This post is 2 days late. We have been on a short trip. I wrote the post on Wednesday night the normal time for me to do so. Wednesday night was also the first night of our trip. We have been at this campground many times. For some reason there were Internet problems this trip (and totally unrelated we could not get TV with our antenna either) and while I could do some things, the Internet connection did not like gmail so I was able to check some email - but only one email out on one night, other than that I could not post and this was my second item to post. (First was to tell my family we were away as I had forgotten to do so.)
So I could not post the first night - or the second. Now we are back home and I am hoping that this post goes through on the “lucky” third night of trying -
A quick post this week as we finally made it away for a trip - only 2 nights, not the 5 nights we started with planning - and 2 weeks late, but we are away.
Anyone going on a trip has to plan in advance - Where will we go? When will we go? Where will we stay? and - most importantly - What do we need to bring?
I have a check list in my computer that I print out each time we are going away to make sure we bring everything. Now, remember we are traveling in an RV so what we need to bring is different than someone going to a hotel. Remember that this is not a huge RV as you see on TV - next time you see a Chevy van - think of me. The check list is divided into sections -
What to do ahead of time - check the tires for air, make sure that items we keep in the RV are there and ones that get used up are replenished - soap, disposable dishes and cups, hand soap, dish soap, toothpaste, toilet paper, tissues, paper towels and such. Are there clean hand and dish towels in the RV? I generally have to make up the bed - which involves assembling it as I put on the mattress cover, sheets and blankets. If we are away for a very short time - as we are now - I may not strip the bed afterwards and will leave the bed made up.
Then as we get close to the trip (day or two before) I have other items to do - I do the clothing laundry 2 days before we go away so we have clothes for the trip and clothes for when we get home. This way I can pack them the day before we go. Since we are traveling in an RV I use laundry bags to carry the clothes out to same and then store them in the “closet” This is a small cabinet that is called the closet. It will hold maybe a dozen hangers. We put in one of those sweater shelves things that hang in a closet and instead of hanging clothes in it, we each get 2 shelves for our clothes - yes, 2 of those tiny shelves for our clothes. I can fit up to a week’s worth of clothes for each of us shirts, underwear, socks and spare pair of jeans in those tiny sections. The rare times we go away longer - for 2 weeks - the second week’s clothing will be in a laundry bag in a section under the bed - at the start of the second week I will climb under the bed and get out the laundry bag and put the clothing in the shelves. As we use the clothes we put the dirty clothes back in a laundry bag - so if we are way for more than a week, the dirty clothes will go back where the clean clothes were. We do carry more than a set of clothes for each day “just in case”. We bring extra of everything. We fit in sweaters and jackets in various places in the RV. Spare shoes go into a cubby over the bed.
We fill the water tanks which hold 25 gallons of water.
I have a list of food items to bring - we have a “dorm size” fridge in the RV. The list is inclusive fo what we might want/need to bring - so not all items are brought on every trip. I bring water in bottles that I have filled and put it in the fridge. The water in the tanks will get warm (sitting under a “tin can” in plastic tanks) and this way we have cold water to drink. Food items are put in plastic boxes that “lock” seal closed. Generally all we are bringing is snacks with us. On longer trips I may bring canned soup, peanut butter and bread. So far we have had only one occasion while traveling in which we came close to cooking and eating in the RV - but then the rain storm ended and we were able to go for lunch.
Medications have to come. I have to bring eyeglasses - several different pairs for each of us. And of course, electronics. We each bring laptops with us. Maybe a camera. And cell phones and cords for them. We actually keep duplicate cords in the RV for convenience.
When items are stored they must be stored in such a way that they will not shift around and make noise or break anything. Everything has an assigned place so we know where it will be and it will be safe. We use plastic shopping bags around items to keep them from shifting - and then they are used for garbage or shopping, etc.
What amazes me is that when we were buying this RV we kept wondering how we would get everything we need into it. I have pulled out items never used when I realize that we will not need them and now have too much empty space that needs to be packed with the bags mentioned to fill the space so things do not shift. Well, I did keep the small vacuum cleaner, We may not have used it in the 7 years we have had the RV, but I know some day we will really, really need it.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
Think about if you had one room 20 ft by 6 ft to live in and had to fit everything you needed in it. The bed takes up about 1/3 of the room, but you do have 3 cubbies over the bed. There are people who live in this type of RV full time - think about having to get your possessions to down to a space this small.
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