For those of you that don't know me, I am a very organized person that doesn't do well in chaos. This makes living in a house with a husband and 2 teenage boys a huge challenge; and the idea of living in 268 square feet with them for 6 weeks is a bit insane! They have made fun of my Amazon addiction this spring and the fact that I have "lesson planned" our up coming trip but it is the only way I will be able to relax and enjoy our adventure this summer. I am going to share with you all that I have done to set up our 2nd home and to prepare for this trip.
The Camper:
In my previous post, I told you all about researching the camper we bought. It was months and months of research and looking at campers to determine what was going to work best for us. I can happily report that I LOVE the layout of our camper and it meets all of our needs. When seeing it in person it is bigger than I imagined but I don't think we would have been able to live in anything smaller.
The Trip Planning:
I started thinking about and planning this trip years ago in my head but I really started looking at where we would be going and how far we could realistically travel in 6 weeks early last fall. I looked at our major destinations first: Mount Rushmore, Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, Arches Park, and the Grand Canyon. I was hoping to go as far as Yosemite but it would have added just too much time to our trip.
I then broke down each leg of our trip into miles to see how long it would take us to get from point A to point B. Once I figured out the route I wanted to take, I broke down the mileage to reasonable amounts for each day, and using Google Maps, I figured out about where we wanted to stop for the day. Then googled camp grounds in those areas. For about half of our stops, we are staying at KOA campgrounds. They just seemed to be the easiest to find, got the best reviews online, and had pull through and full hook-up sites. I like to know what I am getting ahead of time and would rather have the peace-of-mind knowing that we wouldn't have an issue once we got there.
From November to December, I booked all 18 campgrounds that we will be staying. Some are just for 1 night for travel and others for multiple nights, which includes 4 nights in the Mt. Rushmore area, 4 nights in Glacier National Park, 7 nights at Fishing Bridge inside Yellowstone, 4 nights near Arches Park, 2 nights on the N. Rim of the Grand Canyon and 3 nights on the S. Rim, 3 nights in Santa Fe, 3 nights in Nashville, TN.
What I learned the most while booking:
1. Book Yellowstone early! Especially if you want to stay in the park. We were lucky to get a spot at Fishing Bridge, the only RV park within Yellowstone that has full hookups.
2. Some National Parks are 1st come 1st serve with no reservations, like in Glacier. That is not for me so I booked at a KOA there. Spending the extra money is worth knowing my site is waiting for me.
3. Some National Parks, like the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and 7 Points Campground in Tennessee, can only be booked 6 months in advance from the 1st night of your stay. And you can't book early. Same with booking Ranger lead tours, like at Wind Cave National Park.
4. IT IS STRESSFUL... but do your research well in advance.
Becoming a Tour Guide:
I learned with our three week trip through England, Scotland, and Wales in 2013, that the more prepared I am the more we can see and do. SO, I just tackled this trip the same way (with 5500 more miles of driving and twice as long.)
I like books. I like having that book in my hand telling me "These are all the things you can do in Glacier National Park, here is this hike, here is a map, it is this many miles round trip, it will take you this leg, and it is either an easy, moderate, or strenuous hike." I got 4 books: Glacier National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Utah, and The Grand Canyon. Each lead me to what I think we will enjoy doing the most, then I further researched online. Between the National Park Website, Facebook Groups, my books, Tripadvisor, etc, I think I have planned a pretty thorough trip for us. We have lots of options to do at each location and will give us a variety of things to do for everyone.
Most days my head hurt with all the decision making and planning but I can't wait to execute all I have planned.
Setting up House:
Amazon Prime has become my best friend. I can't believe all that you need to set up a 2nd home, and a tiny home at that. I also didn't want to have to constantly be taking things from inside our main house to the camper. I wanted it self contained. Here is a list of some of things I had to buy for a family of 4:
Kitchen:
dishes, glasses, knives, silverware, toaster, electric skillet, crock pot, spices, sugar container, salt and pepper shakers, cupcake tin, cookie sheets, pots and pans, rubber maid containers, casserole dishes, hand mixer, wooden spoons, chip clips, hot pads, grilling utensils, can opener, WINE cork screw, garbage can...
Everything has to be small and can't be breakable. The stove is tiny so I had to measure and buy a cookie sheet that would fit or cupcake pans that only make 6 instead of 12 muffins. I decided to cook a good many of our meals in a crock pot, so I bought one with a timer that switches to warm after so many hours. I also bought liners for easy clean up. And after a day of hiking, I'll be happy to have dinner ready for us when we get back.
Bedrooms:
The mattresses that came with the camper were not very comfortable, so we invested in memory foam mattress toppers. So much better!
We also had several quilts already for the boy's bunks and just needed to buy double bed sheets. For our room I didn't like the bed spread it came with so I bought a colorful quilt for our queen bed.
There is storage under, over and all around the bed!
The bunk house has full size bunks for our teenagers. Each have storage and their own space to escape. They also have a TV on the wall facing their bunks with their Xbox and WiiU hooked up.
Bathroom:
I ordered mountable soap dispensers and tooth brush holders so nothing would go flying around or I don't have to worry about securing them every time we move camp sites.
I ordered mountable soap dispensers and tooth brush holders so nothing would go flying around or I don't have to worry about securing them every time we move camp sites.
The one thing the boys have said, "Mom, that was so smart of you!" was to organize our towels/wash clothes and tooth brushes by color. This way we always know which towel and wash cloth is our own.
Mom: Purple
Doug: Yellow
Dunovan: Orange
Brodey: Green
I liked this bathroom layout because of the full size vanity so we each have a drawer. The medicine cabinets holds as much as our one at home!
Mounted soap dispensers for body soap, shampoo, and conditioner.
Organization:
I ordered a number of organizational items from amazon. I needed small bins for the storage area in the entertainment center, in the linen closet and dresser in the master bedroom, and in the stair storage for the boy's bunk house. Because some of these areas were small, 5"x 5", I was unable to find what I wanted at a store. These bins are great for things like pens, pencils, scissors, tape, tablets, decks of cards, manicure tools, socks, sport bras, hats, makeup, blow drier, flat iron, etc. All the things you need a secure place for.
This area is suppose to be for a TV in the Master Bedroom but I turned it into a vanity instead. With only having 1 bathroom I needed a place to get ready. I added the mirror with command strips, shelf liner, and baskets to keep everything in place.
There is tons of storage under the U-Shaped dinette!
It also makes a great couch for evening relaxing!
This couch folds out to a full size bed.
I ordered 2 foot stools that have storage where the lid comes off for storage as well.
Rubber shelf liner is your best friend in a camper. I lined every shelf with it so nothing moves when traveling. I bought a neutral tan color so that it matches the camper and looks nice when exposed in some areas.
Command strips are a must have item as well. I have used these to hang coat racks, Loki's leashes, a mirror in the master bedroom, soap dispensers, measuring cups and spoons, hooks for pot holders, and hats racks. I have a supply of them in the camper for anything else along the way.
I also invested in a shoe rack for the under camper storage. My husband kind of gave me that look when I said I wanted one, but once I put it in the camper and stacked our hiking boots on it he knew I was right. Then we measured for rubber maid containers and I have one for all my cleaning and laundry items, one for all the things we could need while hiking like BEAR SPRAY, bug spray, flash lights, head lamps, etc. They are easy to access under the camper.
This storage area holds our boots, citronella candles, a large plastic branded rug for outside the camper doors, a collapsible garbage can that will stay outside, bins for hiking supplies, a bin with laundry and cleaning products, and our hiking packs sit in here as well.
Doug got on board and has storage bins for the mountain pie makers, marsh mellow skewers and other cook out items; (in another container!) There is a bin for the sewage accessories; one for tools and parts we may need to fix things along the way; and a bin for the blocks we put under the wheels and stabilizers. I love that Doug has embraced organization!
Clothing:
We are packing for 4 seasons because Glacier National Park and parts of Yellowstone, especially at high altitudes, still has snow! Winter coats, gloves, hats will go in a bin in the back of Doug's truck. Once we no longer need them they are out of our way.
Everyone has 2 pairs of hiking pants that unzip to hiking shorts. These pants are light weight, no wrinkle, and quick dry. I also made sure everyone has 3-5 wicking material shirts and shorts to keep the sweat off when we are hiking in the desert. We also invested in good hiking socks and boots to protect our feet. Everyone also has a Columbia rain coat, which we found invaluable when we were in the UK, we will carry these with us when hiking because in some areas the weather can change every hour; they will roll up and fit in our packs.
We are also taking sweat shirts, jeans, t-shirts, etc but not too many because I am sure we are going to want to buy shirts and sweat shirts along the way as well.
We surprisingly have a lot of storage for clothes in the camper but we are trying not to over pack. I plan on doing laundry along the way, every camp ground except the N. Rim of the grand canyon has laundry facilities. We should be fine.
Traveling with a Pet:
Yes, Loki is coming with us! Although it has been much less work planning to take him with us than everything else I have done, there are still some things I had to do.
1. I took Loki to the vet to get him a kennel cough vaccine just because we will probably be in contact with lots of other dogs along the way.
2. All of his vaccines are up to date and I am taking a copy of his vaccine records with us.
3. I also got a health certificate for him since we are taking him across state lines.
4. He has on a new flea and tick collar.
5. I am taking probiotics for him just in case his stomach bothers him with all the changes.
6. I found where Banfield (that is our vet at home) and other veterinarian hospitals are closest to every place we are staying. Just in case.
7. We are using bottled water for him all along the way.
8. I am grooming him right before we leave and taking his grooming supplies with us. Since he is a long hair dog, he needs groomed quite often to keep him short in the summer. Not only does it keep him cooler it makes it easier to check for ticks, fleas and injuries.
Note: Dogs are NOT allowed on the trails in most national parks. In fact, the only park he will be allowed in on our trip is The Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. Every where else he is only only allowed in the camp grounds.
Loki has already picked his favorite spot to sleep in the camper!
Hiking Gear:
As I mentioned above, we invested in good hiking boots for each of us. We went to REI, where we were properly fitted and learned about what makes a good hiking boot. We invested in hiking socks that will keep our feet dry and cushioned but not hot.
Amazon was once again our friend when it came to back packs as well. All of us will be carrying 2-3 liters of water when hiking. We bought hydration back packs that have the water bladders in them and tubes so that we never have to take our packs off to drink. Doug and Dunovan went with a larger pack that carries 3 liters of water. Brodey and I went with a slimmer, smaller pack that carries 2 liters of water. Each pack also has room for us to carry our lunch and a few extra things for the day.
Food:
Our goal on this trip is to cook almost all of our meals and shop before every major stop. Especially before Glacier, Yellowstone, and the Grand Canyon, where less supplies will be available and a lot more expensive. When feeding 2 teenage boys that never seem to be full, cooking is the cheaper way to go. It won't be easy to pull a camper into restaurants as well. When traveling we have to remember we have 32+ extra feet behind us.
We do have some places though along the way that we can't wait to try. Brodey's 1 wish is to go to an In and Out Burger. We will come close to one outside of our over night stop near Salt Lake City, Utah. I found a neat place on Route 66 in Acadia, OK, called POPS, that has over 300 flavors of Soda and is a diner. There is a bakery and restaurant in Santa Fe, NM where Doug will be able to get Green Chili on just about anything. And Dunovan loves Hard Rock Cafe, so we plan on visiting the one in Memphis.
We have shopped a lot for staples and what doesn't fit in the camper, will go in a container in the back of our truck. The rest we will get along the way.
And we're off...
There are so many parts to this trip to think about, and I have tackled all of them one at a time. Once I knew what kind of camper I wanted (even though we didn't order it until months later) I moved onto the planning and booking the stops of the trip. Once that was done, I tackled the itinerary of each location and feel like we have a good idea of what we want to see and do along the way. I am sure we won't see everything I have planned but we will savior and enjoy every minute of each day. When the camper was finally in my driveway, I was then able to start stocking, organizing, and creating a second home that we will be comfortable living in for sometimes months on end. Luckily, now that it is done, future trips will just involve planing the destination. And lastly, we are down to clothes and meals, which we do in our every day life anyways.
These are the states we have visited as a family...
can't wait to see it filled even more by the end of the summer!
We feel like we are just about ready to go. Please subscribe to my blog by entering your email in the box at the top of the page. Once you confirm your subscription (you will get a confirmation email), you will receive an email each time I put up a new post from our many stops along the way!!
