This is a pretty good chuck box made by heztherock on YouTube.
He seems to have everything that you need.
It’s a pretty small box when it’s all folded up.
I like how the shelves pull out like drawers.
This is a good video showing the camp kitchen setup.
Here it is full deployed on a campout.
I am impressed with the ingenuity of this camp kitchen from PNY Prepper on YouTube.
He started with a Hitch Cargo Carrier and built his camp kitchen to fit within it.
It looks great all set up!
I love how he shows the design details, like this pvc pipe that provides support for the lid/counter.
This video is a little long, but it’s a really interesting version of a camp kitchen.
We always stay at a campsite with electricity, but I keep hope alive that someday we will boondock, so when we do, I want to be able to have a good day and a day isn’t good unless I’ve had my coffee.
So, I found this percolator at the local thrift shop:
If you aren’t lucky enough to find one at a thrift shop, you can find one here at Amazon: Farberware Classic Stainless Steel Yosemite 8-Cup Coffee Percolator
I remember my grandmother making coffee every morning with one of these, but I had no idea how to use one. This video helped me greatly.
I never remembered my grandma having filters, so I tried it without them. It wasn’t a good idea. I had a lot of grounds escape into the pot.
And into my cup.
After buying some filters (they were at my local grocery store), I felt like an idiot because they were so cheap. I tried again, and I didn’t have any grounds in my coffee that time.
Other than the lack of filters incident, the percolator worked out really well. The video recommends percolating for fifteen minutes. That time depends on how far up the mountain you are. Where I live, ten minutes was great. I’m sure you need less time if you’re near sea level and more time if you’re up high in the mountains. Be forewarned that it might take a couple of tries to get the perfect cup.
Additionally, there are a few other options if you are boon docking. Here is a propane coffee maker from Coleman: Coleman Portable Propane Coffeemaker with Stainless Steel Carafe at Amazon.com
This guy thought it was pretty good:
It costs 84 bucks, which is WAY more than the four dollar thrift store find, but more importantly, it takes up so much space! That little percolator can double as a simple pot to boil water in, so it takes ZERO space in my trailer because it replaces my old one. If I do have electricity, I can just use a hot plate and the percolator instead of packing a automatic drip coffeemaker. The only benefit to that propane coffeemaker is that it is quick. You don’t have to wait fifteen minutes for the coffee to brew.
There is also this option that works on 12 volt power: Roadpro RPSC-784 12-Volt Quick Cup Coffee Maker with 16 oz. Metal Carafe at Amazon.com
This one works by plugging into your car or RV 12v system. The only problem with it is that it’s just as slow as the percolator. This guy tested with his solar system. It doesn’t draw much power, which is good, but it takes fifteen minutes to brew a pot.
Additionally, it only does a couple cups of coffee. With a good percolator, you can make 10 cups in the same amount of time. So, I decided on the percolator: small, easy to store, and inexpensive.
Now, I just need to convince Mike that we can do boondock camping…
I saw this picture on truckinu’s Flickr site and it looked perfect to me!
From the modern teardrop trailer to the changing tent to the tarp on the picnic table, this campsite looks like the perfect place to relax.
I love this photo of a camper and tent from the 1930s.
I just realized that we are a mere sixteen years away from 2030 and only six slim years from the 2020s. It seems crazy to me because the phrase The Twenties refers to the 1920s in my mind, but suddenly, we are on the cusp of a different Twenties.
And as strange as that sounds, humans have been living in tents for THOUSANDS of years. Sure the animal hides were replaced by canvas and then replaced by lightweight nylon, but the basic shelter of the tent has been around for longer than the memory of man. It’s awe inspiring to me and it answers that question I keep asking, “Why does it feel so good to go camping?” Because it is hardwired into my cavewoman brain.
I’ve just heard about RVillage and signed up for it. It’s a way for fellow RVers to get in touch with each other and for you to see who is in the RV site where you may be.
Here’s the description of it from Technomadia:
The core idea of RVillage is to create a very simple (and free) tool for RVers to connect with each other – not just online, but right in the RV parks and places they are currently staying in.
When a user checks into a location in RVillage, they can discover the things that they have in common with other RVers right around them.
This sure beats leaving connections up to chance encounters while walking the cat, or the random stranger coming up asking “what type of engine is in that thing?” while you are busy dumping the tanks.
I like the idea of seeing other people who might be in your campground before we meet them, but it seems strange to me. What do I do? Just start wandering the campground calling the name of fellow RVillagers? I like the idea and I think it’s a great idea to do meet ups, though. I’m giving it a try and I hope you do as well. Then all my best friends will be signed up and ready to roll!
I adore this photo I found on Flickr today.
Keep River National Park is in the Northern Territory of Australia. Here is a map:
Yesterday, I said that RVing gave us a freedom to travel that we didn’t have before, but I was fibbing a bit. We had that freedom of inexpensive travel when we tent camped like the people in this photo. The freedom that the camper gave us was the ability to travel almost all year long. With the tent trailer, we can travel even with temperatures as low as 28 degrees. We could have never done that in a tent because I froze every night the temperatures dipped below 45 degrees and that was in our nice Springbar tent.
I love this picture because the tent has a solar panel and the kids are just climbing the trees like monkeys. I don’t want to go back to tent camping, but I do love seeing a well-pitched tent.
Interstellar Orchard wrote an entry about what she loved about RVing and it really inspired me to talk about what I love. Here’s her post:
I’m not a full-time RVer like she is, so when we pull out the trailer, it’s strictly for travel and adventure, not about a lifestyle. That said, I find an incredible amount of joy in that tiny tent trailer and I thought I share it with you.
One of the most unpleasant parts of traveling for me was getting used to the hotel room. A hotel room never feels like home. It never feels comfortable to me. I’m not bothered by people in the rooms nearby, but the bed feels different and the pillow doesn’t smell like me.
Okay, that sounded totally gross, but never discount the animal instincts of smell.
With the trailer, it feels like home to me. The cleanly washed sheets are my own. The surroundings are very comforting, despite the old 90s decor. Once that trailer is popped up, any campground feels like home.
With the trailer, we can cook almost anything that we could cook at home. We don’t have a fancy microwave or fridge in the trailer, but a cooler and a hot plate works for almost every one of our favorite recipes.
More importantly, before the trailer, I always felt as if I were at the mercy of whatever restaurants were around. Honestly, it was a huge source of stress for me. Knowing that I can whip up a meal at the campground makes vacationing more relaxing for me because I don’t worry about what I’m going to eat.
With the Prius and the Subaru XV, we get about 30 mpg while towing the trailer, so bringing the trailer hardly affects our gasoline costs. However, being able to set up the camper at a KOA or state park usually costs about 25 bucks or so, whereas a hotel usually costs about $70 (or more). We can plan more trips with the trailer than we could when we had to depend on hotels.
Additionally, being able to cook at the campground saves us a bunch of money. It’s not just the worry of eating at restaurants that bothers me, it’s the cost. We save money with every meal made on that hot plate in the camper.
I would rather travel more often than travel in luxury. I can do that with all the money we save by using the camper.
There are some places where there just ISN’T a hotel: down by the river in the woods, up in the mountains by the reservoir, and right next to Disney World at Camp Wilderness. I have seen fireflies flashing in front of my face while I ate burgers that Mike grilled for me. I have enjoyed watching water-skiers and heard them screaming, “Woo!” during my morning breakfast and coffee. I have shivered next to a fire that’s crackling and smelling like a good Scotch, eager for its warmth.
I couldn’t have had those experiences at Holiday Inn. Not even a room with a balcony overlooking the ocean could compete with some of those experiences, especially when I know that I could be camping at the campground that is RIGHT on the beach.
My friend Matt Strebe once said to us, “One day of camping feels like three days.” I think that might have been because there weren’t any showers at that campground, so we all SMELLED like it had been three days.
He’s right, though. When we are camping, time seems to slow down. We don’t have a TV in the trailer, so that might be why we feel like there is more time. I always feel like I don’t get enough travel time, but camping extends things a bit, making it feel longer.
In the end, I love to hitch up the tent trailer and start driving. I look forward to it, even when it’s just a two-day jaunt for the weekend. I’m so glad that we bought that cheap trailer, even though something breaks every time we take it out, because it gives us a freedom that we didn’t have before. That’s why I love RVing.
We just got back from a lovely trip down to Sand Hollow State Park in Southern Utah, just outside of Zion’s National Park. It was the first time we have camped with our trailer since we bought the Subaru XV Crosstrek and I have to say that towing with that car is a dream.
This video has been very helpful to show me how a portable toilet is used and emptied.
They are showcasing the Dometic 970 toilets, which are VERY affordable:
I talked about portable toilets a little over a year ago here:
Back then, I said:
We ended up buying this Foldable Toilet at Sportsmans Warehouse for only $14. It is lightweight, stores absolutely FLAT and takes up hardly any space in the trailer storage bins. I tried sitting on it to see if it would hold my weight and it performed beautifully. It’s a little shorter than the Luggable Loo and the Thetford Curve, but not so short that I have to squat uncomfortably to sit on it. I really liked that I was able to use it with the Double Doodie Bags, so the smell wouldn’t be that bad. I found a video about it on YouTube. You can see it here:
It has been a year of camping almost every month and we have yet to use the portable toilet. It still lies under the dinette seat with its bags, untouched. The one time I was tempted to use it, we were in a KOA in North Dakota. It was the middle of the night and we were in the middle of a HUGE downpour. Our campsite was FAR away from the bathrooms, so I suggested we break it out, but Mike’s calm mind prevailed. He said, “I don’t know about you, but I’m getting into the car and DRIVING to the bathroom.”
It was such a stroke of pure logic that it shocked me. Why didn’t I think about that? We have yet to boondock anywhere that didn’t have at least vault toilets, so I don’t know why I obsess about this issue so much. Those Dometic toilets look great, compact and easy to use, but not nearly as easy as taking the walk to the campground bathrooms.
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