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Packing The Trailer the Lazy Way – What Things Should Live In The Trailer

This time of year is kind of the worst time of the year if you’re like me, a weekend trailer adventurer and you live somewhere where it gets cold in the winter. You start thinking about winterizing. You end up putting your trailer and your trips either on hiatus until spring or you’re limited to taking trips without snow and ice. Either way, it’s a bummer. This brings me to my blog topic for today … sort of in reverse. Lazy packing. If we have our rigs set up like second homes, getting away at any time of the year is easier. When it comes to packing for a trip, I don’t like to have to pack anything more than clothes and food. That’s part of the beauty of having a trailer! Easy packing. Here’s my list of what lives in the trailer and what I bring into my house as part of our winterizing chore. Spoiler alert … I take out almost nothing!

Kitchen:

My trailer kitchen is an edited version of my home kitchen when it comes to pots and pans, cutting boards, utensils, etc. You can read more about my RV kitchen in my BLOG POST about it. I leave everything in it year around. I also leave a certain amount of pantry items. For things like sugar, brown sugar, and flour, I use airtight containers and I have yet to have a problem with ants or rodents. (knocking on wood right now!). Here’s what stays and what comes in. Note: While I’m bringing items in, I make a list of what I’ll need to replenish or pack when we’re going out again.

Stays

All pots, pans, dishes, kitchen utensils, dishtowels, etc.
All appliances
Dry pantry items such as flour, sugar, spices, pasta, etc.
Baking soda – leave it in the fridge
Oatmeal packets
Water (unless you’re concerned about the bottles freezing and cracking)
Kitchen cleaners and dish soap

Comes in

Oils (Olive Oil and Canola Oil. I usually buy smaller bottles for the trailer so they don’t get that old oil funk)
Canned food. (Funny story, I didn’t used to bring this in until I found some while moving out of one trailer and into another that had expired 4 years earlier. Better to just bring it in and start over later!)
Anything perishable
Vitamins
Cereal
Chips
Anything with an expiration date of less than a year in the future
Anything with a smell that might smell worse when you come back to your trailer
Anything that attracts pests where you live
Anything in the fridge or freezer (except the baking soda and some re-freezable blue ice things)
Pet food
Wine – you’re going to need it over the winter!

Living area:

I leave this area pretty much totally alone. For every trip, I put my throw pillows in my dishes cupboards so the dishes don’t slam up against the cupboard doors while we travel. They stay there over the winter.

Stays

Throw blankets
Throw pillows
DVDs we have dedicated to our trailer trips (Office Space is one of our favorites)
Devotional books
TV Remotes
Games
Vacuum cleaner, Swiffer, broom, etc.
Rugs
Trashcan (make sure you empty it!)

Comes in

DVDs or games we think we’ll want to play at home. Sometimes we don’t even bother! This is how our trailer game and movie collection has grown over the years.

Bathroom

I have my bathroom set up so it’s ready to roll at any given time. When we first started RVing, it was suggested to us that we stock our medicine cabinet with cold medicine and things we might need. We found we ended up just tossing a lot of expired unused medicine. Now, we buy small sizes of things like Tylenol and only buy other types of medicines when we need them.

Stays

Towels. In fact, I have my towels not only stocked in my cupboards, but hanging on the towel bars ready for the next trip at any given time.
Cleaners, toilet chemicals, etc.
Hairdryer, hair tools, brush, comb, pony holders, etc.
Shower items such as shampoo, conditioner, bodywash, etc.
Basic toiletries – toothpaste, deodorant, shaving cream, floss, skincare products, toothbrushes, contact lens solution
Tylenol, Advil, Tylenol PM (as long as the expiration date is far enough out)
Waste basket (emptied)

Comes in

Any medicine item that has an expiration date of less than a year out.

Bedroom

I am super lazy when it comes to packing. If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ll know this about me and that I also love my creature comforts. When I close up the trailer, my bed is made and there are clean sheets ready to greet me when I take my next trip. It’s like a hotel … only better because it has all of my creature comforts … and I had to do the work… I have a few items that always live in my trailer so that I never have to remember to pack them.

Stays

All bedding – I have dedicated trailer sheets, pillows, quilt, blankets, etc. I am way too lazy and into my creature comforts for things like sleeping bags or packing these things each time. I also have 2 sets of sheets so that when I change them, I can immediately make the bed and I don’t have a bed making looming over my head. Lazy and I hate having things hanging over my head.
Coats – I have 3 in my trailer. A heavy one, one for rain, and a fleece type jacket.
Slippers
Hats, scarf, and gloves
Electronics chargers. (We finally gave up and have an extra set of chargers for our trailer. Life got so much easier when we did that!)

Comes in:

I only bring in what I packed for the last trip for clothes. Everything else stays. I know people who have a full trailer wardrobe that they leave in their trailer. I live in and travel around the Pacific Northwest. I think our weather may be too bipolar for that. Also, I’m kind of typical in my girly-ness and like to pack for each trip according to what we’re planning on doing. It sometimes leads to packing more pairs of shoes than the number of days we’re camping!

We are getting ready for what will probably be our last trip for a few months. When we get back, we’ll do our winterizing chores. My husband does all of the important stuff that keeps plumbing and hoses from freezing. We learned the hard way that blowing out the lines with an air compressor is a really good idea. We walked into our first trailer after a few months of winter to find the kitchen faucet laying in the sink! It actually made me do a little happy dance because I hated the faucet and it was beyond broken! It could have been something worse! We’ve learned to follow our trailer manufacturer’s directions about winterizing. They just don’t have any instructions or suggestions for the inside of the trailer. I am in charge of all of the inside stuff. I set my trailer up as much as possible for the next trip (i.e. bed made, towels on towel bars, etc) so that when we go out and set up, my trailer practically says “Welcome back!” and we can start enjoying our next trip as soon as we arrive.

I always feel a little sad buttoning up the trailer for the winter. This year, our RVing was a little strange due to the COVID Pandemic, but it was still really great. We had a few trips cancelled due to temporary RV Park closures. After RVing in Washington State for 15 years, we were inspired by our usual haunts being closed to start going places we’ve never been in Washington. For instance, we’ve lived here almost 26 years and this is the first time we had never been to North Cascades National Park. We’ve camped for about 14 years in Port Townsend and had no idea that there are some really cool trails at Fort Worden. It’s high time we discovered these things that have been right under our noses all this time!

Over the winter, my plan is to scheme up new places to check out and explore that are nearby enough to visit on a weekend adventure. I’ll also work on planning our big summer trip. Usually, in about January, we have trailer withdrawals enough to un-winterize for a weekend and head out some place without snow or ice. This past season has left me with a lot of fun memories to build my future trailer trip dreams on. Hope you’ve had a great RV season and that maybe you even get to continue yours a little longer!

Next Trailer Girl Blog – Always Pack a Can of Soup … That One Time When We Didn’t…

11 Things I’ve learned from Working with Kids Who Have Special Needs That Can be Applied to RVing … And Life

For as long as I can remember, I have been drawn to kids with special needs. As early as elementary school, my parents introduced me to a girl with special needs. In high school, I talked the teachers into letting me help in the special education PE class instead of taking a general PE class so long as I took all the required PE tests. I went on to study Therapeutic Recreation and guess what? You got it! I found myself working with kids with special needs during my studies. I now run a community based non-profit youth orchestra program. At some point, I realized, we had an oddly high ratio of students who had siblings with special needs and on top of that, we had a mom who was a Music Therapist. It was meant to be that we would start a music program for students with special needs. I love the time I get to spend with these kids. They’ve taught me a lot about life. Much of what I’ve learned, and am continuing to learn, can be applied to RVing.

I must put out this disclaimer. I am not a parent of a kids with special needs. I can’t even pretend to know what it’s like to live with the challenges of special needs 24/7. I am a person who gets the privilege or working with these kids for a short time each week. This blog post is written from that perspective. I believe kids with special needs are a gift. I don’t like to call them “disabled” because I don’t believe they are. Perhaps they are unable to independently do the tasks that are considered “normal” by society, but so what? These kids have super-powers that allow them to see the world and enjoy things in a completely different way. Here are just a few of the many gifts in the form of life lessons that I’ve received from these kids that have helped me enjoy life a little more simply and have a lot more fun.

1. Enjoy the moment– This may be the hardest one to apply to life when it comes down to it. You don’t find kids with special needs fretting about politics, their bank account, or the next thing they’re going to do. They enjoy what’s in front of them … in the moment. Often times, we fret about too many things we can’t control. In these times, we get irritated about things like politics, other people’s driving, comments on Facebook … you name it! We spend too much time trying to control things that we can’t. In the end, it’s a waste of energy and a joy-sucker.

When on a trip, I try to just enjoy what’s in front of me in the moment. I love watching kids run around in an RV park. I love National Parks and looking at the views, checking out their historic buildings, and taking hikes. It’s hard sometimes, but I try not let the stresses at home, things going on at work, politics on Facebook, or the news suck the joy out of my moments. One of the many gifts of RV travel is terrible internet access. Going off the grid can help me gain perspective on what to enjoy in the moment and the stresses that I can save for later or ignore all together.

On one trip (that wasn’t an RV trip), my husband and I went to Yosemite. It was January and we were planning to go snowshoeing. The weather didn’t cooperate. There was no snow on the ground and none in the weather forecast. So, we left our snowshoes at home and packed our hiking gear instead. Just before we left, my father in law was diagnosed with cancer and was hospitalized. My mom was also starting to have mysterious health problems. After talking with both sets of parents, it was determined that there was nothing we could do to help and that we should continue with our plans and go on the trip. If you’ve ever been to Yosemite, you probably remember the terrible cell phone reception. What a blessing that turned out to be! We had good reception on our hikes when we got to the top of things (like waterfalls) and at the hotel. This is where we’d return the calls and check in on the parents. The poor cell phone reception allowed us to compartmentalize the crises going on, enjoy the moments, and then deal with the crises when we were ready to do so. We lost both my father in law and my mom shortly after the trip. People asked us after the trip, “So…was it a… good trip? Was it ruined..?” We both agree that it was a good trip and that it allowed us to enjoy moments instead of fret over things we couldn’t control.

2. When it gets to be too much, take a break – Kid with special needs can become easily over-stimulated. In this fast-past world with information bombarding us all the time, we could all learn to become more aware of when we are becoming over-stimulated. I think that those of us without special needs have become desensitized and a bit numb to it all. We don’t realize how overwhelmed we’re getting until it’s too late or we’ve spun ourselves into a grumpy tizzy and wonder how we got there. One of the beautiful things about RVing is the ability to get away for a weekend fairly easily. When work, life, and the world get to be too much for us, we escape to a happy place … which is pretty much anywhere our trailer can go with us. We keep a copy of “Office Space” in our trailer for when we’re escaping work stresses. Inappropriate language aside, the movie is hilarious. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to go “Office Space” and smash a piece of office equipment! Taking some time out and poking fun at what stresses us, can be good for us and make Mondays a little better.

Sometimes a person needs to take a step back in the middle of the trip. I remember one time, we were on the second to the last day of a 10 or 12 day trip. We were traveling in our 25-foot trailer with no slides-outs. The kids were on my last nerve. Normally, taking out the trash isn’t my trailer job. This night, I volunteered. My husband got the cue and didn’t worry when I was gone for an hour … taking out the trash. I needed a break.

3. Routine is a good thing – Kids with special needs like their routines. In our music groups, we have a certain order for the songs. If we skip one, the students let us know! It’s important to them that they have the routine. With RVing, I have routines! For instance, I get up every morning, walk the dogs, get back, and have my coffee. I like this routine. It gets my day started right. I have a routine for cleaning up and preparing the inside of the trailer for travel. If this routine is interrupted, bad things happen! Doors don’t get latched and fall off the tracks. Refrigerator bars don’t get put in and food gets spilled in the refrigerator. I forget to put the toilet tank deodorizing chemicals in the toilet. Don’t mess up my routine! Routines are important!

4. Change your perspective – One of the most fascinating things about kids with special needs is how they look at things. This is especially true of kids who have autism. I have watched kids who are playing with a set of egg shakers, for instance, and instead of looking at them from the perspective of sitting on the floor and looking down on them, some kids will get at eye level with the egg shakers and look at them from where they lay – on the ground. I can only guess at why they do this, but for some reason, the change of perspective brings on a new kind of delight. Simply going on a trip can change your perspective and your attitude. Let’s face it, sometimes when you’re RVing, things don’t go your way. Tires blow out, tow vehicles break down, lunch takes forever and makes you later to your destination…stuff happens! I try to change my thinking from “this is a bummer” to “what are we learning?” or “what’s funny in this situation?” or “what’s going to be funny later?” Sometimes, I just think about dinner and how I’m going to change up what I’m making because we’re going to get to our destination late. I have to admit, my ability to have a better attitude about things going sideways is much better when I’m on a trailer trip because my perspective changes as soon as we leave the house!

5. Be helpful – In the photo for this blog post is Jacqueline. She has autism. She’s also a trailer girl. She takes a special bus from school to our group and gets there early. She is my “side-kick.” She helps with set up and seems to enjoy it. There are other students who come early and ask, “Can I help?” RVing has chores. One thing my husband and I have learned over 28+ years of marriage is when one of us is flustered or frustrated, things go better when the other stays calm and asks, “can I help?” In our family everyone has a trailer job. We’ll talk more about that in my next blog post.

6. Laugh easily – Jacqueline, and many of our students with special needs have low humor thresholds. By this, I mean they find things funny … a lot! Even when they maybe aren’t funny. Finding the humor in things is always helpful – especially on vacation. Things go wrong – or not as planned. Was there anything funny about it? Look hard … there probably was! To this day, we still laugh about backing our trailer at the Canadian border. (See previous blog post about our doomed Canada trip). We have lots of little mishaps from our trips that are funny, at least to us.

7. Enjoy people! – One of my favorite things about kids with special needs is how they love other people! They find delight in bumping into someone they know at the store. They don’t worry about the other person’s background, what kind of car they drive, if what they’re wearing doesn’t match … they don’t care! They are the most wonderfully non-judgmental people! They care that the person is happy to see them too. What if we all just enjoyed other people because they were people? Not because they think like us Not because they “belong.” Not because they are popular. Just because they are a person. What a different world this would be!

I love people! I find them entertaining. I love people watching. One of my favorite things to do in my trailer is to sit at my dining table and watch other people in the RV park. They are so entertaining! I like visiting with people when I’m out walking the dogs or taking out the trash. Just this last trip, a kid taught me a new word when describing his dog, “suspicious-ist.” I love this stuff!

8. If one sparkly happy face sticker is good, two or six is even better – At our music group, we just finished our summer camp. One part of our camp is crafts. We do a lot with those squishy stickers that are easy to peel and stick. I love the way the kids decorate their crafts with these! There is random, sparkly, gaudy, joy in their creations. What are the little things that bring you joy that you can add to your RV or collect along the way? I have my National Park pictures that I frame and hang in the trailer. I have also been collecting dishtowels from places we’ve been and hang them in the trailer. I change them out with each trip as a reminder of a past trip.

9. Eat the good stuff – At the end of our summer music camps, we normally have the kids put on a show with all of the songs and dances they learned. We culminate the show with a pot-luck lunch. Sadly, this year, we couldn’t do the pot-luck since sharing food during a pandemic is frowned upon. This pot-luck is always the best. Parents are smart and bring things they know the kids like. One dad drove through McDonalds and picked up a whole bunch of Chicken McNuggets and French fries. Another time, a parent brought a couple of pizzas. Another dad made his daughter’s favorite “taco pasta”. The kids’ plates are a testament to the foods they love. They have nuggets, fries, pizza, taco pasta, and the most colorful cookies available.

On trips, I like to eat the good stuff. I try to keep it healthy, but I also try to remember the fun stuff. For instance, I don’t normally have chips with my sandwich when I’m at home because I’m trying to eat healthy. I pack chips on trips! Maybe trips can have some delicious traditions. For us, our trip food indulgence is pie. We love to find pie on our trips. Perhaps it’s because I make the worlds ugliest (yet still tasty) pies know affectionately in our family as “pie salads”. Or, maybe the hunt is part of the fun. Maybe both. I recently made a dish that we often have on trailer trips and we were home. My husband remarked, “I feel like we should be in our trailer.” Trailer food should be the good stuff!

10. Dance like no one is watching – Anyone who knows me will tell you that I lack rhythm and coordination. There is no way that I could ever be trained to be a professional dancer. In our music group, we dance! We do goofy dances to goofy songs. We get out scarves and wave them around. We have ribbon wands we fling into the air. My kids with special needs and I boogie like there’s no one watching and it’s fun! We enjoy the movement. Stretching your arms and legs, wiggling, and flapping your arms like a bird is fun! OK, so I don’t get out of my trailer, crank up the music and dance like no one is watching. However, I do make sure I move! It makes the trip better! Walk, hike, wiggle to the music in the truck – just move! Have fun doing it! It also helps with the “eat the good stuff” advice.

11. When all else fails, get out the parachute – There are times in our music group when things go south. Kids have bad days just like us. They get out of sorts. They have trouble understanding why they didn’t get their way and get the big drum. There was one such day when all heck seemed to be breaking loose. We had one girl screaming in the corner, “I want to be a pirate!!” (We weren’t even doing anything pirate related). Another kid that was disturbed by her screaming and beginning to melt down. Another that couldn’t sit still. And, yet another, who was stimming (making strange sounds that help soothe himself). It was a fiasco! What did we do? We got out the parachute! As soon as we did, the focus changed to the big colorful thing in the middle of the room. The kids were mesmerized. We turned on music and began making the parachute go up and down together. They focused. They smiled. They worked as a team. At the end of the group, when asked what their favorite part was. Guess what it was. Of course! It was the parachute!

Sometimes that’s what we need to do on an RV trip … or in life… take a minute to find our parachute. Why are we on this trip? What is important? Who is important. In our 16 plus years of RVing, there have been some annoying moments. There have been kids melting down. Heck! There have been parents melting down. But, in the end, what do we remember? We remember who we were with and what we saw, did, and sometimes, what we ate. We remember the good stuff! Focus on the good stuff!

A parachute help our group focus.

I am grateful that I have the pleasure of working with kids with special needs each week. They continue to teach me things. They crack me up on a regular basis. They spread joy! It’s hard to come out of our music groups in a grumpy mood. You really have to try hard to be grumpy in that group. So, I don’t try. I enjoy the moments!

Enjoy your trips! Enjoy your moments!

Next Trailer Girl Blog Post – Everyone needs a Trailer Job

Souvenirs Don’t have to be Fancy. Why my Windex Bottle Is One of My Favorite Treasures

I love a good bargain. Maybe that’s part of what drew me to RVing. Then, of course, after I did the math of owning, storing, gas … not such a bargain. Still, it’s my favorite way to travel! One of the many pleasures of RVing is going to places that are harder to get to by airplane. Most of the time, the places we go don’t have a luxurious resort feel. We go to places with a vacation vibe … just different from a fancy resort.

When you travel this way, souvenirs can be different, often less expensive, and sometimes quirky. Sure, when you visit someplace like a national park, there are the traditional t-shirts and such, but what is it that you bring home that really makes you remember your trip and reminds you of a fun outing on the trip or a funny story? My Windex bottle is one such treasure.

It was one of our first big trailer trips. I think my son was five and my daughter was nine. We were going to Glacier National Park. We were excited! We were also on a pretty tight budget. We were coming from the Seattle area. We dry camped a couple nights at Lake Wenatchee with the neighbors and then, made an overnight stop in Coeur D’Alene at an RV Park. That turned out to be a smart move, because a few nights in a state park with a five-year-old boy created a need to do laundry! After we had refreshed, we headed onto West Glacier, Montana.

If you’ve never done this trip, you should. It’s a beautiful drive! When we got to the Flathead Lake area, we hit a crazy can’t-see-the-car-in-front-of-your kind of rainstorm. By the time we got to West Glacier, the Suburban and trailer had mud splattered all over them! It was a mess!

We got the trailer all set up and sat down at the dinette only to notice that we couldn’t see properly out of the windows because of all of the mud. Of course, we had no Windex with which to go out and clean the windows. No problem! We were staying at the West Glacier KOA (I highly recommend it!) and they had a little camp store. I walked over and found not only a bottle of Windex, but a jar of Huckleberry Jam! Jackpot!

I came back, got some paper towel from the trailer, and went out and set about my work trying to clean it up. I decided to start with the door because I had a 5-year-old-boy who would be touching it a lot and I didn’t want to have to constantly clean up his hands. Also, the window on the door was spattered in mud. Well, I had no idea I had an audience. Yep, there were two older gentlemen sitting in their camping chairs watching the whole thing and laughing! They weren’t unlike the two guys from the balcony on the Muppet Show. They finally yelled, “Do you really think you can clean that whole trailer with that little bottle of Windex?!” I found them and the scene to be totally entertaining.

I have had the same Windex bottle for 15 years. It’s lived in three trailers. I just keep refilling it. Every time I use it, I think of those two funny old men in their chairs, the crazy mud on the trailer, and the wonderful trip we had to Glacier as a family. I think I might still have the price tag on it. I think it was $2.99. It was some of the best money I’ve ever spent on an unlikely souvenir. Not every souvenir or treasure needs to be an obvious one.

Now, some of you may be getting the false impression that I am low maintenance. My husband says, I am the worst kind “You think you’re low maintenance, but you’re really high maintenance.” That’s a quote from “When Harry Met Sally.” I get accused of being Sally pretty much every time I order in a restaurant. I like to think my standards for souvenirs are fairly low maintenance, or at least un-fancy. Here are my requirements for worthy souvenirs:

Usefulness: On one trailer trip to Crater Lake, we had money left in the vacation budget. So, we decided to splurge on a Pendelton Throw Blanket that we keep on the end of the bed in the trailer. It gets used all the time, looks lovely, and reminds us of time spent in National Parks.

*Our Pendelton throw at the end of the bed was a splurge, but we use it a lot!*

Will I wear it?: I have a collection of “I-forgot-my-jacket” jackets in the trailer. These are the bargain jackets you can find in gift shops for people who forget their jackets. Since they don’t get a ton of use and won’t wear out, they make great, useful souvenirs. Now, I don’t have to remember to pack a jacket because of my collection. I’m not a big t-shirt wearer. For me, unless a t-shirt has a dual purpose (i.e. is a good hiking shirt), it’s a no-go. For my husband who wears t-shirts whenever he’s not at work, it’s a good souvenir. If you’re traveling with a five-year-old-boy, you might need a t-shirt or two right right away …

Can I use it in the trailer?: I have decorated the inside of my trailer with National Park art. I love it! I only use art from parks we’ve visited and whose art has colors that go with the trailer. Most of the “art” purchased has been greeting cards that I frame when I get home. My husband bought a Pendelton Glacier National Park mug in Glacier and uses it every morning in the trailer. I like to buy cute dishtowels from places we’ve been and keep them in the trailer.

Can it be used for a gift later?: This is where fancy-ness comes in. My husband and I (O.K. mostly me) will point out things, jewelry for instance, and remind each other that we have an anniversary coming up and that might make a nice gift. Then, we’ll make a sneaky purchase and save it for later.

Can we eat it?: Maybe not so much a souvenir but, for us, a fun tradition .. pie! We always look for a place to get a pie on our trips. Often times, we can find them at fruit stands and they’re delicious! On our last Glacier trip, we got a Huckleberry Pie from a popular Truck Stop and it was fabulous. It also came with a story that we quote often. The pie was $30 and we were a bit aghast when the girl at the counter rang it up. Her dead pan response, “Huckleberries aren’t cheap.” I dare say the pie was worth $30! We have other funny pie stories as well. We also like to find things like Huckleberry Jam that we can’t readily find at our local grocery store.

Do I want to remember this trip?: Sometimes we go places just to get away that aren’t so much vacation places. Those trips are more relaxing than memorable. Or, maybe the trip was a bust and you want to forget it.

We have gone plenty of places where we’ve come home with just memories and no souvenirs. RVing is about all the things you get to see, the people you get to be with, and the adventures you get to have. Take pictures! Scrolling through pictures is a great memory jogger! Some of my favorite trailer trip pictures are of my kids hiking and playing. In fact, in addition to my Windex bottle, my other favorite souvenir of the Glacier trip is a picture of my kids at the Continental Divide. What will spark memories for you? Think outside the t-shirt and coffee mug box. Make sure your souvenirs are worthy! Wherever you go, have fun and make memories! Don’t spend too much time in the souvenir shop!

Next Trailer Girl Blog – Things I’ve learned from Working With Kids Who Have Special Needs That Can be Applied to RVing … And Life

The Value of Just Getting Away – Even When Your Trip Could be Considered a Bust By “Normal” People

If you already own an RV, I’m probably preaching to the choir. If you’re just thinking about one, maybe these thoughts will push you toward a purchase. One of the best things about owning an RV is the ability to pick up and go at fairly short notice. Even if the trip is an apparent bust, there’s value in just getting away. This is a tale of one such trip and it’s benefits.

It was during the middle of our current pandemic. Both my husband and I were working from home … in the same office … (10’x10’). It’s also just us in the house. Our nest is empty. For just the two of us, it’s a LOT of togetherness! In fact, because we already know how each other’s day has been, we’ve given up having dinner together at the kitchen table and have moved to eating in front of the television with the Reagan’s (you know, the family from the show “Blue Bloods”). As much as we love our house and what we can see out of our windows, we were in dire need of a change of scenery.

Of course, during the COVID-19 pandemic, “they” decided that all outdoor fun should be stopped including camping. Many RVers, including us, have been scratching our heads wondering why. We are self-contained. They can close off their restrooms, laundry, showers, etc. and just let us in! As it turns out, many of the fun places didn’t want people from other places bringing germs. Well, fine then! We found one RV park open in McMinnville, Oregon which is about 4 hours away. My husband was delighted because there is an In-N-Out Burger 40 minutes from the RV park and it was open. It would be the highlight of his trip. For me, just looking out a different window was going to help.

Pretty much everything in McMinnville was closed. We could get wine from a winery if we ordered ahead. There is what appears to be a fantastic air museum right next door to the RV park – closed. Oregon was pretty much closed! So what?!

The RV Park was lovely. It was beautifully landscaped and a really nice place to walk the dogs. It was adjacent to the nicest mobile home park I have ever seen. It was nice to walk around in there. I am sure it’s home to some master gardeners. Their yards were well maintained and gardens were gorgeous. One thing I discovered on my dog walks was a path that led to the air museum. Even though the air museum was closed, we were able to see plenty of planes they had outside and peek in the windows. It was like a re-con mission for the next time we come. The air museum is definitely on our list!

We made our trek to In N Out. When we arrived, there was about a million cars. (OK, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but not by much! There were a LOT of cars!). They were into the street and then, lined up into the sports arena parking lot near-by. There were some In-N-Out employees directing traffic like the Disneyland parking lot. It was an impressive operation! That is, until we stopped moving. We scrolled through our phones for a while and then realized it had been about ten minutes without moving at all. My husband got out of the car and asked one of the In N Out kids how long it takes to get to the front of the line. The kid told him it would be about three hours before we had burgers in our hands. Not even my In N Out mongering husband thought a Double Double was worth a three hour wait! We left and found our lunch someplace else.

That was pretty much the entire excitement of our trip. A four hour drive for seemingly nothing! But, wait! There’s really more! Here are some things we found beneficial.

A beautiful drive – The Willamette Valley is beautiful! It was nice to look at some different scenery.

Together time – Yes, we’ve had way too much of that lately, but it was together time someplace else. That changes things. We end up talking about other things. We see different things out the windows. We look at different walls.

Great food – We’ve been cooking a lot at home. Trailer food is different. We choose things that are easy to clean up and delicious. Trailer food tastes like vacation!

No computers – We rarely bring computers with us when we travel. We are usually trying to get away from work. This was no exception. We each have ipads and can check email if necessary, but we avoid it. It makes a nice mental break from work.

Nothing=Relaxing – Doing nothing can be quite relaxing! We caught up on some reading and just enjoyed some down time. It was nice to turn our brains off for a while.

When we returned from our trip, people asked how our trip was, and we said, “great!” They asked what we did, and we answered, “pretty much nothing.” Of course, we could have done nothing from home, but where’s the fun in that? When you do nothing at home, you’re still looking at the same walls, the same windows, etc. and probably feeling guilty about not doing something like the laundry.

It doesn’t take a pandemic to get these sort of benefits from getting away. In fact, during normal non-pandemic times, the benefits are even greater, in my opinion. Getting away means getting away from even more than just working from home. It means getting away from busy-ness, routines, and maybe a hectic lifestyle. During non-pandemic times, here are some added benefits.

Outdoor recreation – I’m a huge fan of hiking, kayaking, and exploring the outdoors. For me, all of the fresh air and exercise helps clear my mind and melts stress!

Retail therapy – Some of the places we go are cute towns with cute shops. I love poking around in these shops. In fact, in one of our regular get away places, I actually put money aside and bring a list of things to shop for. They have great shoes, my favorite jeans brand, a spice place, and a wine shop. They also have fun art galleries to look in.

Local cuisine – You might eat out near home frequently, but if you’re like us, you have familiar places you go to eat. We love checking out a restaurant near where we camp. When we camped near Glacier National Park, we found an awesome burrito place. In one of our favorite places, we have so many places we like to eat, we pretty much quit packing groceries except for coffee and some breakfast things because we like so many of the local restaurants.

Time in the truck – Most of the time, when there’s not a pandemic where we are home alone … together …. all the time, we have been busy with our jobs, house and yard projects, and other obligations. The time in the truck allows us some time to catch up with each other on the way to our destination. Sometimes we just listen to music and make fun of signs and sights out the window. Sometimes, when we’re busy, and we know we have a trip coming up, we’ll table a discussion item and say, “we should talk about that in the truck.” Note: this would be for non-urgent items but things that need discussion such as, “should we fix the fence this summer, or do you think we can get another summer out of it.” The time in the truck is a great buffer between the stresses of home and the hustle and bustle of getting ready for a trip and the destination. It makes the destination that much more relaxing.

For me, a trailer trip is an attitude adjustment. My stress begins to melt as soon as we’re driving out of our neighborhood. (Of course, my husband is the driver. I would guess his stress doesn’t begin to melt until the trailer is set up at our campsite). I come back from trips more relaxed, well rested (because most of the time, I’ve gotten so much fresh air and exercise), and more ready to take on the challenges of day to day life. I also come back ready to take my next trip.

Can you get the same benefits from say, a trip to Hawaii? Of course! And, you can get a tan to go with it! But, can you take off to Hawaii once a month? Can you get there in just a few hours? I love a good “normal person’s” vacation just as much as the next person, but I always miss my trailer! I miss all of my creature comforts, the easy access to the fridge and snacks, my coffee pot, etc. I’m a trailer girl. It’s how I roll! You’ll have to make your own decisions about how you like to get away. But, do get away! You’ll be glad you did! As my good friend and neighbor once told me, “You never regret the trips you take. Only the ones you don’t.”

Next Trailer Girl Blog – Traveling with Dogs. They love trailers too!

Easy Upgrades for Happier Camping

Are you stuck at home? Are you chomping at the bit to go camping in your RV? Are you watching for RV parks to open back up and thinking to yourself, “open … open….open!!” That’s me! Unfortunately, our 5^thwheel is too big for driveway camping in our driveway. We’re actually toying with the idea of taking it to a place with a big parking lot with take-out food just so we can have dinner someplace else. We’re getting desperate… Maybe the best thing to do right now, besides dream of the trips you’ll take soon, is to work on little upgrades that will make your future trips a little happier.

We’ve done several small-scale upgrades over the years in our rigs that have made our camping a little happier. There are lots of things you can do! I’ve seen people paint the cupboards and walls of the inside of their rigs, take out tables and build new things where the table once was, re-configure bunk house areas, and other more involved upgrades. These sort of amazing transformation type upgrades are not small scale in my book. The ideas in this blog are not those kinds amazing transformation types of ideas. We like the easy stuff!

Here’s our list of things we’ve upgraded over the years:

TV’s – If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, this is probably the third or fourth time you’ve heard about TV upgrades. The TV’s that come with RV’s aren’t great! We swapped them out with Smart TV’s and it’s awesome! RV Park wi-fi is sketchy, but we run them through the hotspot on my cell phone. We’re able to keep up on our favorite Netflix and Amazon Prime shows. You may be thinking, “I bought this trailer so I can go out in the wilderness and enjoy the great outdoors.” We enjoy the great outdoors as much as anyone, but at the end of a big day outside hiking, grilling a good dinner, and a campfire, it’s pretty great to flop out and watch something other than a pixelated episode of Friends that’s showing on one of two channels that you can get on your antenna.

Faucets – Our first trailer had the world’s dumbest faucet in the kitchen sink. It didn’t have the “arch” and just stuck out over the sink fairly level with the top of the sink. So, when you put a pan in the sink to wash it, you had to flick the water into it. It was ridiculous. Imagine my delight when we accidentally forgot to leave the faucet valves open after a winter trip and found the faucet broken off and laying in the sink! YAY! We got a new, much more functional faucet. After that, we decided not to wait for something to break and just get a faucet we like right off the bat! If you don’t have a faucet with a pull out in your kitchen, you’re missing out on some much easier dishwashing!

Cupboard hardware – Don’t like your knobs? Are they catching your fingers and causing you pain? Swap them out! It’s easy! Go pick out some you like and swap them. Just make sure if you have two holed drawer pulls that your holes are the same distance apart on your new pulls.

Towel bars and TP holders – You know when you go to Home Depot and look at things: the stuff on the Left hand of the aisle is more expensive and the stuff on the right hand of the aisle is the cheapest? So, when you look at towel bars and TP holders, the nicer ones are on the left and the super cheap ones are on the right. The ones on the right are the ones that come with RVs. Sometimes they’re even fancy colors like gold that you might hate! Donate them and buy some that you like! If your rig comes with already installed towel bars and TP holder, make sure you’ll cover any holes that are already drilled into the wall.

Hang a picture – Got a favorite picture from a trip? Hang it up! I collect National Park poster art. My RV is a great place to put it. I buy the smaller sized ones and cheap mats and frame them with inexpensive frames. They look great! If the mat doesn’t fit just right, you can use scrapbooking tape that matches your mat to hide the gap. There are lots of ways to hang pictures. Command Strips might work for you. We drill pilot holes through the frame and then screw the frame into the wall with nice looking screws. The downside of this is, when we’ve gone to sell a trailer, we have to empty out the frame and leave the frame with the trailer, starting over in the next rig.

Hooks – It seems obvious once you think about it, but usually isn’t something you think about right off the bat. You don’t normally think about it until you’re wondering where you’ll hang the dog leash or your wet jacket you’re wearing. So, think about it now! Where might you like a hook to hang something? We have a hook in the bathroom for our clothes while we’re in the shower, hooks in the “hallway” for dog leashes and wet coats, hooks in the closet to hang up our PJs, and a broom hook in the pantry for the broom. That’s just us. Put your hooks where they work for you. We use $2 hooks from the hardware store that go with the metal in our trailer.

Drawer and cupboard organizers – No one likes to clean up a jumbled mess first thing when they get to their campsite. Where are your jumbles? Measure the area and find some organizers that fit in your space online (since you can’t go to the Container Store right now). You can check my blog for earlier posts about setting up kitchens, bedrooms, etc. to get more ideas on how to organize and where to find things for organizing.

Mattress – Is your mattress kind of a rock? Do you sink to the middle? Our second trailer had a horrid mattress! We slept on it one trip and ditched it! Comfort is super important when you’re camping (fake camping as it were)! Make sure your mattress works for you! In our current rig, we’ve gotten by with adding a nice topper to the mattress that came with it. In our second trailer, we went to Camping World and bought a memory foam type mattress. Camping World was a good place to shop because it was a short queen bed.

Drawers under the bed – We keep the dirty clothes and laundry supplies in the storage area under the bed. In our second trailer, the hardware that made it so we could lift the mattress to get to the storage was … stupid … We didn’t know it, but it was totally useless! Now that we have our new rig, it’s easy to get in and out of under the bed because the hardware is more functional. When we replaced the mattress in the second rig, the memory foam version was considerably heavier than the horrid mattress that came with the trailer. It took two people to put a pair of dirty socks under the bed. That got annoying. So, we had someone make drawers for the under-bed storage. That was a great improvement and made life much easier. This was a bit spendy, but was totally worth it in the “quality of life” department.

Change your lightbulbs – We didn’t do this, but the guy who bought our second trailer swapped out all the light bulbs with LEDs and says it’s much brighter inside and it’s less strain on the AC/DC converter. For the record, that information comes from my husband, the Electrical Engineer. I wouldn’t have a clue about AC/DC converters. I majored in Recreation. We didn’t have that class!

It’s a tough time in our country right now, and going camping would do a lot to adjust my attitude! I can’t wait to get out! Even if we end up someplace where things are closed, I’d like to look out the window and see something different and maybe walk my dogs someplace different! Or, maybe we’ll just have our take-out dinner in a parking lot in our trailer just to be someplace different. I hope you’ll get out and about in your RV soon. Until then, enjoy thinking about camping and maybe doing some easy upgrades.

Next Trailer Girl Blog – The Value of Just Getting Away

Mrs. Lewis, I Believe You’ve Become Separated from Your Children. A funny story about losing our kids (and getting reunited) in a National Park!

We were on a 5 National Park, two-week (maybe a little longer) trailer trip. We came from the Seattle Area, went white water rafting in Idaho, hit Utah and visited Arches and Canyonlands, went to Durango and met up with some friends and visited Mesa Verde, went on from there to the Grand Canyon, and came back up through Utah and visited Zion and Bryce Canyon. Also on this trip, we had to replace the fuel pump on our tow vehicle and were stuck in a KOA in Kingman, Arizona for a couple days. We were on the last National Park, Bryce Canyon. We were camping in our 25- foot trailer with no side slide outs. It was a LOT of togetherness in a relatively small space.

My husband and I were geeking out on the different rock formations, not that we knew anything about them, but they all looked different. We think it’s amazing how you can travel in the United States and see such different landscapes in a relatively short amount of time. It’s awesome and part of the reason why we got into RVing in the first place. The kids, on the other hand, had seen their fill of orange rocks. They were done hiking and exploring. We weren’t…and that’s how our story begins…

It was the last hike of the trip. The Queen’s Garden hike down to the bottom of Bryce Canyon. Who wouldn’t want to see a hoodoo from the bottom up? Apparently, my kids! We were at the rim of the canyon when we decided we’d make a pit stop. We all went to our respective restrooms and when I came out, I only found my husband. We waited around for the kids at the trailhead and they never showed up. We tried texting and calling them, but the cell service was nil. Since they had done some pretty bitter complaining earlier that day, we figured they went on ahead on the hike and were going to beat us to the end. They were sick of us. Whatever! They’d be fine and we could enjoy our hike without any complaining. Win-Win!

We began our hike, oohing and ahhing over the incredible rock formations. Outside of the Calico Mine ride at Knott’s Berry Farm or the Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disneyland, I’d never seen anything quite like Queen’s Garden. It was amazing! And, it was REAL! God made it out of real rocks! SO cool! I took about 785 pictures! My husband was even getting impatient telling me that the rock formation I was taking a picture of looked just like the last one I took a picture of. It was probably a good thing he stopped me, or I might have 1785 pictures of hoodoos! It was a fantastic hike!

We finished the hike expecting to see the kids at the end of the trail. They weren’t there. We tried the cell phones again. No dice. Dang! We lost the kids! We weren’t terribly worried considering it was early afternoon, it was light out, they were both smart and resourceful, they were 15 and 11 and together, and they probably had eleven dollars between them. They probably wouldn’t starve. They also knew where we parked the car and could take a shuttle back there and meet us.

We got on the shuttle and decided to get off at every stop thinking maybe they’d stopped to get a snack. We didn’t find them anywhere. We stopped and got off near the car. Not there. Suddenly, my phone rang (a miracle considering the lack of cell service!). I picked up and this is what I heard, “Mrs. Lewis, this is Ranger so and so (I can’t remember his name). I believe you’ve become separated from your children.” Yes, indeed! We had become separated from our children! He let us know we could meet up with them at the Visitor’s Center. As much as we enjoyed our complaint-free hike, we were pretty relieved to know where the kids were even though we knew they’d be alright. When we met up with them, the Ranger , mtold us what great kids they were and how they’d done all the right things by finding a Park Ranger to get help. We should be proud of them. I have to say, we were a little conflicted. We weren’t sure if we should be irritated with them for disappearing or proud of them for how they handled it once they figured out they were “lost.”

We look back on this day with amusement. Please don’t call Child Protective Services on us! Our kids are grown up and they turned out just fine! The 15-year-old in this story is now an EMT and can hold her own with the craziest, strung out druggies you’ll find on the street! She has great stories. Her wit and ability to think on her feet is serving her well. Our son is serving in the Unites States Marine Corps and making us proud. Perhaps this little adventure was good training. Who knows?

For the record, my daughter read this and informed me that she remembers it differently. She maintains that the kids were under the impression that we were going on the rim hike (a two mile-ish, relatively flat and paved hike). She also maintains that she and her brother were totally annoyed with their parents for being dorks and getting their hiking poles ready for that flat hike and that they went ahead because we were too slow. So, they hiked the wrong trail. We hiked the one to the bottom of the canyon, where trekking poles came in handy! I know we talked about which hike we were going on prior to getting separated. My husband remembers it like I do. It will go down in our family history as an unsolved debate and probably make for some more funny family conversations … maybe someday with grandkids!

There’s no real moral to this story other than when things turn out OK in the end, it’s much more fun to look back onto the story with amusement. Every now and then, we’ll quote that Park Ranger, “Mrs. Lewis…. I believe you’ve become separated from your children” and get a good chuckle out of it. I hope you got a good chuckle too.

Next Trailer Girl Blog – My RV Kitchen – Sort of Minimalist – Sort of Not. My Favorite Must-Haves

A Few Of My Favorite Things – 10 Holiday Gift Ideas for RV Camping

I was originally going to write about camping in touristy places (like Disneyland!). Then, one night I woke up in a Christmas panic and figured you too might need some holiday gift ideas for your favorite trailer enthusiast. So, I’m running a re-run! Here’s my blog post from last year about this time. It seems I have a panic about this time every year. I compiled a list of a few of my favorite trailer things. Many of these items are things my family have deemed necessary for trailer life as well. I promise I’ll get to the tourist town blog soon!

Camping Chair – One of the best parts about camping, no matter how you do it is hanging out outside on a nice day or evening. It is 100% necessary to have a great camping chair. I just got my new, fancy zero gravity reclining chair from Camping World for my birthday this year. It is super comfortable. I tested it out on a 40 minute phone call with one of my Trailer Girls while at Camping World. I’m pretty sure the people who were shopping there thought I was obnoxious. (They may have been right!) My husband, who had chair envy got one for Father’s Day this year. (He told me not to get it for Christmas because he won’t be able to use it on our winter trips in Washington.)
Weather station – we love our Lacrosse Technology Wireless weather station. We call it “The Guy” because there’s a little guy on it that tells you what to wear…. like you couldn’t figure that out for yourself. At any rate, we love “The Guy” and when our first “Guy” died, we replaced it with another Guy. Very important! I found one on Amazon. The remote for “the guy” we refer to as “the thing for the guy.” So whenever we’re setting up or packing up, someone always says, “Did you get the thing for the guy?” and everyone knows what we’re talking about!
Games – We have two favorites. The first is Bananagrams. We have to play this Parents vs. Kids so that it’s sort of fair and so that all of the tiles fit on the dinette table. If you have my daughter on your team, you’re sure to win! Our other favorite game is called, “Smart Ass.” I’m not kidding – that’s really what it’s called! It’s a board game we found while on a trip with our friends. It’s a blast! You can find it on Amazon. Other than the word “Ass” in the name of the game, it’s totally family friendly. I would say it’s best for 15 and up. It’s sort of an easier and more fun version of Trival Pursuit. I feel a lot less dumb after playing this game than Trival Pursuit!
Smart TV – This might be my husband’s favorite thing! We bought a TV that has apps for Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc on it. If you have decent Wi-Fi in your RV park, you can keep up with your Netflix shows, watch movies, etc. If you don’t have decent wi-fi, you can use a device like your cell phone or an iPad as a hotspot. (Just be careful and keep track of your data!) It’s great for nights when you just need to flop out!
Trailer Slippers – Mine are fuzzy on the inside with hard rubber soles. My husband thought I was spending frivolously when I bought a pair of slippers on a trailer trip one time. Then, guess what… He got slipper envy! By about 2 trips later, he had trailer slippers too! When I asked my son what I should put in this blog post, Trailer Slippers were at the top of his list too. They not only keep your feet warm, but they keep your socks dry when your dog slobbers on the floor and you accidentally step in it!
Trailer Coat – This might be best saved for a trailer trip purchase. We got ours at the top of Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park. There are a lot of tourist places that have cheap coats for people who forget bring theirs for about $30. They’re nice and warm and shed water. They’re great for trailer use! In fact, when my first trailer coat that I paid $27.99 for, started to disintegrate after 10 years, I found a new one in Cannon Beach for $28.99! A lot of towns that attract tourists or are near national parks have what I call, “forgot my jacket” or “forgot my sweatshirt” racks in stores with fairly inexpensive warm things.
Headlamp – If you don’t already have one in your rig, get one! It’s the best stocking stuffer! We often set up in the dark and it’s a huge help! There are all manner of these available at Home Depot, REI, etc. It all depends what you want it to do, if you want LED, etc.
Acrylic Wine Glasses – Mine are stemless because I’ve been fired from drinking out of wine glasses with stems in the trailer. My family says that after I have 2 sips of wine, I start talking with my hands more and the stems are dangerous for the person sitting across from me! My favorites came from Crate and Barrel. The acrylic part is super important because actual glasses would break on the road.
Silicone Dish Scraper – Sounds boring right? NO! Best thing ever … where doing dishes is concerned. If you’ve washed dishes in a rig, you know there’s no garbage disposal. So, you have the gross job of scraping all the goo off of your plates and into the trash before you wash them. I got mine at the Container Store and went back and bought one for my mom. I wish I could find the same one to show you all because, as she pointed out, the packaging says, “Fun to use.” That may be an overstatement, but it beats using a bunch of papertowels or filling your sink up with floating grossness from your plates.
Rolla-Roasters – Everyone that roasts marshmallows with me gets Rolla-Roaster envy! You put your marshmallow on it and there’s a little thingy (that probably has an official name, but who needs to be that technical?!) that you can turn with your forefinger and thumb to turn your marshmallow so they cook evenly. I love s’mores, so this is one of my all time favorite camping tools! You can get them at REI.

The best things about RVing really aren’t things, but the time together with family and all of the great places you can go and see. The things mentioned above are things that might make that journey a little more fun and comfortable. Below are some pictures of my favorite things! I posted links above directly to some of my favorite things. Happy shopping! My next post will be about getting ready to roll, I promise!

Acrylic stemless wine glasses are one of my favorite things.

Maybe this dish scraper would be fun to use like mine.

One of my all time favorite camping things! Rolla Roasters!

My favorite camping chair is on the left. My sister in law (another Trailer Girl) says my husband’s chair on the right looks intimidated! I bought him a matching reclining chair this year for Father’s Day. The intimated chairs are for when we have company and need extra chairs.

Setting Up your RV Bedroom and Bathroom

Setting up your bathroom and bedroom efficiently and comfortably is one of the things that will help make your RV feel more like a vacation home. When we bought our first trailer over 15 years ago, it was a big deal to both my husband and I that our trailer be very different from tent camping. That meant no sleeping bags, having things already in the trailer like linens so we didn’t have to pack them, and above all, it had to be comfortable. Here are some tips. Of course, everyone’s opinion on comfortable is different. This is my Trailer Girl opinion! Take what you like!

The bedroom:

The bedroom has to be comfortable! Chances are good when you’re on an RV trip, you’re going to wear yourself out driving, hiking, or exploring. A good night’s sleep can make a huge difference in how your day goes!

The mattress– Don’t let the mattress be a deal-breaker when buying your rig. Odds are, the mattress that comes with your rig won’t be to your liking. They almost never are! Our first trailer had a foam mattress (it pre-dated memory foam so it was just plain foam that was covered nicely) and it was great! We put a nice mattress pad on it and had zero problems! When we bought our second trailer, it never occurred to us that the mattress might be garbage … and it was! There was no making it work! We bought a memory foam mattress from Camping World, put a nice mattress pad on it and slept great after that! In our current trailer, our mattress seems to be nicely made, but is super firm. I bought a memory foam mattress pad from Macy’s and guess what? It’s just fine! The mattress will be a trial an error thing. You’ll feel a bit like Goldilocks until you get it … just… right!
Sheets– Get your favorite kind of sheets! Don’t skimp on your rig! You’re on vacation! Your sleep is important! For those of you with strange sized mattresses, like short queens, might I recommend jersey sheets? I used them for 15 years on short queens and bought full sized sheets (not queen). The bottom sheet stretched nice and tight over the mattress and everything else worked fine.
Pillows – Don’t demote your old house pillows and put them in your trailer! Get comfortable pillows you love and put them in your trailer. Again, your sleep is super important!
The pretty stuff – Sometimes RV’s come with a bedspread. I have hated every RV bedspread I have ever met! They make nice moving blankets and dog beds though! Put a comforter or quilt that you love on the bed. Add throw pillows that you like. Add a throw blanket to the foot of the bed and it’ll feel like a cozy B&B! If you have room on the walls, hang a picture you like. Our trailer has night stands on either side of the bed. My side has a favorite picture of my kids. Your bedroom should make you feel comfortable, cozy, and happy!
Your closest – See my earlier blog post on Weird RV Closets for more information on closets. Some favorite things for closets – velvet hangers! Not that I’m some princess that needs my clothes hung up fancy. It’s more that I hate picking them up off of the bottom of the closet after they’ve fallen off the hangers in transit. There’s lots more information about setting up your closet in my Weird RV Closet blog post.
If you’re lucky enough to have drawers – After 15 years of RVing, we finally have drawers in the bedroom! I put clear dividing bins in the drawers so that things stay neat and don’t jumble on the road. I also put them in my husband’s drawer. Here’s what he had to say about that, “Ugh! You and your bins!!!” he proceeded to stack his bin under another bin and not use it. I promptly re-possessed the bin and used it the pantry. If you snooze you lose … your bin!

*Clear bins help keep my drawer neat and un-jumbled.*

If you don’t have drawers – You can make them by using Rubbermaid or Sterlite storage bins with drawers. Be sure to measure before you buy. We used these for years and they worked great!
What to keep in your closet/bedroom: I keep 3 coats in my closet (we live in the Pacific Northwest, so we have various crazy weather); a windbreaker/raincoat, a fleece jacket, and a heavy coat. I purchased my heavy coat for $27.99 from a souvenir shop. You can find cheap coats that are great for leaving in your trailer at a lot of towns you visit. They make a great, useful souvenir! I also keep an extra set of sheets in the storage under the bed. That way, when I can change the sheets at the end of the trip and be ready for the next trip! I know other people that have a trailer wardrobe. We are mostly weekenders and have to keep our trailer in storage. This would be way too much of a pain to wash everything and get it back to the trailer after a trip. It’s much easier for us to pack clothes just before a trip.

The bathroom:

When we bought our first trailer, we thought we should stock the medicine cabinet with all kinds of things we might need like cold medicine, Tylenol, cough syrup, etc. It turns out, we’re rarely ever so far from a pharmacy or a grocery store that that is really necessary. Everytime I’ve moved out of a rig, I’ve emptied out 3 years past expired medicine. So, now we only buy as needed and buy the smallest size. One thing we always keep on hand, Tylenol PM because sometimes you wear yourself out hiking or exploring and you need to sleep great so you can get up and do some more the next day!

The medicine cabinet– We keep things like toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, and other toiletries in the medicine cabinet so we don’t have to pack them each time. I like Clinique skin care products. I save my purchases for when they have a free gift (they almost always have one somewhere!) and use all of the samples in the trailer. Pack your medicine cabinet with things you use every trip (or almost every trip).
Earthquake hits the medicine cabinet! – This is what happens to your medicine cabinet when you’re on the road. Everything is on its side, slid over to one side, etc. It’s a mess! I am known as the “Straightening Up Fairy” and fix it. I recently purchased some long skinny clear bins that help hold things up. The Straightening Up Fairy has been much less busy straightening up.
Towels and where to put them – If you ever want a dry towel, don’t buy nice luxurious thick towels! Get the fast-drying kind. RV bathrooms usually come with a towel bar challenge – as in, where the heck are you going to put a towel bar? For 15 years, we had one hanging over the door and hung everyone’s towels on it. For the first time, we actually have a spot for a normal towel bar. We keep an extra set of towels in the trailer so that we can put out fresh ones for the next trip at the end of a trip.

*Over the door towel bars can be a good towel rack solution for RVs*

Toilet paper and where to put it – RV toilet paper is a strange subject. We use one-ply from the normal grocery store and have no problems with our tanks and sensors. You don’t have to buy the fancy, expensive stuff from the RV supply. Our first two rigs had no place to put a toilet paper holder. Like most RV bathrooms, our first two were tiny and you could reach the inside of the cupboard from the toilet. That’s where the toilet paper lived. (Aren’t you glad you read this? These are the things nobody ever tells you!). We were pretty excited when we bought our current trailer because we found a place to hang a toilet paper holder. It’s the little things….
Shower Caddies – I could write a whole blog post about shower caddies! I found one I love at Bed Bath and Beyond that has knobs that make the suction cups actually stick to the shower wall. We just traveled over 1,000 miles and everything stayed put!
Blowdryers, curling irons, etc – Let’s face it, we need our stuff! I keep one of each hair tool that I use at home in the trailer. Be careful when using them in your trailer. I’ve had to re-set the GFI because I tried to use the blow-dryer when the air-conditioner was on and messed up the power to the trailer. Also, beware of weird RV park electrical issues. I’ve blown out a hair dryer motor and melted a curling iron. Someone who knows things about electrical things could probably tell you why. This might be a time not to put your best stuff in your trailer – just in case.

The most important things when setting up your trailer bedroom and bathroom are to make it your own, make it comfortable, and make it work efficiently for you. You also want to avoid packing things every trip like toiletries, towels, etc. so that getting ready for a trip isn’t exhausting. Always remember, you’re on vacation! It shouldn’t be a bunch of extra work! Enjoy your set up and your time in your own little portable B&B!

Next Trailer Girl Blog Post – Favorite Things for Storage