Journey to 17 Days On The Road

I am finishing up my final preparations to start 17 days on the road tomorrow.  It will be my lonest trip in the teardrop, my longest trip as an adult and the lonest period of time as an adult that I won’t be working.  That last part is what is actually stressing me out the most.

I’ve been working towards getting ready for this a couple months, a little at a time.  Luckily I didn’t have a lot of work to do at this point, just some minor modifications to make things a little easier.  One that is small is a way to organize my cables and chargers. I have accumulated quite a collection of small electronics that make tiny camping easier, like the Kindle I’m trying to get used to using, but they all require their own charger.  While the table over the charging station is great to leave things plugged in, cables don’t stay there during travel.  I looked for a while and found these small cargo nets, designed  to hold a cell phone on the side of the middle console of a vehicle.

They worked so well I ordered 2 more to put by the door to hold things I need to get to easily.

On a couple stops on this trip I will be doing boondocking for an extended period of time so the biggest additions were for power.  I finally invested in a solar panel.  I needed a battery over the winter so I went ahead and upgraded it then to a larger size to work towards this.

I also invested in a larger inverter with 2 plugs.  While many of my electronics run on the 12 volt USB ports, my electric blanket and laptop both need an inverter, so I went ahead and invested one I can run both on.

I also decided to invest in a small clock for my bedside table since I seem to always realize I can’t see the clock at the end of the bed without glasses in the middle of the night.

My last somewhat major addition is an inside, super mini fridge.  It’s just big enough to hold a 6 pack of drinks and will be more convenient than climbing out and moving everything out of the way of the fridge in the clamshell for a cold drink.  It can also be turned to heat so if I am somewhere cold I can also use it to warm up water for tea.

For making my life a little easier this trip I made a couple small modifications.  One was adding a hook for my shower bag and added extra straps to hang it high enough to be off my head while I sleep.  Previously I had it setting in the console in front of the bed but hang over the edge. So just a small change for comfort.

The last change is in how I pack.  I recently went to Texas Tiny Trailer Rally and saw many people rolling their clothes for more compact storage.  I had not thought about it, but it makes sense and I was able to pack everything I need for the trip in my baskets easily.

So, with everything packed and set we will hit the road tomorrow.  More posts to come soon!