2017 Newfoundland Adventure

Our travel gear

• Homemade Bed Frame
Having had my Zinn mountain bike stolen last year in an Oregon campground, we love the idea of keeping our bikes inside, out of the elements and prying eyes. With the high roof, we have built a bed frame for the back that is high enough (38") to fit our bikes underneath and easily accessible from the rear doorway. A queen size foam mattress fits on top, with room to spare on each side. Our friend Mike K. was kind enough to build it (and even let me be his apprentice). Since we are working on a tight time frame before our first trip, we built it out of wood without too many bells or whistles. It should be functional and give us a good idea how Version 2 will improve on the functionality.
• Storage Box
So we had some plywood left over from the bed frame construction, and Mike K. offered to use it to build a storage box, which will sit at the end of the bed and make getting in and out of the raised bed easier. It can also serve as an additional seat as needed.
• Countertop / Storage shelf
I was encouraged by Mike K.'s skills to try and go it alone and build a open-face box out of plywood. It's counter height (34") and four feet long and van-living shallow (18" deep), and it will be on one side of the van, overlapping part of the sliding door. For now it will hold clear plastic containers. To give it a touch of class, we got a beautiful glass countertop from Moyer Marble
• Kitchen Countertop
Having not totally screwed up the simple countertop, I built a slightly longer (55") and deeper (20") box, but this one has a separator wall to keep our water apart from the storage area. One end has a sink and a manual pump faucet. There are two water jugs below and behind a very simple door, one for drinking water, one for gray water. The shelf is placed to hold our Coleman stove snugly. Below that will be more storage. It also got a matching countertop from Moyer Marble
• Memory Foam Mattress
We move from cots and thermarests to a memory foam mattress. We've tried it out on the floor, and it provides enough support for my heavy (230#) frame. After a few nights, we added another few inches of memory foam we picked up at a Wal-Mart, and the combo kept my hip and shoulder away from the plywood base, and proved more comfortable than any motel bed.
• Screen Room
Too big to pack in our Subaru, but the Sprinter has the space, and it is a piece of cake to put up and take down. There are bugs out there, and this keeps them at bay without drenching yourself in deet.
• Camp chairs
These are easy to pack, and they are mesh which makes them better in warm climes. They are perfect for relaxing in the screen room.
• Prep Sink
• Hand Pump
We don't need a lot of kitchen facilities, so a simple sink and manual pump should've been sufficient. Alas, the pump failed immediately, but the sink proved handy and water jugs were workable.
• Camp stove
We've had our Coleman stove for many years, and it continues to work well. Propane cannisters are easy to purchase as you need them. Per pound cannisters are far more expensive than a tank, but we only used a few in two months, less than the cost of a tank. and much more convenient.
• Cooler
A good cooler is paramount for keeping food cold. There may be times going to the store isn't convenient, so have a quality cooler that keeps things cold for over a day is really important. We had a Yeti cooler that we bought last year with our dividend check and 20% off coupon for one item, so it wasn't as expensive as they usually are. RTIC coolers are supposedly just as efficient, but at a dramatically lower price. But both eventually have ice water that tends to soak everything. So we upgraded to a super efficient fridge that runs on DC or AC power, and intelligently handles both.
• Thermos cup
I drove over my cup on day 1 last year, and I missed it. They are handy to keep coffee or tea warm for inordinate periods, or cold beverages cold. How do it know? IAC, I now have an RTIC 30 oz tumbler with a stainless straw, and I love it, and Sharon finally fell under the spell of a large amount of cold water close at hand all day. Supposedly Walmart often has them by the pallet load, but their price is significantly cheaper than Yeti, and just as functional. Amazon has quite a selection, just search for "stainless steel insulated tumbler".
• plastic boxes for clothes
A great way to organize clothes. Sharon had 3, I had 2, and a sixth contained cooking utensils. They're clear so you can visually see what's in them. They're not very deep, which is fine for clothes and stacking. Our stack was right behind the passenger seat.
• collapsable bowls
A great way to save space in the plastic cooking box, get them with lids so you can use them for storage, too.
• Commode Comfort Chair
We're not ready to put a full bathroom in (yet), but it would be nice to be able to relieve ourselves without having to open a door and walk in the middle of the night. So we chose one step up from the minimal solution of a jar. We'll see if this will prove to be sufficient when the time comes.
• Audiobooks from the library
We will likely try Audible for one book our library doesn't have (I requested it, so maybe they'll come through before we leave). Listening to books on those long stretches are wonderful, and if we have an internet connection, I can log in and select a new book.
• Podcasts
For shorter listening periods, we highly recommend podcasts. They are available from iTunes for iPhone folk, Google Play for Androids, Stitcher for everyone, and so forth. Our favorite podcasts are 99% Invisible (the link above is to it's page on Stitcher), Gastropod, Radiolab, Reply All, Planet Money, The New Yorker Radio Hour. There are many, many more podcasts, but they're all free (AFAIK), with a wide range of listeningability. Some are associated with NPR/PRI shows; sometimes those are the hour long show you can listen to on the air, sometimes they shorter pieces they've done that don't fit into the show format. IAC, they are a great resource on the road. You can only talk about the meaning of relationship for so long!
• AllStays Camp and RV
This app, available for both Android (link above) or Apple (link here) is the app for finding a place to camp while on the road. Recognizing that internet is often iffy on the road, the app is huge, with all of its data included in a database local to your phone. 32GB phones need not apply. It costs $10, and is worth it. You can select the type of places to display, and even without filtering it is easy to distinguish between independent campgrounds and state/provincial/national ones. Check here for details about the app.
• NPR News
This app, available for both Android (link above) or Apple (link here) is nice to listen to the news over your data connection, but that is ofter expensive and intermittent as you're driving. But it has a wonderful feature. The top menu bar of the app says "News" with a tiny triangle. Touch it, and a drop down menu appears, and one option is "stations". Select it, and it will show you where all of the nearby NPR stations are to your location, and their frequency. Rather than relying of the Scan of your radio, you can go directly to the right one. I like it also tells you where the station is broadcasting, so if you left a town 20 minutes ago, and the highway signs are giving you mileage to an upcoming city, You will probably be better off choosing the station your driving towards.