We were able to borrow a Tepui rooftop tent which is amazing!! Pop up or break down takes less than 10 minutes, compared with a normal tent which would take much longer even after you find a flat rock-free spot! It really contributed to making the trip smooth, especially since we often pulled into campgrounds after dark.
We got a bunch of “toys”, and repurposed some things to make the trip easier and self contained. Absolutely essential was a recharger that could take USB or normal plugs which gets juice from a cigarette lighter! Some favorites: thermoelectric cooler that plugs into a cigarette lighter; solar lighting that also has a USB charging port; Litter Genie, normally used for kitty litter but great to use to avoid stinky trash; a “kit” stored in a zipper clutch purse with utensils, paring knife, corkscrew, bottle stopper, small measuring cup (primarily for muesli mix!); rechargeable lighter, citronella candles, Off to keep the biters at bay; bath kit of soap, shampoo/conditioner, facial scrub sheet, and bath mitt which we pop into a pocket beach towel; rechargeable flashlight with USB charging port; rechargeable fan with bendable legs; kitchen sink sponge holder which we fasten around the gearshift, to put phones in - it has “drain” holes on the bottom which can be used to arrange cords to keep them out of the way; and of course a mascot to put in photos - we found cat sunglasses (there is such a thing!!) to keep it fun!
Since COVID is a threat, we decided we only wanted to stop for gas, bathroom breaks and camping. We carried a ton of hand sanitizer, rubber gloves and of course masks!
That meant we would need to carry all of our food, and water for the most part. We carried a 1 gallon Brita UltraMax dispenser for rinsing water, and also another 2.5 gallon water jug with a spigot for drinking water.
The first trip, we prepared way too much food for meals: muesli mix (plus a few non-refrigerated cartons of oat milk to add the night before), tortilla rollups with hummus or cream cheese, vegetarian “sausage” rolls (huge success!), gazpacho (did not work), baked butternut squash risotto (another big hit), wild rice with butternut squash (ok), and spinach pasta (worked well). We packaged 2-servings containers of each meal making it easy to pack, serve, and clean up!
Another huge hit was cold brew coffee - Grady’s Cold Brew Kit comes with a ‘pour and store’ pouch that makes it very convenient, just add oat milk! Oh, and wine!!
For snacks, we brought homemade oatmeal cookies, peanut butter pretzels, goldfish, mixed nuts/dried fruit, hummus with carrot/celery sticks (did not work well), individual yogurts and power bars, plus grapes, apples and clementines. Again, we went a bit overboard because we weren’t sure what to expect. In the end, the best choices were grapes, peanut butter pretzels, goldfish and oatmeal cookies.
In the end we decided to keep most of the food in the back, and portioned out snacks for the day, to avoid dealing with too much unnecessary space taken up in prime spots, and also to keep an eye on how much we were consuming. Collapsible bowls with lids are really convenient, while keeping space requirements to a minimum!
And insulated cups with straws were important to keep us hydrated, along with a small refillable container in the cooler to give us access to cold water!
It took a few iterations to position things that we needed on top and avoid having to repack or unearth too many items, but here are the results!
To see lists and research we compiled for the trip, head over to sustainablebliss.com.