Itinerant Air-Cooled

Are you ready for camping season? We are going nuts here in the northwest waiting for it to warm up and get the kiddies out of school. I thought this would be a good thread to get us even more excited about camping season to come.

So if you have any camping tips with your Type 2, let us know about it here.

One thing I do is measure out coffee and put them in little tupperware containers so in the morning when I'm groggy I can just dump it in and go.

Also, I put some kid foam safety stuff on the ledge just below the upper bed in a Westy.. you know that sharp edge that you bang your head with. It makes a big difference.

Also, I LOVE my $35 dollar Coleman 2- burner stove. Best purchase of my life. Well close anyway.

If you do a lot of camping (and use a fair amount of propane - with a group of friends we usually have 2 stoves and a BBQ) go get yourself a distribution tree and some hoses you can connect to a regular propane cannister. I bought a little cannister ( 1/2 size, 7 or 9 lbs?) one that fits in the storage bin beside the ice box - we were gone for 3 weeks and filled it twice. I keep a few of those little cannisters around just in case.

Couple of things I consider a must....

Once I set up, everything "camping" gets put outside (with the exception of food). Get yourself one of these tables. You can pick em up in REI - http://www.rei.com/product/378009




Nice cause once you get up all you do is roll out (granted its warm enough - always point the slider door to the east) press your coffee and BAM wakin and a baking (in the sun that is..).

Then my newest addition is the net hammock that you can buy in any outdoor sporting good store.



You just hang it from the over head hammock (68 to 72 Westy Only). If you don't have the single pop top hammock I'm sure you could rig something. The nice thing about the net hammock is that if you have all the doors open you get the full body breeze on those hot days.

I like to pre slice/cut/rap all my veges and chicken/steak before getting on the road, it makes things a little more sanitary aroung the camp site and clean-up a lot easier. I also carry all my spices and dry goods in those plastic showbox size containers with the snap on lids and those all fit into a similar larger container so I only have to unload one box and it stows nicely under the bed.

Phil

Whip618 wrote:I also carry all my spices and dry goods in those plastic showbox size containers with the snap on lids and those all fit into a similar larger container so I only have to unload one box and it stows nicely under the bed.

Phil

I wish I had a pic here, but I keep my spices in small metal tins and have rare earth magnets attached to the metal wall/pillar on the right hand side above the sink (behind the driver) Just pop them up there and the rare earth magnets hold them securely in place!

Everything else like that (packages of mix, etc) get put into mouse proof tupperware!

We keep all of our spices in our handy built-in spice rack.

What can I add? I'm sure many things are common among most travelers...

Put a folded towel in the bottom of the sink and it'll hold your fresh fruit while you cruise down the road.

Lots of little tricks are in my head, but the one that I get the most use of is having an aluminum, German Army surplus cooking pot that I use for heating the dish water. Hot water, some dish soap and a scrubbie-wubby make life better.

Oh, and I use old-fashioned kerosene lanterns. Better ambiance control.

Also, I carry a decent corkscrew.

For the Riviera's remove the 12 volt cooler and attach three stackable wire baskets to the bootom of the cabinet and put doors on the front....that way you have a nice little pantry and I prefer using a regular cooler anyways.

Another good thing to have is a few of those battery operated LED lights....doesn't catch anything on fire and helps you find your way back to the bus while over at the neighbors bus

We also use a roll out wood table and place a camp kitchen with all our utensils/tableware and pots and pans and spices outside the sliding door under the awning.

Going out this weekend to south central WA to chase some hot air balloons.....

spiffy wrote:
Going out this weekend to south central WA to chase some hot air balloons.....

Make sure you have proper inflation.

Another thing that makes life worth living is having a decent cloth tablecloth to obscure the (often quite grody) picnic tables. The one that I like best is made from denim. It is heavy enough to not blow away, soaks up red wine spills and is easily washable.

spiffy wrote:For the Riviera's remove the 12 volt cooler and attach three stackable wire baskets to the bootom of the cabinet and put doors on the front....that way you have a nice little pantry and I prefer using a regular cooler anyways.

Got a picture of that?

Sylvester wrote:

spiffy wrote:For the Riviera's remove the 12 volt cooler and attach three stackable wire baskets to the bootom of the cabinet and put doors on the front....that way you have a nice little pantry and I prefer using a regular cooler anyways.

Got a picture of that?

I have one on my home computer that I will post when I get home.

Here is the kitchen:
[albumimg]442[/albumimg]

Well, no experience in the Westy yet (hope to rectify that this July/August) but years of car camping and backpacking.

Checklist items:
toilet paper
chap-stic
sunscreen
toilet paper
beer/wine/booze
snacks
toilet paper
toilet paper

Did I remember the toilet paper? And now that I've had two years worth of diaper changing experience, baby wipes always come along as well. Even for an adult, a single, well utilized wipe can give that fresh from the shower feeling that can be so elusive with toilet paper alone.

One back country ski-in camping trip with my dad he forgot his toilet paper. Brought to mind the Seinfield "spare a square" episode.

Ooh! Look at those short-needle pines!

oh yes, baby wipes! I don't have a kid, but I buy the big container of unscented ones. SO many uses! Even been known to use them to do the dishes when I didn't have a water supply. They can clean just about anything!

i use bottled water bottles for milk or half and half. those roll up tables are really useful. i love my coleman two burner but i also bring along another coleman backpacking stove (the "peak" - also runs off the coleman fuel) cause it'll boil water much faster.