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

CATCHING UP TO THE PRESENT TIME

We always liked camping. I grew up in Germany and went camping with my parents every year. I'm like my mother. I don't need much, but it has to be organized and easily accessible. I hate wasting time searching for stuff. My parents had a rather big tent to accommodate a family of four. 

One day, many years ago, one of Toms acquaintances gave him something she "found" at the curb to be trashed. It was a rather large JEEP brand bag. At the time we were so involved with our construction mess in the house, that Tom just set it down in the garage and never looked at it. Several months later he decided to take a look at what's inside the bag. I was busy indoors and didn't pay any attention to what he was doing outside. After some time, Tom came inside and asked me to come outside and look. I came around the corner and see this huge beautiful tent! We inspected it; no holes, no rips, all complete! It was perfect! Why would anybody toss a perfectly fine tent like this? We decided on the spot, "we are going camping!" We looked at a few campgrounds within a one hour radius and started camping almost every weekend. 

To move forward to what we are doing now. We still have the tent and will use it again eventually. For now, we've discovered that we can camp comfortably in our van. We own a Dodge Grand Caravan. With the stow-and-go seats folded down, it provides a large platform to serve as a sleeping space. Many years ago we got a full size, dual bladder, Sleep number bed. Over the years the mattress got dirty due to spills and we tossed everything but the bladders. We thought they would still be good as emergency beds. Little did we know. The platform in the back of the van is 4' wide. Too narrow for a full size mattress, and too narrow for 2 twin size mattresses. But guess what? Our two bladders fit perfectly side by side! I cut an old king size flat sheet and created two custom fitted sheets for our new beds. 

Our bedroom

Cooler and luggage

After this discovery, we went on our "test" trip. We didn't know how this would work out and were prepared to opt for a hotel or motel, just in case. To our surprise, we managed this well and spent only one night in a motel because we were not able to find a camp spot before dark. A list of campgrounds is provided on the matching page. We'll add new locations as we continue to travel.

Right away we realized that one bladder was leaking air. It was a slow leak and Tom did not end up on the floor, but that needed to be fixed before our next trip. We had a few nights with temperatures in the low 40s and even high 30s. Air beds are a good option, but as soon as the air inside the mattress gets cold, it feels like sleeping on a block of ice! While tent camping, we used to remedy this by placing a heating blanket UNDER the mattress. Even the lowest setting warmed the air in the bladders and kept us comfortable. Most of the time we stay at campgrounds, and have the luxury of electricity. We stopped at a Walmart and got an electric lap blanket for cars. It was returned the next day because it had auto shut-off that turned off after 3 hours. We replaced it with a regular heating blanket. That solved the problem, as long as we had power. We also had a bunch of hand warmers (to stick under the mattresses) on board, but did not use them. It would be easy to just run the car engine for a while, but that is not allowed at most camp sites and is not the safest option either. There is room for improvement.

Our old electric cooler was alright, but that too was only cooling when the car was running. At times, when we were out hiking or at night, the cooler did not hold the temperature for long. Therefore we opted for food that didn't spoil easily, and went to the grocery store more often than we liked. The idea of a power pack did not work out, because it extended cooling for only four hours. That purchase was also reversed.

This power pack is ideal for charging cell phones or other small devices, but not to run a thermoelectric cooler or an electric blanket.

As we arrived back home, we had some issues that needed to be addressed before the next trip. #1 was the mattress. What a lucky goose I am! Somebody offered an identical mattress with similar soil problems on Face Book market place for $30.00. We didn't care about the condition of the outer shell, as long as it was holding air! We only needed the bladders. A beautiful 2.5 hour drive north was in order to pick it up. At arrival, we found out that it actually came with the plastic box spring! Of course it would be too wide as well, but that can be rigged. The plastic frame is an assembly of multiple side bars and 4 platform covers. Out comes the circular saw. At the middle seam, we cut off about 3 inches on each side, and shortened the platform also by about 3". 

It was an easy job to customize the frame

We tried to fit the bladder with the matching shell, but that too was too wide and too long.

The frame lifts the mattress about 6" off the floor, creating some storage space underneath for items not used regularly. Also, Tom removed the last row of seats, which left a wide and deep hole under the bed. In this space I will have labeled bins with items we need access to frequently, like silverware and cooking utensils, spices, cans, toiletries, meds and supplements, and other odds and ends.

We carry a 5 gallon bottle of water with a USB pump, available at: USB Water pump

Once empty, we refill with two 2.5 gallon jugs available in every grocery store. 

Our new cooler arrived. We selected an Alpicool model available at the link below.

Alpicool cooler  We have tested it and it works well. Problem solved! 

It got pretty stuffy in the van at night, and we were looking for "bug free" ways to open windows and doors. This Hatch tent will be tested in a few weeks.

We also found slip over

Window screens for the front windows. They are super easy to install, fit over the mirrors, and are black to darken the inside of the van.

#vanlife #simplicity #vancamping