What to pack? ...

[Overlandmom]

Have your husband read this:

http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...ouse-to-the-idea-of-family-adventure-planning

Couple of ideas:

For the child, see what consumables you use per day. Then you will have an idea of what to budget for the kid (I am not a parent so this is the "unknown but try to quantify" within me). Also begin researching on hospitals in the vicinity and other places just in case, you know where to go (once again, I'm not a parent but I do this on trips because accidents/illness happens to ANYONE so knowing is easier than figuring it out).

Shakedown runs (local camping/trips) before is a CAPTIAL idea. Somewhere your husband is familiar with is always preferred. The problem initially is that you pack too much crap. I know I did it. I had a giant truck and even with only me in it, I would have it slammed full of crap. It took a while to fully understand what I NEEDED and what I didn't. This came with practice. I learned that if you bring a bunch of little items that are "spares", then it adds up.

At the hardware store, there is this stuff made for your lawn to keep bugs away. You sprinkle it on the ground. I would research this.

My husband and I did read that thread about getting a non-outdoorsy woman into overlanding. It does have some useful information. Your suggestion about the average number of consumables/day is terrific. I do this for the diaper bag items already, but I am going to start with everything else including my stuff and my husbands. I really appreciate all the effort you put into your response. We are going to do some dry runs around here to test ourselves and our equipment. Thanks again - can't wait to post pics of the actual adventure!

 

[007]

My wife takes a journal and records each day, time we got up, the temp, where we went and all the funny or interesting things that were
said or done. She then logs on to Shutterfly and creates a book from the photos and journal writing. If the trip is 5 or more days, it gets its own book, little trips are compiled into a year book.

It is amazing how well this works to preserve the memories, and if you have some writing talent, everyone in the family will start looking forward to the trip books. My wife has gotten out of nearly every camp chore by using that time to record or write

 

[Drover]

My wife takes a journal and records each day, time we got up, the temp, where we went and all the funny or interesting things that were
said or done. She then logs on to Shutterfly and creates a book from the photos and journal writing. If the trip is 5 or more days, it gets its own book, little trips are compiled into a year book.

That is such a good idea!! Have done that in the past for special events etc, but never thought to do that for individual trips

 

[Overlandmom]

Great idea, uploading pics daily to shutterfly. I use blurb to make an annual photo album for my husband of our year, but I am always scrambling to upload pictures at the end. I will definitely incorporate this suggestion. Thanks!

 

[bob91yj]

We have a campground in the center of town. It's a nice place to go unwind, as well as to do a shakedown for us before a big trip. If we forgot something, the house/store is 10 minutes away. When you have your gear set up, try a local trip for a night or two and see how it goes. Good luck. We've just started taking our 3 year old grandson out with us. Kid's are a game changer, that's for sure!

 

[Overlandmom]

Thanks! We were out this weekend but not overnight. It was a good day trip into NH White Mnts, and we learned a few things about packing etc... We do need to look into some overnight trips, but it will be pretty cold here almost until the day we leave. In the meantime, I am so grateful to everyone here for all the great advice. We are looking at kitchen set-ups now and are still debating about our RTT. I am checking out the overland chef forum for cooking ideas, we have a farm and try to eat locally. I don't want to go away from that while we travel. We raise beef cattle so we are going to try and transport some of our steaks (Wagyu/Kobe) with us to enjoy on the road.

 

[LR Max]

For what you just described, if I wanted to bring all of my meat with me on a long trip, I'd get a foam cooler and fill it full of dry ice and put the meat in there. That would help it last roughly 3 days. Then a day or two to thaw up in the fridge/freezer. Right there you've bought yourself 5 days of maintaining some fresh meat if you don't restock the dry ice.

Oh and when you are done with the foam cooler, you cut it up and throw it in a gas station trash can. Now you don't have it rattling around in the back anymore.

However I caution you on this. Half of the time traveling, you find REALLY GOOD local food. I know farm fresh is awesome but at the same time you want the full experience.

For the RTT, I say call my friend Steve at Southeast overland (just google that) and talk to him. He uses his a lot and he knows what he is talking about. I think he stocks quite a number of them and has provided them to a few of my friends. One of my friends travels by himself so he got a small one (makes sense). Another put one on his trailer but he travels with his wife so they got a little bit bigger one. Steve also has a bunch of other good stuff that you probably also might want to look into.

Hate to say it, but camping NOW while its cold is a good idea. If memory serves, the desert gets cold at night.

 

[Overlandmom]

Thanks LR Max -
We ship using dry ice so we knew that trick. I'm not sure it will make it to Moab, because we have to stop in Chicago and drop off our dogs. We will figure it out.

I didn't think about the nighttime temp in UT - I will look into that. Thanks for pointing that out.

http://www.overland4moms.com


www.overland4moms.com/blog
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Overlandmom]

My husband just told me he has decided to purchase a tear drop trailer or expedition trailer. I wanted to be able to voice an opinion on this, but I have no idea what the benefits or drawbacks of either would be. Any suggestions?

As a reminder - we will be driving from VT to LA and back and plan to camp in UT, AZ, and CA. We have a baby girl who will be 14 mo old when we travel. I think he is moving in this direction for comfort...


www.overland4moms.com/blog
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Amy H]

There are so many trailers out there. If you aren't going off road alot...look at a t@b made by Little Guys. It is really light weight, queen size bed, either a kitchen in the back or inside, tall enough for a person to stand in. It could be a great choice for your kiddo. Most come with a heater/ac unit. There are off road trailers that look like little boxes on wheel that either pop open or have RTT style built in. The boulvard is a light weight tent trailer that can be ordered with off road tires. I am sure there will be tons of threads on here to help you out with. I personally didn't want to pull a trailer, since I have seen people go down roads where they couldn't really turn around with a trailer behind them when they got into a tight spot. I also travel through the mountains on every trip and didn't want the sway behind me. Just my thoughts.

 

[Overlandmom]

Thanks. We have some experience hauling cattle in trailers and I hate the sway too. My main concern with RTT is having to go down for bathroom at night. First the ladder and second my baby will be in the RTT up high with my husband who sleeps like the dead. I'm worried she will fall out while I'm down using the facilities ...

Does anyone have suggestions for keeping an infant safe in RTT?

 

[Overlandmom]

Amy, I checked out the t@b trailer it is amazing. Now I just have to see if it works on the trails we want to travel on....


www.overland4moms.com/blog
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Cleand]

Thanks. We have some experience hauling cattle in trailers and I hate the sway too. My main concern with RTT is having to go down for bathroom at night. First the ladder and second my baby will be in the RTT up high with my husband who sleeps like the dead. I'm worried she will fall out while I'm down using the facilities ...

Does anyone have suggestions for keeping an infant safe in RTT?

Our son is now 12 months and we love our RTT. We put it on top of our discovery 1. We just make sure that it is always zipped. If you are afraid of your child unzipping the tent just put a safety pin or something through the zipper. The RTT makes a great play area when you get tire of chasing a kid around. I will say we are thinking of getting an off road trail to put the RTT on. This is for storage reasons, I hate clutter in the car plus the tent will be lower to the ground and we can drop the trailer and explore without having to pack everything up. The other thing you will need is a trasharoo. It's a life saver with the diapers.

 

[dlh62c]

Just my .02 cents.

You can do a lot of experimenting pertaining to working out processes, finding strengths and pit falls without leaving your home. Set up camp in the back yard, even in the rain. Know what works prior to hitting the road.

daryl

 

[Overlandmom]

Trasharoo? Thanks for the tip! Will check that out ...


www.overland4moms.com/blog
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk