Time for some practical advice! Nothing on the list will be surprising but some people have asked about must-have “stuff” on a trip like this so here is my list! Before I give you the tangibles, from my perspective, here are some intangibles that you must bring: Flexibility. On a shorter trip, it is possible…
For a moment I will remember and share a story about the rain in Juneau and then never write of it again. I was there on Memorial Day weekend along with quite a few local TENT campers. I wondered, why on earth would they come out camping in this weather? Are they crazy? Then, I…
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…
I learned how to put up both my 8-person tent and the 12×12 foot screen house on a New Mexico “beach”, really the shoreline of a huge Rio Grande reservoir. As I stared at both towering structures with pride, it occurred to me that maybe they were overkill. Then, I remembered, I will be essentially…
Talk about being prepared! I have packed and repacked my car, Alice, a dozen times. I could leave today, but I still have 3 weeks before I can head north. I will, however, leave today or tomorrow for a trial camping trip to the Chiricahua Mountains in Arizona just to be sure I have everything…
By noon Sunday, most of the weekend campers left. By dinnertime, a whole new set moved in, including an interesting young couple. They are cute as pie and have a little pickup truck and a tent. Reminds me of my early camping days, say 40 years ago! The young woman has an interesting wardrobe for…
So, time to discuss clothes and how to pack in a popup camper. If you have decided that I am not one to pack light, your suspicions will be confirmed when you see my clothes. Yes, my backpacking, tent camping and van camping days are long gone. Here is the main photo of my clothes,…
It is time to finish packing the tow vehicle and get out of here! Remember the photos of the nice neat van with storage containers and a mattress? Well, after all the packing, it looks like this: And the view from the side doors now: The bags hanging on the left are First Aid…
I used to camp in the van, before I had my camper Half Moon. I still keep a bed in there for those nights when I am traveling a long way and don’t want to set up the camper. Originally, I had a twin bed on a frame. At one point I put the mattress…
A record number of people read my blog yesterday, about using Furoshiki for packing. It seems that preparing and packing is an appealing topic. So, before I share my pillow-case-packing-tip, I thought I would step back and share some of my advance planning. Six weeks is a long time to be away from my work…