Tag: #trailergirl

My RV Kitchen – Sort of Minimalist – Sort of Not. My Favorite Must-Haves

I love to travel in my trailer and I love to cook.  RV kitchens can be a challenge with their small sinks, minimal cupboard space, and their weird ovens.  We are now on our third trailer and with each one, I have gotten more kitchen space.  I am currently spoiled with a pantry bigger than my home pantry, lots of drawers, and plenty of room for my dishes and pots and pans.  This wasn’t always the case.  My first trailer had very minimal kitchen space and I became a master of making everything I needed fit.

My first bit of advice for anyone setting up an RV kitchen is to figure out what kind of RV cook you’re going to be.  Are you an everything-from-scratch-kind of person or a pop-it-in-the-microwave kind of person.  If you’re the later, you are only going to be challenged by your freezer space and you won’t need much in the way of cookware or utensils.  If you’re a little more like me, an almost-from-scratch sort of person, you’re going to need to figure out how to pack your kitchen just right.  Here is how I have set up my RV kitchen and how it’s evolved over the past 16 years of RVing.

Dishes – I hate paper plates!  I am also not a big fan of plastic-y dishes and cups.  I want everything to feel as much like real dishes and cups as possible.  16 years ago, I bought a set of Corelle dishes that I am using to this day.  They make great RV dishes because they don’t break or chip and they stack compactly. 

My dishes cupboard in my trailer.

Mugs – Mugs are a very important piece of camping equipment!  We have a couple of good travel mugs for when we need to have coffee in the car.  Otherwise, we use regular mugs.  After 15 years of use, the stoneware mugs from my Corelle set finally died.  I have replaced them with some Starbucks mugs that look nice with my dishes.  I keep them in a drawer.  I find that mugs chip less in a drawer.  If you store your mugs in a drawer, you need to measure your drawer before you buy your mugs.  I looked a little weird when some kids I know caught me measuring the mugs at Starbucks.  You need to make sure they’re not taller than the inside of your drawer and steer clear of the drawer catch thing (I’m sure there’s an official name for it).  I lined the drawer with a non-slip liner and put a paper plate rolled up with some no-slip stuff around it in between the rows of mugs so they don’t bump into each other on the road.  The paper plate set up was going to be a temporary measure until I thought of something classier, but it’s working!  So, I think I’ll just leave it. 

My mug drawer set up. The thing in the middle is a rolled up paper plate with some non-stick stuff wrapped around it. It keeps everything in place.

“Glassware” – I use acrylic “glassware.”  I had some super cheap cups from Walmart for the first 10 years of RVing.  They finally cracked and I sprung for some nicer ones from Crate and Barrel.  They’re holding up really well.  I also have stemless acrylic wine glasses (because trailers jiggle and you don’t want to spill your wine!).  I found nice ones at Crate and Barrel.

Pots and Pans – My biggest piece of advice here is don’t cheap out!  That’s right!  Don’t go buying the cheapest stuff for your RV!  Here’s why.  You are on vacation!    Your sink is smaller than your sink at home. You don’t have a garbage disposal.  Your gray water tank is only so big.  The last thing you need is your food sticking to some cheap pot or pan and to spend time and gray water tank space scrubbing!   Get some good non-stick cookware for your rig.  You can find decent T-Fal at places like Target and Walmart.  Also, check places like Home Goods.  Sometimes you can find higher end stuff like Calphalon at great prices.  If your cookware has glass lids, store your lids on the pots or pans if possible.  I have a rack for mine now and it’s working well.  I’ve been traveling with glass pan lids for 16 years and haven’t broken one yet! 

You need one “beater” pot – You should have one “beater” pot.  Maybe one you’ve handed down from your home kitchen or bought used at someplace like Goodwill.  I store my “beater” pot in the bench of my dinette.  I use it when I need to cook outside or when I’m cooking something that might hurt my good pots, like clams.

Silverware – Get a good set you like and a silverware organizer for the drawer.  No one likes a jumbled mess in the drawer when it’s time to set the table.  You can find inexpensive sets of silverware at places like Target or Home Goods. 

Utensils – I used to sell Pampered Chef.  I am all kinds of picky about my utensils and it’s probably the one thing I have gone more overboard on.  I haven’t really given into the “it has to have at least two purposes” mentality for this.  For instance, I have an avocado cutting tool.  It’s important!  I also have a tomato corer and two different sizes of graters.  Very important!  The one thing I am persnickety about is that everything has to fit in its intended place.  So, it took me forever to find the right cheese grater that would lay flat in the drawer and not be a cheap, flimsy one.  After a couple months of searching, I found a great Microplane grater with a handle that doesn’t stick up.  YAY!  

Organizing your utensils – I have all of the utensils that I use near the stove (wooden spoons, rubber scrapers, tongs, etc) in a utensil holder on the counter near the stove.  I stow it in the cupboard below when we are traveling.   For all other utensils, I have them in drawers organized by size more than function.  That’s to prevent the jumbled mess thing from happening in the drawer.  I also have my knives in sheaths so that I don’t cut my fingers trying to find something else.  I hate bleeding…

Roll-a-Roasters – Don’t go camping without them!  They don’t take up much space!  You’ll be the envy of everyone at the campground!  Roll-a-Roasters are telescoping roasters for use with a campfire.  They have a little turning screw that you can twist with your fingers while you roast.  They make perfect marshmallows!  You can find Roll-a-Roasters at Camping World or REI.

Roll-a-Roasters. Don’t go to a campfire without them!

Small appliances – Our first rig didn’t have much space in the kitchen for things like appliances.  Our coffee pot was only a 4 cup coffee pot because we could fit it in the cupboard.  We didn’t have enough counter space to actually leave it on the counter while we were camping.  Because of that, I have learned to camp without any small appliances other than a coffee pot.  When we got a bigger rig, we got a normal sized coffee pot (with a stainless-steel carafe.  It’s not breakable and it keeps your coffee hot longer).  The coffee pot upgrade was one of the most exciting things about getting a new trailer for us.  We left our 4 cupper in the old trailer when we traded it in with a note about why whoever bought the trailer needed that tiny coffee pot.  Many people like having a crock-pot or an insta-pot in their rigs.  Now that I have space for one, I’m not sure I want one in the trailer.  I don’t even have a toaster!  If I want to toast something, I use a pan on the stove.  I’ve gotten used to my “trailer” recipes that don’t require extra appliances.  To be a good “trailer recipe,” the recipe must be fairly simple, not require more than two pots or pans, not be something that you have to spend too much time cleaning out of the bottom of a pan, and of course, be delicious!  

A good grill is worth every penny! – We have had some grill failures. For instance, on our first trailer, we bought a gas grill that was basically a giant grill pan on wheels.  While it worked OK, our steak had strange grill marks and it wasn’t as good as over an actual flame.  Our second trailer had a cool grill that hooked up to a gas spigot thing on the trailer and had a little grill shelf on the back of the trailer.  It was a great set-up … except for the part where the grill didn’t work for beans!  We had to be super picky about what we cooked on it and the outside temperatures and wind had to be perfect or it would take forever!  On our current rig, we sprung for a little Weber gas grill.  We love it and it cooks great!   My husband is the griller. It was hard to get him enthusiastic about grilling on the first two grills.  Now, he’s much more willing and enthusiastic about going out, setting it all up, and grilling.   

Grill pan – Funny story, since we had those first two grills that were sub-par and we do much of our camping in the rainy Pacific Northwest, we decided we should have a grill pan for the trailer in case our grilling plans were thwarted by weather or a lack of enthusiasm by the griller.  We frequently camp in a town that has two kitchen stores, a big grocery store, and a hardware store that sells some kitchen things.  Do you think we could find a grill pan there when we needed one?  NO!  It’s an artsy town.  Our working theory is, there are just too many vegetarians and they don’t grill much (clearly, they haven’t tasted grilled vegetables!).  I found a decent T-fal non-stick grill pan at our local Walmart after we got home from one of those trips.  It’s come in handy!

Stones – I mentioned before that I sold Pampered Chef.  I have several baking stones in my trailer that I think are a big help to RV baking.  RV ovens are weird.  The stones (along with tiles on the bottom of your oven) help distribute the heat more evenly and prevent burning on the bottom.  I have a pizza stone, a round stone (like a cake pan), and a 9 x 9 square baker.  

Baking sheets – Before you buy a baking sheet, measure your oven!  I have messed this up more than once!  My husband has bent baking sheets so they fit.  Another time I bought one that almost fit and we just left the oven door open a little.  Lame!  I should have measured first!  After you measure, go someplace like Home Goods or a kitchen store.  They’ll have a better size selection.  Buy heavier metal baking sheets to prevent burning on the bottom.  If you’re lucky, you might find a silpat mat to put on it that will help with clean up.  I haven’t been quite that lucky…. Yet…..  I love kitchen stores!  It’s fun to always have something to look for.

Cute dishtowels and pot-holders you like – Don’t go taking your old, stained dishtowels from your house and put them in your trailer!  Go pick out some that make you happy!  You’ll be seeing them a LOT while you’re camping!   Also, you’ll be using a lot of them if you cook!  Most likely, you’ll need to hang them to dry somewhere like your oven handle and it’ll be out where you can see it.  You want something you like there, not something stained and ugly!  Lately, have been collecting cute dishtowels from places I visit.  It’s fun to have reminders of past trips.  

I am the “scullery maid” on our trips.  That’s what my husband jokingly calls me.  I don’t mind because he’s the “hose master” and the driver.  This little division of labor gives us each some say in our areas.  He has veto power over what we listen to while on the road, for instance.  Saddly, there’s not much upgrading you can do with hoses, but he has the best he can find!  He likes eating well on the road and doesn’t question my choices in cookware.  It works!  Although, truth be told, he did look at me a little like I was crazy when I put bread in a basket with a cloth napkin liner on the table!  I finally had enough room for the basket and room in the drawer for a couple of cloth napkins.  Time to get a bread basket!  

Here’s my shopping list for setting up an RV Kitchen:

Serving:

  • Set of Corelle Dishes
  • Mugs that fit where you’ll store them
  • Acrylic “Glassware”
  • Set of silverware and silverware organizer

Cooking:

  • Set of non-stick pots and pans including; stock-pot, sauce pan, small sauté pan, larger sauté pan, and a skillet with higher sides than a sauté pan.
  • Non-stick grill pan
  • Beater pot
  • Set of nesting mixing bowls with lids (mine are stainless steel and I’ve had them 16 years!)
  • Pampered Chef Micro-cooker (great for cooking things like Costco chicken tenders that you’ll be putting in another recipe or for thawing the meat you forgot to take out of the freezer)
  • Pyrex type measuring cup
  • Nesting dry measuring cups
  • Measuring spoons

Favorite Utensils:

  • Chef’s Knife, smaller knife, paring knife, and serrated knife (I love my bread knife – works on watermelons too!)
  • Pizza Cutter
  • Rubber scrapers 
  • Wooden Spoons
  • Rubber tipped tongs
  • Flat silicone covered whisk (for stirring in non-stick pots)
  • Regular whisk (for things like scrambling eggs)
  • Cheese grater (or 2!) – my favorite are Microplane with handles that help them lay flat in the drawers
  • Roll-a-Roasters

Baking: 

  • Baking stones
  • Heavy baking sheets that fit in your oven

Other things:

  • Good Grill
  • Cute Dishtowels
  • Coffee pot with stainless steel carafe
  • Tea Kettle
  • Cutting Boards you like and that don’t slip while you’re cutting

A word about shopping.  I am a big fan of brick and mortar stores.  I like to touch things like mugs and glasses and see how they’ll feel in my hands.  I like to feel the weight of a pot, pan, or a baking sheet.  You can’t do that by shopping online!  I also like to support small businesses as much as possible and will buy something at a small kitchen shop before going to a someplace like Target.  I’ll even pay a few bucks more to buy something from small mom and pop shop than say, Amazon,  to help support their business.  I encourage you to get off your computer (when you’re done reading this blog post, of course!) and go to actual stores!  It’s fun and you’ll be doing the brick and mortar stores a big favor!  Additionally, you’ll be doing yourself a big favor by buying things that are more to your liking and that fit in your rig!  Win-Win!

Next Trailer Girl Blog – Those Amazing Gadgets, Why I Won’t Pay for Most of Them, And a Few That Have Won Me Over

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

The Economics of RVing ….As Told by Someone Who Majored in Recreation

I will be the first to admit that I know very little about economics.  I’m also not the best at higher level math.  However, to my credit, I am the household bookkeeper and budget master.  I also run a small non-profit which I started from the ground up right before the big recession hit. It’s our 13th year and we’re still in business and growing!  All that said, I feel somewhat competent where small scale money is concerned.  Don’t even think of asking me a question about our nation’s economics.  I’ll give you a blank stare!  

The other important thing to note is, I majored in recreation.  I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Recreation Administration, Therapeutic Option (or shortened up, Recreation Therapy.  Yes!  It’s a real thing people get paid to do!).  As a Recreation Therapist, I worked in several different settings including Psychiatric Care, Skilled Nursing, Drug and Alcohol Rehab, and lots of youthwork settings.  In all of my career life, I have worked with people of all ages and backgrounds.  This will all be important to my “Economic” theories related to RVing.

When we first bought a trailer, we had to buy a tow vehicle to go with it.  We bought a brand new Suburban because we couldn’t find a used one with low enough miles set up the way we wanted.  At the time we purchased it, there were so many kick-backs from Chevy and the dealer, we actually could get a brand new one for the same price or less than a used one.  It was crazy!  We also bought our trailer brand new because we couldn’t find a used bunkhouse model that didn’t smell weird and where you could pack both food and clothes.  It was a very strange time for used trailers!  They were just starting to get the idea that families wanted to travel and that everyone in the family would bring stuff and want a bed to sleep in!  

As soon as we bought our trailer and tow rig, we pretty much ceased any kind of travel that involved a hotel and an airplane.  We also began taking a weekend trip almost every month.  The tow rig also became my daily driver and was a great mom carpool-mobile.  

I don’t have a CLUE how to do the math to figure out the value of the tow vehicle to the travel vs what we paid for it, wear and tear on the trailer and rig, or whatever kind of math an economist would use.  Here’s the math I did when we traveled with our kids:

  • Gas – for a family of 4 was almost always less than airfare
  • Car – we didn’t have to rent one, so we saved on car rental
  • RV Park Fees – At $35 – $85 per night for a family of 4, this was always a better deal than a hotel
  • Food – At first, we almost never ate out.  This saved us a lot of money.  When we were able to go out a little more often, we still saved quite a bit of money on food.  We didn’t spend any more on groceries for a trailer trip than we would have staying home.  We always figured that just by eating breakfast in our trailer, we saved at least $50 per day for a family of 4 (with a Starbucks type breakfast).

Sounds like a bargain, right?  Now, figure in the cost of your trailer over the time you have it minus what you sell it for when you’re done with it (or in our case trade it in).   Then, divide by the number of years you use it.  That’s what you spend on your vacationing on just your RV.  Our first trailer, we had for 10 years.  We bought it for about $13,000 and sold it for about $6,000.  That’s about $700 per year.  Then, we pay for storage (let’s figure $100 per month).  So, there you have another $1200 per year.  $1900 is a pretty nice car trip hotel vacation!  I try not to think about that!

Here’s where the financial payoff improves:  when you take the weekend trips periodically throughout the year.  Yes!  You have to use it to get your money’s worth!  Our little 3 day weekend trips are a bargain!  Especially if we stay in a state park.  Even if we don’t stay in a state park, our the gas and RV Park fees for a weekend trip usually cost less than a nice dinner and a movie for two people.  If you’re just going to use your rig for your annual summer vacation, you might want to re-think your purchase.

You can improve the payoff even more if you purchase a used RV or trailer.  RV’s and trailers don’t hold their value.  As soon as your wheels hit the street from the dealer, it’s worth a bunch less than it was on the lot.  

As a Recreation Therapist and someone who has spent most of her working life working with youth in some capacity, I have seen what happens when people become unbalanced.  I don’t mean the lack of ability to stand on one foot without falling over (I am challenged in that area!).  I mean the lack of taking time out away from work, school, and stress.  I’ve seen what happens when people don’t take the time to do things they enjoy and re-charge.  It’s not pretty!  It can lead to all kinds of problems like anxiety, depression, and the over-use of substances to “fix” the negative feelings.  I’m not saying buying an RV or trailer will fix this.  What I am saying is, it’s helped us and other people I know un-plug and come back refreshed.  It helps maintain life balance.   When I worked in nursing homes as a Recreation Therapist, my residents liked to talk about their travels.  Not one ever said, “Wow!  I really wish I hadn’t traveled!”  Instead they told stories of their adventures and time spent with their families.  

We recently took a “free” trip to Hawaii for 8 nights.  We used airline miles to purchase the tickets and hotel points for the hotel.  We paid for one activity type thing, a rental car, and food.   Breakfast was included with our hotel stay (we still had to pay for a tip and if we wanted to eat eggs, that was additional).  Lunch and dinner was pretty much all we really had to pay for food-wise.  It was the most expensive vacation we have ever been on!   We were in a resort area with what I called “the resort fee.”  There wasn’t really an added fee, it was just more expensive.  When we drove around and visited other areas, it was a little less expensive, but not much.  It was Hawaii!  It made me think that RVing was an even better deal!  I had no idea how out of touch I was with resort type vacations!  We take our trailer to touristy places.  It was nice to be reminded that we are saving some money.

My husband is an engineer.  He’s really good at math and he can do crazy math in his head.  His theory on all of this is, it’s a wash.  If we didn’t have the trailer, we weren’t storing it, etc, we’d spend the same amount of money on vacations.  We’d just be traveling differently and less frequently.  Since he’s so good at math, I would have to agree with him on that!  

We are now empty nesters.  We’re on our third trailer, a 5th wheel that we love!  In the last 6 months, we’ve camped (fake camped) about 25 nights in it.  In some of the places we camped, we wouldn’t have been able to find a hotel for under $150 per night with slim pickings as far as restaurants were concerned.  I think the most we paid per night was about $75 for a swanky upgraded premium site.   We are doing our best to get our money’s worth by taking lots of trips!   If we didn’t have the trailer, we’d probably not take weekend trips that help us decompress.   We’d probably be crabbier, but I don’t want test this theory to find out!  Another great thing that happens on a road trip is conversation.  My husband and I get a lot of talking done in the car.  We talk about the kids.  We solve the problems of our government and other nations.  We make fun of signs we see on the road.  We talk about our hopes and dreams for the future.  We wouldn’t have these same conversations on a plane surrounded by strangers.  So, when this recreation therapist does the economic math for our RV travels, I come up with “priceless.”  You’ll need to do your own math with your calculator and your heart and see what you come up with.

Next Trailer Girl Blog – 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!  

Visiting Touristy Places in Your RV

One of my favorite things about RVing is going to touristy places like Disneyland, Las Vegas, and National Parks.  I love having my creature comforts like a bed and pillow that I’m used to, a bathroom that I cleaned (so I know it’s clean!), a medicine cabinet where my stuff is, and my own food.  Winter time is a great time to start planning your summer trips and making reservations.  Here are some things we’ve learned along the way.

  • Most touristy cities have an RV park – If they don’t have an RV Park in the City, then they have one not too far away.   We’ve stayed in San Francisco, San Diego, Las Vegas, Durango, and lots of other fun cities.  Usually the RV parks are on the outskirts of town and you’ll need to drive in.  Do your homework!  Many cities such as Seattle, have RV Parks that are on the outskirts of town or in a neighboring suburb.   Most of the time you’ll need to unhitch and drive into the city.  If you’re traveling in a Motorhome, you’ll want a vehicle you can use inside the cities.  You’ll need to think ahead about parking in the city and coordinate it with whatever activities you want to do.
  • Not all cities have great RV Parks!  – Again, do your homework on the RV Park!  For instance, I’ve driven by and heard reports about the one that pops up first in Google for Seattle.  It’s the Kent KOA and I would never stay there!  There are others that are nicer that might be maybe a 10 or 15 minute longer drive into Seattle.   For instance, the one in Bothell, is really nice!  Even though it’s 40 minutes from home, friends from our town actually stay there for a get away!  Sometimes there are just slim pickings and you have to suck it up and close the blinds in the RV when you’re there!  One time, we were on a trip when one of the Harry Potter movies came out.  The kids and my husband decided they wanted to go see the movie.  So, they left me with the trailer.  I was going to do laundry and enjoy some alone time.  I gathered up the laundry, opened the trailer door, looked around, set the laundry back down in the trailer, locked the door, closed the blinds, made cookies, and watched TV.  Forget it!  I wasn’t going out there!  It was too weird!  I’ve seen way too many episodes of “Criminal Minds” and “NCIS” and  I’m sure my imagination was getting the better of me.  I’m sure I was perfectly safe doing my laundry there, but I wasn’t about to find out for sure!
  • There’s an app for that!  – Check out RVParky.  It’s an RV Park Review app.  I have found it to be pretty accurate so far.    Also, join RV Facebook groups.  People post pictures of where they are and talk about campgrounds a lot.  I have a list going in my phone of RV Parks in places that I’d like to go someday.  For instance, I can’t wait to stay at a place called “Flying Flags” in Buellton, California; Jim and Mary’s RV Park in Missoula, Montana; or The Devil’s Tower KOA… not to mention Disney’s Fort Wilderness RV Park in Orlando, Florida.  In the RVParky app, you can find out information about Walmart and Cracker Barrel parking lots where you can camp for free for a quick overnight.  That’s a silly thing that’s on my bucket list!  I’m not really sure why.  Maybe just so I can say I stayed at a Walmart.
  • National Parks and RVing – Depending on the size of your rig and the park, camping inside the National Parks can be a challenge – especially if you’re planning a summer trip!  A lot of National Parks have small sites, not enough hook-up sites, etc.  We have had great luck finding RV parks just outside of places like Yosemite, Glacier, Zion, and Yellowstone to name just a few that have full hookups and larger spaces.  When possible, I will pay for upgraded sites (KOAs often have Premium sites).  They tend to be wider, sometimes have patios, have fire pits, etc.  Do your homework!  When visiting a National Park, don’t try to do it in a day!  Allow at least a day to get to get set up and get the lay of the land, a day or more (I like 5 – 7) to explore the National Park, and then a get-a-way day.  Sometimes it takes a while to get inside the National Parks because there’s a line.  In Zion, we had to park in a lot just outside the gates of Zion National Park and walk in and then, take the shuttle once we were inside.  Take some time to get the hang of how the National Park operates and how busy it is.  Then, allow enough time to enjoy it.  (Of course, I’m a biased National Parks geek!).  I am looking forward to being able to go to National Parks during the off seasons.  We were in Yosemite in January of 2018.  We were staying at the Awahnee for my 50th birthday.  While taking sunset pictures of Half Dome from Sentinel Bridge, we ran into a couple that was staying in one of the campgrounds with full hookups in a 5thwheel.  It was much easier for them to get a reservation in January than say, July.
  • Disney Trips – We love bringing our trailer to Disneyland!  It sounds insane, but hear me out!  We stay about 3 miles from the park in an RV Park called Orangeland.  It has citrus trees growing in it and you’re allowed to pick fruit and eat it.  When you want to get rid of your trash, you leave the bag on in front of your rig and someone comes to pick it up.  It has a nice pool.  It’s a fine place to stay!  The drawback is, you have to drive to Disneyland.  Also, I remember Orangeland being a little spiffier a few years ago.  But, for a place to crash after a long day at Disneyland, it’s just fine!  Here are the BIG benefits:  
    • Your own bed and pillows that you’re used to –  I can’t say enough about getting a good night’s sleep when you’re doing Disneyland!  I am a crazy amusement park closer!  So, I need my endurance!   A good night’s sleep is key to me having enough stamina.
    • Your own breakfast food – We usually eat lunch and dinner inside Disneyland or in Downtown Disney, but we make breakfast in the trailer.  With a family of 4, we figured this saved us at least $50 per day on breakfast.  We also have our own pot of coffee, “normal” food, and get a better and healthier start to the day.  It prevents what we like to call, “vacation gut,” a condition where you feel like you’ve eaten too much greasy food and you have a rock sitting in your stomach.  If you’ve read “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” it’s like being the caterpillar that ate too much and needs to eat through a nice green leaf.  This is a great way to make sure your day is off to a great start and to prevent yourself from feeling like an overly stuffed caterpillar.
    • Your own stuff and a little peace and quiet – Hotels are nice, but it’s great to come back after a long day to your own stuff.  Your rig becomes your second home and coming back to it after a marathon day in an amusement park is restful!  I am a creature comforts person.  I like things like my bathroom drawer where I know where my stuff is, my kitchen and my cups, my fridge, etc.
    • It costs a fraction of what a hotel costs near Disneyland – It has similar amenities such as a pool, but no room service or maid service.  I’d rather save the money and make my own bed!

We can’t wait to go to Disney World in Florida with our trailer.  They have their own RV Park called Fort Wilderness.  As a Disney Geek, I have made this a bucket list item!  My husband is totally on board and is my partner in Disney Geek-ness!

Taking your RV to Touristy Cities can save you money!  RV parks are generally a fraction of what a hotel room costs per night.  Depending on how often you go out to eat, you’ll probably save quite a bit of money on food.  We often save money on evening activities because we capitalize on the opportunity to have a campfire and enjoy s’mores.  When traveling with a family, the cost of gas is generally less than the cost of airfare.  When it’s just two people, it depends on how far you drive and the cost of gas.  Sometimes if you can get bargain airfare, and it’s a toss-up.  

One of the best parts of seeing touristy places with an RV is the road trip!  You’ll get to see a lot more our great country out the window of your car than you would out of an airplane window!   You can also make stops along the way visiting bonus places, like maybe a winery or a chocolate factory!   Maybe you’ll stop at a fruit stand and buy a homemade pie (one of our road trip traditions).   The road is yours!  Start planning!  Enjoy the trip … and the destination!

Next Trailer Girl Blog –  The Economics of RVing ….As Told by Someone Who Majored in Recreation

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!

  1.  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.)
  2. 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!
  3. 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!
  4. 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!
  5. 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!
  6. 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.
  7. 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.  
  8. 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.
  9. 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.  
  10. 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!  

LaCrosse Weather Station with “The Guy”
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.

Winter RV Blues – Tips and Tricks for Keeping Upbeat in the Winter

We live in the Pacific Northwest.  To be fair, this is the first season we’ve done the full-blown winterizing for our trailer.  In the past, my husband has just blown out the lines with an air compressor and left the faucets open.  We only had a problem once.  (I’ll tell you about that at the end.) It makes me sad to think that we can’t just take off whenever we want.  It’s going to take a little more doing to take a winter trip, and a little more re-doing. It might be hard to talk the guy who has to do all this extra work into taking off for a weekend.  You’re probably wondering how I’m even qualified to write this blog post.  Like I said, I live in the Pacific Northwest.  I moved here from Southern California 25 years ago.  It’s dark, it’s cold, it’s wet … YUCK!  Trying to keep in in good spirits in the winter has been a challenge since our first winter here.  Here are some things I do.  Surprise, surprise!  Many are travel related! 

  • Leave town! – I try to get out of the area in the winter for a while (sometimes I even bring the family!).  I usually use an airplane instead of a trailer in the winter.  I’ve been on several mission trips to Nicaragua, visited my brother and his family in Southern California, visited my husband on his business trips to Florida, and this year, we’re going to Hawaii.  Warm places and sunshine are good for the winter blahs.
  • Drink coffee – You wonder why Starbucks is such a big deal in Seattle?  Cheap anit-depressant in a cup.  There ya go!  It helps!  Coffee with friends is even better!
  • Plan our next trips – I usually have our summer trip planned and booked sometime in March or early April.  Having this to look forward to is a huge help.  I try to plan and book a trip for each month from March through October.  
  • Do fun winter things – A few years ago, we took up snowshoeing.  We live about 40 minutes from some great snowshoeing trails.  Going up to the mountains for a day of getting out in the snow is fun and makes us appreciate where we live a little more.
  • Have hibernation days – We sometimes have lazy days in the winter where we hang out at home, watch movies, wear sweats, and just don’t go anywhere.  We savor these days a bit because, in the PNW when it’s nice out, we feel guilty if we’re not outside working  in the yard, hiking, walking the dogs, or otherwise just getting out.
  • Catch up with friends – We have friends who we hardly see all summer because our schedules don’t line up.  They’re out of town or we’re out of town.  They have out of town guests or we have out of town guests.  Whatever!  Winter is a great time to call your friends and get together.   
  • Try new recipes and make notes about which ones will be good RV food – I love cooking.  There’s no better time than when it gets dark at around 5 p.m. to try new recipes.  It’s not like I can be outside working in the yard.  I might as well cook!  
  • Get outside daily – I have dogs.  They make me go outside.  If I don’t walk them every day, I pay for it.  So, every morning, I get up, look at the temperature outside and complain “It’s stupid cold!”, put on several layers, and take the dogs for a walk.  Once I’m out the door and a few blocks away, I appreciate being outside and getting some fresh air.   It also gives me time to think about where I might like to go in the summer….
  • Get enough exercise – There’s nothing worse than hanging out inside and feeling like a blob!  It adds to the blahs, messes up your sleep, and generally makes everything worse.  If you’re snow-bound, you can probably find an exercise video on YouTube that will help.  If you’re not, get out and walk or go to the gym.  You’ll feel better, I promise!
  • Go somewhere in the winter in your rig – If you can get out – go!  We have a favorite spot that’s easy to get to.  There are no snowy passes to go over or anything scary like that.  We’ll go there in the winter sometimes just to get away.  One time, we went and we didn’t follow the directions on the sign that said, “If it gets to freezing temperatures, city water will be cut off to the RV Park.  Make sure you have enough fresh water in your tank.”  That was a bummer … for me!  I didn’t get to use my own shower and had to use the RV Park shower that you put quarters in.  My son and husband found my getting flustered with the whole situation very entertaining.  Now I know better!  I’ll be asking about the fresh water tank!  This year, we went out in March after our Snow-mageddan to Mount St. Helens.  There was still snow in places.  It was cold and we ran out of propane and woke up freezing.  That wasn’t fun either.  Another thing I have to remember to ask about….  The moral of these little stories – make sure you’re prepared if you’re going out in the winter!
  • We’re considering snow-birding – When we retire, and if we’re still living in the PNW, we’ll probably be on the road most of the winter in warmer places.  If you have this ability, I would highly recommend it!  We had some neighbors when we first moved to the PNW that were snow-birds.  We always knew when they were back because their swan planter showed up in the yard.  They wintered in Florida and loved it.  I thought they were old and crazy at the time.  I now see the wisdom in their choice and plan to copy them in our own way!
  • Go to RV Shows – Are you thinking about a new rig?  Are you curious about some rigs you saw on some of your trips?  Go check them out an RV show.  We have gone to RV shows as total looky-loos.   We’ll go find the most expensive rig and see what kind of crazy things they put in it.  We’ll look at newer versions of our own rig.  Whatever, it’s always fun to look!  My husband was out of town for the Winter RV Show in Seattle.  When our trailer was in the shop for our Memorial Day Trip and our trip got cancelled, he decided he owed me an RV show.  There wasn’t one going on so, we decided to go look at Fifth-Wheels.  In order to make it a little less exhausting, we picked out about 6 different rigs on 3 lots that we wanted to look at.  That turned out to be a little dangerous.  We ended up buying our Fifth Wheel while our old rig was in the shop!   It was a little sooner than we had planned, but we are really happy with how everything worked out!
  • Get professional help – If your blues are hanging on, please get help.  Seasonal Affective Disorder is real.  There are lots of ways to treat it.  Hanging out and feeling sad all winter shouldn’t be an option.

So, you’re probably wondering about that time when we had the winterizing fail.   It was our first trailer and our first winter with it.  Sixteen years ago, RVs didn’t have as nice of sinks and faucets as they do now.  Most of the sinks were small and the faucets were some version of the cheapest kind you can find at Home Depot.  Our trailer was no exception to the crummy sink and faucet combo rule.  I really hated the faucet because you couldn’t fit a pan under it to wash it.  It was dumb!  It was probably set up by someone who ate microwave dinners all the time.   We forgot to leave the faucets open on the sink.  My husband went to go pick up the trailer and there was our faucet, broken off and laying in the sink.  YAY!  I got a new faucet that worked much better!  If you like your faucet, don’t forget to leave it open when you store your rig over the winter!

Hang in there!   There are more RV-able months than months where going out is just too cold or too difficult. Find some winter fun, plan your summer, and look forward to being re-united with your rig!

Next Trailer Girl Blog Post – Going to Tourist Towns in Your Rig

Trailer Pizza (AKA Chicken,Garlic & Rosemary Pizza)

This recipe is one we made on our first ever trailer trip and completely burned the bottom of it in the trailer oven. We had to scrape off all the toppings and eat them for dinner! (See my blog post called “Don’t Burn Your Biscuits” for tips on how to deal with RV ovens). It became a trailer trip staple because I can get it going while my husband was outside getting the trailer set up. I can have it in the oven and side salads ready to eat by the time he gets done outside. It works great! We now officially refer to it as “Trailer Pizza” even when we eat it at home. Hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients

  • 1 Pilsbury canned pizza crust
  • About 8 oz Chicken cooked (I use frozen chicken tenders and cook them in a Pampered Chef micro cooker with water in my microwave)
  • 1 Sprig of Rosemary – chopped
  • 2 Cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
  • 2 – 3 Cloves Garlic
  • 1/2 Medium Red Onion – thinly sliced
  • 3 TBSP Olive Oil
  • 1/2 Tsp Salt

Directions

  1. Heat oven to 425 degrees
  2. Pop open your pizza crust onto a cookie sheet and spread evenly over the cookie sheet (I use a rectangle pizza stone)
  3. Mix together: Chicken, 2/3 of the cheese, Rosemary, Garlic, and Onions
  4. Add Olive Oil and Salt and Mix together
  5. Spread over pizza crust
  6. Top with remaining cheese
  7. Turn oven DOWN to 400 degrees and bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes check it and turn it (unless your RV oven cooks perfectly!), and bake about 10 minutes more until crust is golden on the bottom and cheese is melted. Depending on your oven issues, your cheese may not brown without burning your crust. If that’s the case, turn the oven down again and try getting the cheese to brown a little more.

Next Trailer Girl Blog – Winter Blues – How Not to Get Sad When your Rig is Winterized

Having Guests in your RV and our Adventure with Our Trailer at the Airport

Let me begin this blog post by saying I probably have no business writing it.  I am in a Facebook group for owners of our rig’s manufacturer.  I thought I knew what I was doing until I saw pictures of peoples’ beautiful spreads they put out at the national rally last month. Suffice it to say, I’m a low-key entertainer and I like it that way.  

When we purchased our current 5thwheel one of the things we shopped for was more visiting space.  Not more sleeping space.  We tested the pull-out bed in the sofa to make sure it was comfortable so that we could have over night guests.  If it wasn’t, it would have been a deal breaker.  It turns out, the pull-out bed is more comfortable than the bunks in our old trailer.  Go figure!  We wanted more visiting space because we end up camping in places where we’re visiting other people, or people come to visit us.  It’s fun!

If you’re still shopping and you think this might be your situation, you might consider something with an island in the kitchen and a living space near the kitchen.  It makes for great visiting, snacking, and fun. We purchased our rig in May. Since our purchase, we have camped 20 nights in it on four separate trips.  On only one of those trips were we without visitors.  Our “rear living” / island kitchen has served us very well! We love it!

Here are some things I keep in mind when entertaining in my rig:

  • K.I.S.S.– My geometry teacher in 10thgrade always used to remind us when solving proofs, “Keep It Simple…Stupid.”  (I seriously doubt he was calling anyone stupid!  I think he was trying to get teenagers attention after lunch).  Back when my kids were little and before we had a trailer, I tried to be my own version of Martha Stewart.  I pretty much failed at it because I turned into a crazed over thinking entertaining machine that my family dreaded.  Therefore, they dreaded any party I’d throw.  It was no fun for them!  Now that I’m older, and wiser (Ha! More like older and more tired!), I’ve realized that no one cares how fancy your party is.  They care that the company is fun.  These days, sometimes I even leave the chips in the bags! (Gasp!).  Really, make it fun for you!  Don’t go overboard!
  • Plan ahead –I really love to cook.  When I’m camping, my cooking is much simpler.  I marinate meat before the trip and freeze it, make simple salads, make things ahead when possible, etc.  That way, when I’m ready to have guests, I can pull things out and go.  No major prepping in the rig.  
  • Grill!– Everyone loves good grilled food!  You can grill anything.  I know someone who grills peaches and says they’re delicious.  I prefer steak, but whatever!  When you grill, it brings people outside, keeps your rig cooler, and makes less dishes to wash.
  • Easy clean-up is key –Most rigs don’t have dishwashers.  Mine doesn’t.  Easy clean-up is a big deal.  Use recipes and foods that are easy to clean up.
  • Whenever possible, invite people who help –So far, we’ve been super lucky this summer with company that helps.  On our first trip out in our rig, the people we camped with wanted to cook for us in our rig. It was awesome!  We just watched as they cooked.  Later, we washed the dishes while they watched.  When we camped with my brother and sister-in-law, they were super helpers.  My brother loves grilling and cleaning the grill, so he cooked all of our grilled meat. My sister in law likes drying dishes (or pretends to) and jumps up to help as soon as anyone is at the sink.  Having people like this over makes entertaining a lot more fun.
  • Order pizza!– In our favorite place to camp, we love the pizza place in town! We order pizza and bring it back to the trailer.  We’ll make salad, have wine and drinks ready, and have a fun, easy, and delicious dinner.
  • Pot-luck it– We have friends that we camp with regularly.  We eat together on the nights that we’re camping together. When we don’t order pizza or do something “organized,” we’ll have a BYOM (bring your own meat) pot-luck.  We share sides, salads, drinks, etc.  Then, for dessert we’ll have s’mores.  It’s fun!

Overnight guests

We are in a new phase of life.  We’re empty nesters.  For 15 years, we had bunkhouse trailers.  Our first rig had 4 bunks and we let our kids bring friends on our trips sometimes. Other times, we parked it in our driveway when we needed more sleeping space at the house and sent some kids out to sleep in the driveway.  My brother and his family would come up to visit, but there is no hotel in our town and no room in our house.  So, we parked our trailer in the RV park and they stayed in our “vacation condo.” This past summer, we realized that our kids hadn’t come on a long trip with us in years and that we were only using the bunkhouse for was storing my husband’s golf clubs.  We decided it was time to re-think the bunkhouse situation. We bought a 5thwheel with a comfortable pull out sofa-bed (Not a jack-knife sofa.  Jack Knife pull outs are only comfortable for kids!).  It turned out to be a good choice.

My brother and his family have a 23-foot travel trailer.   They rarely ever camp anywhere with hook-ups and sometimes tease us about how wimpy we are for going to RV parks.  They live in Southern California where he owns a landscape business.  Getting away for more than 7 or 8 days at a time is really hard for them.  As a result, it’s kept them camping mostly in California, Arizona, and Nevada.  We let them know we were planning a trip to Glacier National Park.  At the time, we had our bunkhouse trailer that they had used in the local RV park when they came up to visit us.  My brother said, “We’ll come!   We’ll fly up to Montana and we’ll camp with you and sleep in your bunk beds!” A plan was hatched!

After we hatched the plan, we traded in the bunkhouse and sweated a bit about whether or not having guests on the pull out sofa bed was going to be a good situation.  We did our best to make it as comfortable as possible. Here are some things we did:

  • Got a good mattress pad for the pull out– Even though the pull out is comfortable, it’s still not a mattress.  A quality mattress pad helps with that.
  • Got quality bedding – Nice sheets, comfortable pillows, and a nice quilt made the bed a lot more comfortable.
  • Found space for them to unpack their bags – Suitcases in a trailer would be a trip hazard! Our new rig has a cupboard that is “extra” for us.  We decided to keep it empty so that if we have guests, they can put their things in there.  They unpacked their suitcases into the cupboard and we stowed the suitcases in the basement storage of the trailer.  It worked great!
  • Made space in the medicine cabinet – Our medicine cabinet is HUGE for a trailer. We made one side of it empty so it could be just for them.  
  • Find places to hang towels – We live and camp in the Pacific Northwest.  It is imperative that we have places to hang wet things inside the trailer.  We put some hooks in the “hallway” of the trailer for this.  Our guests used them to hang their towels.  
  • Gave them space – We made it a point to go to bed at a decent time and let them have the living space to themselves.  We watched some TV in the bedroom.  It helped that we hiked almost every day.  Everyone was, as my sister in law would say, “knackered.”  We were all ready to flop fairly early.
My brother and his wife on our pull out sofa bed. They were great trailer guests!
Decor note: Our trailer isn’t this white inside. It’s much more “dirt – beige.” The ability to camouflage dirt was a big selling point. Don’t go thinking I’m some sort of person who can keep white furniture clean while camping!

You’re probably wondering where our airport adventure fits into this post.  Well, on this trip to Glacier, my brother and his wife flew into Kalispell, Montana.  We had a great plan.  We used Google Maps and found a Cabela’s with 40 Acres of parking and a Chick-fil-A in the parking lot.  The plan was for them to take an Uber to the Cabela’s parking lot.  We had a meeting time.  It was a great plan!

We were coming from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho where we had spent a night on the way to Montana.  We stopped in St. Regis, Montana to buy a Huckleberry Pie (very important to the Montana experience), some jam, and use the restroom.  There’s a really great traveler’s stopping place there with a great store, restaurant, espresso, ice cream, etc.  We looked around a bit, but not terribly long.  When we got in the truck, we were shocked at the time!!  How was it possible that we had spent an hour and a half in that store?!  I checked my brother’s flight on my phone and it said it was late.  Perfect.

We started booking down the road when I got a text from my brother, “Just landed.”  I looked at the GPS and we were 80 miles out.  So, I texted back, “Crap!  We’re 80 miles out!  Take your time getting your bags and getting to Cabela’s.”  We continued on trying to figure out where the time went.  Later we got a text from my brother that said, “Uber says ‘No cars available.’  Now what?” We texted back and forth with things like, “Are you working the Uber app right?”  He sent a screen shot of the Uber app.   Looked right…  “How about Lyft?”  Finally, he calls.  “I’ve been walking around the airport and I think you can pick us up in the passenger pick up area.”  We’re thinking, “Obviously, he doesn’t know how tall we are!”  I explain how much clearance we needed and he assured me that since he’s had plenty of time, he’s walked the whole outside of the airport and it’s going to work.

We drove to the airport and picked them up in the passenger pick up area.  Of course, this irritated the people behind us and they insisted on honking.  So, we were throwing suitcases into the back of the truck trying to avoid the 5thwheel hitch and laughing because the scene was just crazy!  

We drove over to the Cabela’s and Chick-Fil-A and had lunch and did some “we forgot__.” shopping.  At one point in the store, I checked my watch and it was an hour earlier than I thought.  Then, I checked my phone to see the time.  Head slap!  We didn’t get the memo!  There was a time change between Idaho and Montana!  We lost an hour!  

The whole trip went really well and we decided that we’ll do it again sometime.  They stayed with us 7 nights and we had a great time.  They reported being comfortable and said they enjoyed their stay.  We might have to avoid the airport, but everything else worked out great!  We are proud to be able to say we picked up people from the airport with our trailer attached.  Not everyone can say that.

Entertaining in your rig is fun.  There are lots of ways to do it from tail-gaiting, to pot-lucks, to just having people over for s’mores.  I see people in RV parks camping with friends and sharing meals.  I never really considered when we bought our first rig how social it could be.  We have been happily surprised at how much fun we’ve had entertaining in our rig!

Enjoy your rig and entertaining at your own speed.  You don’t even have to entertain at all if you don’t want to!  It’s your rig!  It’s your vacation!  Enjoy it!

Feature Photo note: This photo was taken in our backyard at a barbecue with my grandparents. The kid with the big bow in her hair is me. That was our trailer when I was a little kid. My brother and I figured out that it had been about 45 years since we camped together in a trailer by the time of the Glacier trip in this blog. My parents sold it and we were tent campers after that … until we had kids of our own….

Next Trailer Girl blog post – Why I’m Banned from Barstow

My Favorite Things for Storage in an RV

Storage is a tricky thing in an RV.  Closets and cupboards are small, sometimes oddly shaped, and it’s hard to find a place for everything.  I am a neat freak.  I like having a place for everything and everything in its place.  I hate looking for things and I hate messy clutter – especially in my trailer!  I’m on vacation!  Don’t mess up my space!  In our 15 years of RVing and traveling with kids and dogs, we’ve learned a few tricks.

First and Foremost – Choose Wisely!

If you’re still shopping for your rig, make sure you’re thinking about what you’ll want to bring and where you might put things inside. When we were shopping for our first bunkhouse trailer in 2004, we had trouble finding one that actually had room for clothes and food in the length we were looking for. The RV industry has changed quite a bit since then and they are using storage as selling points. So, they better have it already! If you’re already in your rig and trying to figure this all out, keep reading. I’ll find room for your stuff!

Secondly – don’t bring too much stuff!  

It’s not as easy as it sounds!  Especially when you’re traveling with kids!  The less stuff you have, the less you have to figure out where it goes.   We travel around the Pacific Northwest.  The weather is unpredictable.  I always pack way more clothes than I need for any given trip – you know, just in case the weather doesn’t turn out to be what it says on my iPhone!  

Here are our packing parameters.  We have folding crates that we keep in the trailer and use for packing.  We leave them in the living room at home while we’re gone. When our kids were little, we would give them a packing list and their crates, and they weren’t supposed to pack more than would fit in the crate.  That worked great most of the time.  There were a few trips where we had to make an emergency trip to Walmart for underwear, but for the most part, it taught them to be really good packers!  My husband and I use the same rule.  I have learned over the past 15 years how to pile over the top of the crate too.  When we packed for a 10-night trip, I got all of my stuff in one crate …. Piled pretty high! Once our crates are in the trailer, we un-pack it into our closets and leave the crates in the living room of our house.  (See my blog post about Weird RV Closets for more closet tips.)

We also use the crates for packing food but fill the crates up as many times as needed to pack for the trip.  The amount of food we bring varies with our destination.  For one of our favorite go-to get-a-ways, sometimes all we’ll pack is juice, coffee, and some breakfast food and figure out the rest when we get there. There’s a grocery store, a wine shop, and some restaurants that we like in town.   Figuring our meals out while we’re there is part of the fun.  For our 10-night trip, we packed like we weren’t going to see a grocery store outside of a camp store.  It served us well!

Containerize 

If you’ve read any of my blogs, you know that I hate jumbled messes.  So, as a neat freak, I am also a bit of a container freak.  I find stores like the Container Store inspiring.  I’m weird like that!   My love of containers has served us well while RVing.  They keep things from jumbling while we’re on the road.  Here are some of my favorites:

  • Clear Bins.  I have them all over the place in our trailer!  I love them!  I can see what’s in them and they keep everything upright and tidy.
Clear plastic bins are my favorite way to keep things from jumbling on the road.
  • Sterlite or Rubbermaid Containers with drawers.  These are great under sinks or in the bottom of a closet when you don’t have a drawer. Measure your space before you buy.
The drawer adds space to my storage under the sink.
  • Crushable Baskets– These squish into spaces as needed.  We use one for our dirty clothes under the bed.  After our trip, we bring in all the laundry.  Our trailer has to live in storage.  When the laundry is all done, we take the basket with clean laundry back to the trailer in storage.  
I use a crushable basket like this for my dirty laundry. I bring the laundry home, wash up everything, and use it to return any of the clean laundry that lives in the trailer.
I purchased this from the Container Store. Click here for shopping link.
  • Shower Caddies– Find one that works for your shower.  My new favorite is one with knobs that make the suction cups actually stick.  It’s worth the extra money.  Our stuff stays put on the road.  It’s no fun cleaning up shampoo goo out of the shower!  In our first trailer, there was no place to put a shower caddy, and we had a plastic basket with a handle. It was full of shampoo, body wash, etc. It lived in the shower when we were parked but was put away in the cupboard when we were on the road.  If you use this method, be sure to dry it out before you put it in the cupboard, or you could end up with a whole new mess. See photo below of my new favorite shower caddy from Bed Bath and Beyond.
  • Plastic baskets for cleaning supplies– Things like dish soap, Windex, etc. sometimes leak.  If they’re going to leak, they should leak in a container that’s easy for you to clean out. Also, they’re less likely to leak if they can stay upright while you are on the road.
  • Plastic bins for anything liquid– I have things like olive oil, vinegar, wine, etc. in clear bins.  This way, the contents of the bin stay upright and if there are any leaks, I can just clean the bin instead of my cupboard.
  • Nesting items – Put things inside of other things. Think nesting bowls, pots and pans, etc. I put my dry measuring cups inside my clear glass big measuring/mixing bowl. I can always see where they are.
  • Zippable Soft Containers – I’m sure they have a better name, but I like them because they’re squish-able. If I were to put whatever I have inside of my zipper container in a bin, there might be wasted space and there would be no flexibility for storing things around it. I use these for things like sheets. You could also put seasonal items such as hats and gloves in one so they’re not in your way in the middle of summer. I got mine from the Container Store.
Squish-able Zippered Storage keeps things together and tidy when they’re not in use. I use mine for extra sheets. It lives under the bed. Click here for shopping link

Make use of your nooks and crannies

If you’re like us, when you looked at your trailer at the dealer, you looked at the basement storage and thought, “Wow!  Look at all of that space!”  Then, you put your sewer hoses, water hose, chalks, a few chairs, and a grill in there and thought, “Dang!  We could use more space!”  Many trailers have hidden storage space.  Here’s where to look:

  • Under the bed– if you have a designated “master bed” (some trailers have Murphy Beds), most likely there is some storage underneath.  You might be able to lift the entire mattress and access all the space under your bed easily.  In our last trailer, we had storage under the bed, but it was too hard to lift the mattress.  So, we had drawers built into the bed.  It was a great modification that was worth every penny we spent on it!  Here’s what we keep under the bed:  Dirty clothes, laundry supplies, and a mop.  When we are on a trip where we’ll be doing some hiking, we’ll put our backpacks, trekking poles, and boots under the bed as well.  
  • Under the dinette – If you have a booth dinette, you most likely have storage under the seats.  In all 3 of our trailers, we’ve been able to lift up the cushions, to find a piece of plywood that lifts out to expose storage.  We keep things that we don’t use very often in our dinette storage such as beach towels, a beat-up pot for cooking things like clams, etc.  It’s also a great place to store things like board games.
  • Under the sofa – If you have a jack-knife sofa, you might be able to access storage under your sofa.  We were able to do this in our first trailer.  It was a little awkward to get at.  So, it was best to keep things like extra blankets under there.  
  • Add hooks – Our trailer has a funny little closet that is supposed to be a coat closet. They even went to the trouble of hanging a bar in it for hangers. Only one little problem. The closet is too small for hangers. So, my husband installed several hooks in there. Now we have a place for dog leashes, jackets, etc. We have also added hooks on one of our walls for hanging wet jackets and things.

Create your own storage

We are on a Facebook page for owners of our brand of trailer. It’s fun to see pictures of their modifications. Many trailers in our brand come with a table and chairs. People are building or buying benches with storage and replacing the chairs with these benches at their tables. I think it’s pretty smart! Our rig has a dinette with booth type seating. I love it. It’s comfortable and there’s storage underneath. Maybe there are other ways your can add storage to your rig.

No matter what size your RV is, you can pack it in a way that works for you.  Just remember, before you traveled in an RV you probably packed a suitcase when you traveled.  How did you fit a week in one suitcase?  Maybe you car camped and you shoved your tent, sleeping bags, coolers, and everything in a hatchback. You can do this!  You’ve got lots more space than your suitcase!  How are you going to make it so its functional and fun?  Remember, you’re on vacation!  Have fun!

Next Trailer Girl Blog Post – Entertaining in your RV and our Adventure with Our Trailer at the Airport 

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