Crock pot: Good idea, but one that didn't work out like I thought. Our first, okay our only, attempt at using it probably blew the fuse in one cigarette outlet. The nacho cheese dip was good, but not THAT good. Also, we had NO room for a sizzling pot on anybody's lap, as the pictures showed. Next, none of our campsites had electricity, so that didn't work out well either. Finally, even if the circumstances in the car were different eg: two fully functioning outlets, and leg room, I never knew when I'd pull into a location. This was a WORKING vacation! A price was paid, usually to a restaurant, or we ate peanut butter and jelly.
50lbs of canned food: Guess, what? Contrary to the rumors, grocery stores exist outside of the Carolinas!! Lesson: BUY IT ALONG THE WAY!!
Keureg Single Serve Pot: and a full box of pods! The jury is still out on this equipment! We did use it in the bathrooms--where there was power-- at Grand Canyon, Redwoods, and Yellowstone, (so about 11/30 mornings) and lots of ladies were jealous of us, but it took up one of five bins on the roof! Decisions...Could I risk missing my morning "Joe"? I could've made it the old fashioned way in a camping coffee pot, over the Colman stove, like I'd done in the past. That's probably what I'll do in the future! The pot is big, but not as HUGE as the Keureg and 50 pods!
"Space Bagging" our Clothes: Bags fell apart and then we had Way too many shirts, shorts, long pants, shirts!!!! We did laundry, wore our clothes, over and over, so we didn't go through as many outfits as I thought. Plus, the weather was unseasonably hot in the mountains, and we didn't need all the long pants, blah, blah.... I planned as best as I could, but Man!! Clothes take up a lot of space!
Books: bags and bags of books! Plus, I insisted on kids bringing school work. (was I insane?) The workbooks are in shreds next to the journals. Harry Potter Book 3, now comes in 3 sections, not counting loose pages. I'm a book junkie, so like with the coffee, I couldn't risk the kids driving a single mile wordless!
Souvenirs: nah! I retract that! they do take up space, but the tee shirts and coffee cups tell our story. They're story starters for many more years. Plus, and here's my secret, you can MAIL them home!!!
When all is said and done, I think we needed a bigger van!!! Much bigger! I can't see how we could have packed less....Originally, I had envisioned hitching a trailer up, but John thought that would be cumbersome. I do agree. CA has a 70 MPH speed limit for cars, but a 55 MPH for cars that tow. Plus, how could I park a VAN with a trailer anywhere?? (Roof top parking lots in LA and San Francisco, parallel parking in Santa Fe at a meter. And I've heard, that trailers don't handle hairpin curves on cliff edges well! Our two car-top carriers handled weather and parking garage bumps well. Thanks to John for researching which ones to buy (after REI originally said our van couldn't support a carrier) I'd recommend a Yakima hard carrier, forget the shiny automobile finish for $200 more! The soft carrier, a Sherpa (?), was perfect too. Nothing!! Nothing! got wet, or fell out! Not once!
Next year, when I've gathered my gumption again, maybe you'll see the Silver Whale parked in the driveway and My Lovely Self, parked in the front seat of a Winnebago heading...heading...heading...out!
next post...and I AM getting closer to finally closing this blog out, will be on what worked out!
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