Bought a trailer

[hk]

After 7 years of struggling to travel with multiple food allergies, we bought a trailer.  It opens up so many options for us.  We will be hitting the road in a month.  I would love any tips you have for cooking, packing or anything else!  I know many of you have been doing this for years.  Thanks!

[GoingNuts]

I have no advice, but am green with envy.  This is how I've always wanted to travel.

Happy travels to the HK family!

[twinturbo]

For years I was so against recreation vehicles it reminded me of every retired NYer snowbird but FA has forced me to have a come-to-RV moment. Pack once, no hotels, know where your next meal is sourced. No advice but eager to hear your upcoming adventures!

[GoingNuts]

TT, I feel the same.  And I'm not intimidated by driving them; I used to drive our mobile clinic van weekly.  I'm used to the plumbing/electric issues, etc.  I love the idea.

DH would rather stick needles in his eyes. -_-

[twinturbo]

Well, I would be very embarrassed. On the other hand I don't do camping. Ever. Daytrips, sure but peeing in the woods oh no.

[hk]

I'm a 5 star hotel kind of girl so this is going to be a big change for me.  However, with allergies to so many foods, I don't see another way for my DD to travel.  She got tears in her eyes yesterday and said she couldn't believe all of the possibilities this opened up for her.  We've been going to the same 3 hotels for 7 years because they have been able to cook for her.  Anyway, I'd do anything for her so now I camp! 

[twinturbo]

Sorry, hk. I wasn't thinking about how that came out--totally my bad.    The RVers in my neck of the woods are all about 80+ years old in these ginourmous palaces on wheels with their bermuda shorts yanked up to their armpits. I always said, "Never!" but FA has made me about face on many things I would never normally do. As for peeing in the woods, BTDT on camping trips and never mastered it. My poor socks.

I'll try to pitch in what I do remember from my family doing it. They used a lot of Walmarts and KOA campgrounds for hookups (the water and sewer type). I'm thinking that could be a somewhat useful strategy because Great Value labels well and you can get nearly anything you need there. Water can get dicey so when you have to conserve you take a shower using water only to soap up and rinse off. My mother used to be able to cook quite a bit but it was minimal kitchen utensils.

What type of cooking equipment do you have? I'm glad I looked at your signature again I had forgotten about your EE. Where do you think you're going to go? I had mulled over the option of doing some long term road schooling with the kids if we got an RV.

[hk]

Oh TT - I wasn't offended in the least.  Everyone who knows me is pretty surprised by this.  It's the best solution we can come up with so we are going to embrace it (and have a lot of fun along the way)!

Thanks for the tip about WalMarts.  That will be great on nights where there isn't another option.

I'm just stocking up with cookware and everything else we need.  DD still has school this week so I've been at field day and class parties.  Can't wait to get busy working on getting ready for the trip. 

We are leaving in a few weeks to go to Colorado with a nice stop at Zion National Park along the way.  We will also see the north rim of the Grand Canyon.  Haven't figure out the return trip yet.  Next summer will be a visit to my parents on the gulf coast of Florida.  Following year is Washington, D.C., NY and Cape Cod.  I'll be posting about our adventures for sure. 

And my EE is really bad right now so it's nice to have a fun project to focus on!

Thanks for your help!

[dmw237]

We also have a trailer due to the difficulties we had with traveling.  Now we have our own fridge and stove, oven, microwave with us.  It makes meal planning easy.  As for any meal suggestions, I have found that anything you can make from home you can also make in a trailer.  If we know we will be somewhere with specific food we will make sure we stock the "dairy free" options with us.  Such as ice cream we will keep soy ice cream in our freezer.  If I come up with any other meal ideas I will fill you in!

[krasota]

We tent camp, but we take our camp kitchen with us on all lengthy trips (camping or not).  I stop in parks and rest areas for meals.  With a travel trailer, you'll probably stick to rest areas since tiny town parks might not be navigable with a pull behind camper.  Many state parks have sizable parking areas at their picnic grounds, though, so that's sometimes an option.