling water, for about 10 minutes. Then I re-boil that same water to brew the coffee/tea, close the tumbler tightly after the desired steeping time and set aside until morning. It is still really hot!

At home or on the road, our breakfast smoothie is a MUST! At home our smoothies are loaded with many different nutritional ingredients, including frozen berries. Even though the USB Blender Bottles are working well, they are not designed for frozen fruit. Besides, frozen fruit doesn't stay frozen for long and fresh fruit is just fine. Normally our smoothie provides about 24 ounces at home, while in the car it only provides about 12 ounces. We try very hard to keep up on our healthy eating regimen. Part of that routine is our daily intake of JUICE PLUS+. Our smoothie without Complete Vanilla/Chocolate is unacceptable. With getting only 12 oz of liquid from the blender bottle, we are not satisfied so we add a NUTRITION BAR to fill our breakfast needs. These bars are also in our backpacks for hiking provisions. Another staple nutrition product is the JP Capsules. We have been taking all of these products faithfully for 20 years to keep us healthy and vital for our adventures. It has served us extremely well and prevents the emergency stops at fast food restaurants. We are never starving!

We also have a constant supply of home made trail mix. We have an Amish store close by where we can purchase a huge variety of raw nuts, dried berries, chocolate covered seeds, coconut chunks, wasabi peas, and other tasty surprises. I have a two gallon Ziploc bag at the beginning of our trip and so does Tom, since he has his own combination.

We rarely eat at any restaurants. Instead we plan ahead, go grocery shopping and cook. As I mentioned before, we try to stay at sites with electricity. Water is not important, since we carry along 5 gallons (see previous post). Depending on what's for dinner we either use an Infrared Cook top or our Pampered Chef indoor outdoor grill. 

This grill is so cute. We can use it either with charcoal or electric power. The size is absolutely large enough to grill for two, but it is also small enough to transport behind the seats! A purchase that has proven itself worthy! Pampered Chef products are my favorite travel companions (besides Tom 😉). In our travel set-up, we have no room for bulky items and multi-function tools are a must. Some of my kitchen tools are also nation wide permitted self defense tools. Look at this! I think this could do some serious damage to any attacker!

                                             GRILLING FORKS with tip cover

SANTOKU KNIFE with protective sleeve

I hope we will only have to use them for grilling and cooking purposes!

When packing my suitcase, I like to use a lot of Ziploc bags. Generally, I can fit three t-shirts in one 1 gallon bag. As I close the bag, I sit down on it to transform it into a vacuum bag! This way, I can see what is in each bag, it protects my clothes from moisture, and I can fit so much more into my suit case.

We bring along some laundry detergent pods because they are too expensive to buy at the laundromat. 

As of right now, we have 11 days, 18 hours, and  50 minutes left to get ready. So far it looks like we are ahead of schedule! I don't like the last minute rush. (Tom!.....are you packed yet!)

#vanlife #simplicity #vancamping