I have never scrimped on clothes when traveling. Ask my son who ribbed me forever about overpacking. For this trip, however, I needed to think carefully about what to take since the Honda Civic is so small, especially compared to my van, which has a clothes rack across the back. Other challenges that affected my packing decision: I knew that I would need layering clothes for all 4 seasons, from my ultra warm down coat to shorts and t-shirts, and I had a desire to avoid constant trips to the laundry. Hmmm. Where is the balance?

I made up and followed a Rule of Four, which is: pack 4 of everything. My reason for taking 4 of everything was that I would wear clothes for 2 days, which meant that I would have an 8-day wardrobe. In any weather I could stretch out laundry trips to every 8 days or so. I am not one to sit by the camp stove doing laundry in a large pot of boiling water. That is one line that I draw–I must find a laundromat, but not too often! 

With my Rule of Four in mind, here is what I packed:

• 4 shorts
• 4 leggings (which double as long underwear)
• 4 lightweight jeans (I never wear jeans in cold weather)
• 4 fleece pants (actually 3 plus one pair of nylon rain paints)
• 4 jackets (rain, windbreaker, fleece, hoodie)
• 4 fleece tops (2 quarter zip tops, 2 fleece vests)
• 4 sweaters
• 4 short-sleeved t-shirts
• 4 long sleeve t-shirts
• 4 button down shirts (mostly denim shirts)
• 4 summer weight tops
• 4 items to wear in town, like on a museum day (casual dress, skirt, sweater, etc)

Rules are meant to be broken of course, so I brought more or less than 4 of these items:

• 6 sets of undies
• 6 pairs of each type sock: heavy wool, boot weight, light wool, regular and, ped type socks
• 3 baseball caps
• 3 sets gloves/fleece hats
• 2 sets of long underwear (which double as jammies)
• 2 sets of official jammies (summer, winter)
• 2 shorts/bathing suit sets
• I pair hiking pants
• 1 down coat
• Shoes? I won’t tell.
• Boots? One pair for snow, one for hiking.

I know this seems like an outrageous amount of clothes, but I will be gone from my RV for up to 6 months. I hate being low on clean clothes and wearing something more than two days makes me look so shabby.Casual is fine, but dirty/smelly is beyond me, even as an incorrigible camper. Besides, all those multiples of four roll up and fit nicely into several duffels. I have heavier clothes in one duffel, lighter weight clothes in another, and the town clothes in yet another. Shoes and undies have their own small duffles, and the jackets/shirts lay nicely across the top of the duffel stack that covers half of the rear seat. I have a laundry bag that sits on top of the duffels for easy access. 

I could probably get by with 3 of everything if I wanted to be ultra creative. I could never do 2 of everything which is probably what most travelers would pack. The Rule of 4 works for me perfectly so far.

I like earrings and brought a small zipper pouch with a nice selection; however, I have not worn one pair even once. Maybe later on the trip but for now, its just baseball caps or knit caps and gloves with my hair usually tied up. Sunglasses. Reading glasses. Done.