Our favorite camping gadgets

Yesterday, the three things I had planned for the next few weeks all got cancelled in the same 24 hours due to the COVID-19 crisis. A conference, a concert, and a mini cave excursion for my dad’s birthday. That was a blow. Just a few days ago I was bragging that I had nothing to cancel because I was an introvert. I had no idea cave tours would be cancelled, or that a conference six weeks away would be affected.

We figure we still need to use our time off even if everyone is social distancing or isolating themselves. But isn’t that the exact definition of a camping trip?

It looks like campgrounds are staying open… for now. So we’re getting ready.

We inherited a fellow camper’s inventory last fall, which was super helpful, but it meant we had to purge and merge it with ours. As we were going through our stuff, I realized there were a few non-negotiables that needed to be with us on every camping trip. Note: these are especially great if you can’t be on a full hookup at the campground.

1 | The Mr. Heater Basecamp Shower System. You guys, I had no idea there was a way to have a hot shower without a showerhouse. But this is it. If you have a pop-up shower tent, a propane tank, and a big water container on wheels, you’re all set. Easy to hook up and easy to use. Disclaimer: we use the showerhouse when at an actual campground, but when we’re boondocking (like at AirVenture), this is a true luxury.

2 | A plastic indoor/outdoor rug. You never know what the weather will be like or where you’ll be parked sometimes. We bought one of these big “rugs” and staked it down outside our camper to help keep the dust off our shoes and give us a dry place to land when stepping outside. This was especially helpful when the campground at Oshkosh turned into a mud rally last year, and we were trying to stay as dry and clean as possible.

3 | Jordan insists we have to include our solar power system in this list. We’re solar amateurs but we successfully installed this system on our camper. It’s a 300 watt system that on a sunny day produces 14.6 amps per hour or more. It was more than enough to top off our 200 amp hour battery. For reference, our LED camper lights pull .6 amps per hour and wide open our Maxxair fan on the roof pulls 2.8 amps per hour. This system includes the inverter/charger, the MPPT solar charge controller, flexible Renogy solar panels, and the batteries.

UPDATE (1/15/21): We added some new components to our solar setup! We now have a new solar charge controller as well as a smart shunt, both from Victron. Together, they give you info via Bluetooth about solar charging and power usage, all without having to put holes in the camper for a display.

4 | The aforementioned Maxxair fan on the roof. It saves us energy and keeps us cool day and night. We haven’t even had to turn on our swamp cooler. On high it does get a tad noisy, but it helps drown out some of the campground bustle when you’re trying to sleep.

5 | An electric tea kettle. Any kind. I recommend one that’s plastic on the outside, not glass, especially because you want one that will survive road trips and heavy use. It made coffee in the morning, noodle cups for lunch, and gave us hot water for doing dishes in the evening. That is, if you have access to electricity.

6 | Our super efficient Alpicool refrigerator. I named it the Mary Poppins refrigerator because it seems like it never stops running out of space, and I always marvel at how much I can actually put inside for such a small unit.

7 | And finally… a rechargeable water pump. We filled a five gallon water cooler jug with our favorite water (from home) and put it on our countertop. This pump makes it easy to get water without pouring and will even stop when your bottle is full.

If you’re thinking about renovating a camper or starting a family camping tradition, I can say from experience these made our trips way more comfortable. Got any favorites you recommend?

3 lessons I learned as a first-time camper

Until last year, I had only been camping one time. I was just a kid, and we took a bunch of camping equipment to the woods with my aunt and uncle and cousins. We were amateurs. Our marshmallows caught on fire. We almost tipped over the four-wheeler on a hill. We had to figure out the “toilet” situation.

I wasn’t that interested in camping as an adult. I couldn’t imagine what would be so great about sitting in a miniature trailer park with community bathrooms and nothing else to do but cook your own food and clean up after yourself all day long. I had a pro-con list for camping, and I insisted that our camper renovations should address as many of the cons as possible.

The real problem was I lacked the imagination and courage to do something different. I needed the perspective only a week of camping could give (and it certainly did). So I learned a few things along the way about being a first-time camper – both practical lessons and attitude adjustments.

First | Creativity is key. So is a sense of humor. If we couldn’t laugh about that time I dropped all of my clean, dry clothes in the camp shower, then there’s no way we’d still be planning camping trips today. Camping [usually] means that you’re operating on limited resources. It’ll force you to think about doing normal things in new ways, like using your tea kettle to get hot water for dishes and washing up.

Second | Get a pair of slippers that are indoor/outdoor. Take them off at the door to your camper or tent. You’ll thank yourself when you realize you have a place to take off your shoes and not walk around in dirt. Because let’s be honest, part of camping is being okay with the dust and/or mud. We’ve done both. One thing we’ve realized is if your feet are comfortable, you probably are, too.

Third | Meet your neighbors. Listen to their stories. Ask them questions. If you have bad neighbors, go hiking. A lot. You’re going to have a great time either way.

Bonus tip: where should you reserve a campsite? I found that keeping the walk to less than two minutes to the restrooms made it tolerable, especially if you aren’t in a full hookup camper or you’re primitive camping. For those of you trying to figure out how far a two minute walk is… that’s probably less than 100 feet?

So what’s so special about camping? Everyone likes it for different reasons. I was too worried about wasting my vacation time doing something that would probably make me miserable. But within the first day, I found a routine. I had no phone signal, no reason to check my phone. I had a few books and a couple of movies downloaded on my tablet. Otherwise, my mind was clear. There was nothing else to worry about. We enjoyed the process of cooking, the process of resting, the process of cleaning. We had time to appreciate the process. That’s why I’ll keep doing it.

Do you camp or backpack? What lessons have you learned over the years?