Five years ago, we bought a new pop up camper.  We took lots of weekend trips and one week long trip in it.  Since we moved to Florida, however, camping has taken something of a back seat.  Our camper didn’t have air conditioning which meant camping locally in the summer (which is what we normally did) was out of the question!  We tried it…it was sooo hot!!  We recently had a long weekend and decided to try a weekend trip in the early fall.

The trip itself was OK, but we realized that we may be outgrowing our popup.  The kids are getting bigger and don’t fit so well into one pull out bed.  This means that after the kids go to bed, there’s no room for John & I to sit (the dining room table becomes a bed for our daughter).

If it’s nice out (not rainy, not mosquito-y, not too humid), we can sit at the picnic table.  But reading, computing, just relaxing on a sofa?  Can’t do it.  So, we decided to go look at some campers.  We found one we loved, but the price wasn’t right (and we really were just looking) and despite the sales attempts, we walked away.  We are looking for a bunkhouse trailer.  It has to be lightweight so we can pull it with our current tow vehicle.  It would be nice if it had a jack knife sofa (they easily convert to a double bed and it means the dining table can be left up).

In the meantime, I posted our pop up for sale on craigslist.  I didn’t really expect to get any bites, but I did and they were really interested.  Long story short – we sold it.  So, for now, we’re doing day trips or staying in hotels while we search for the “perfect” RV.

I talked before about what we pack for camping.

There are a few other things you might need to consider packing.  Plates and silverware?  Cooking utensils?  Pots?  Pans?  Garbage can?  What about bedding?  I don’t know about anyone else, but sleeping on the three-inch-thick mattress that comes with the camper isn’t exactly comfy!  Where do you store all this stuff?

Eating

We bought some cheap silverware at our local big box store.  I have enough for 8 place settings and a couple serving spoons.  I also bought some plastic plates & bowls.  We bought some cups and used some extra mugs from the house.  The dishes are bright and colorful and it doesn’t take long to wash up a few dishes after each meal.  Paper plates and plastic ware are also good options.

I actually had extra pots that I could use for camping – we take two small pots, a frying pan, and a pancake griddle.  We had a tea kettle from tent camping that we use to make hot water for coffee.  One thing we forgot on one of our trips was a hot pad to get the kettle off the fire…we used a sock.  🙂  I plan meals that only need two pots max (since the stove only has two burners).  We try to eat at the picnic table as much as possible.  There’s more room and if something gets spilled, it’s not a big deal.

Sleeping

What about bedding?  Our daughter sleeps on the dining area bed and she uses a sleeping bag.  The bed is an odd size and we set up the dining area each morning so it’s easier to just roll up her sleeping bag and then toss it and her pillow on the boys bed.  The boys sleep in the smaller of the two pull-out beds.  I put a padded mattress pad on it and then a sheet.  They each have their own blanket to cover up with so there’s no fighting over covers.  John & I have a pillow top and then a mattress pad and then king size sheets on our bed (we don’t fight over covers so much).  The pillow top is pretty bulky and takes up some storage space, but for us it’s worth it!  I tried leaving it on the bed when we closed up the camper, but it was too bulky and the top didn’t close right.  So, I roll it up and bungee it together and put it on the floor towards the back of the camper.  Sheets get stored under the sink & stove for traveling.

Misc & Storage

We bought a small garbage can and we use plastic store bags as garbage bags.  Most campgrounds have a dumpster to toss trash in so we just toss it as go by on our way out (either to check out or just going out for the day).  A small cleaner like a dust buster or a broom is also a must, especially with kids!

There is actually a lot of storage in a pop-up.  The trick is figuring out how to maximize it.  Dishes go under one of dining benches (the one w/o the electric cord) along with towels (5 – one for each), wash clothes (just a couple), and hand towels (3 or 4).  Food goes in the compartment by the door and extra drinks go under the sink.  The fridge usually has enough stuff to get us through 3 days.  I cut egg cartons in half so they fit.  We take a cooler full of ice & soda/water.  Silverware and other utensils go in a lidded plastic container that goes under the sink too.  I also fill the aisle with stuff – the gray water tank, cooler, pillow top, pillows, suit case.  You get the idea!  If we’re only going for a weekend, we put wood in the back of our tow vehicle (Ford Explorer), otherwise, that’s more storage space for another suitcase or two and any other overflow.  Our theory is, if we forget it and we can’t live without it, we can buy it when we get there.

What’s your storage trick?  What else would you take along?  What would you leave behind?

On our Shakedown Cruise, one of the things I had to do was hang the curtains.  Don’t ask why I didn’t do it before we left.  It isn’t like I didn’t have time!  However, for some strange reason, I left the curtains in the bag they came in until we arrived at the campground.  By the time we got set up and had dinner, it was getting dark and we wanted to close the curtains.  Well, they were pretty easy to hang, but the ones over the big window had these funny white tabs hanging from them.  We were mystified as to what they were for.  They obviously were meant to hook into something, but we couldn’t see anything that they fit into.  So, for our first few camping trips, they just hung there.

Then, one day, John happened to notice behind the galley kitchen was a track that looked like the mystery tab was supposed to slide into.  I read through the owners manual again (I obviously missed a few things the first time through!) and sure enough in the section about “Inside Galley Stove Use”, is a note labeled “Important” and part of it says: “Do not use stove unless the drapes are secured to the galley back with the Velcro tabs or to the plastic drape track behind the upper galley assembly.”

Our curtains are now properly secured.

Memo to self:  Always read the whole instruction manual!