Preparation

Preparing for a three month trip in a van is not easy, at least not for us. We hadnt been camping for over thirty years, so we started with nothing. To divide and conquer, Patti was the buyer and I was the route planner ( the person who hates maps)

First, we needed a comfortable bed. We bought an eight inch foam mattress that is extremely comfortable and which fits into the bed of our van.

Other essentials include a camping stove, cooler, water jug, generator, and bins for all our food, utensils, first aid kit and more. We also purchased some defensive/protective items ( no, not guns) such as bear spray, knives, mace (which got us in trouble in Canada, and a camping hatchet ( which is ok in Canada). We also have whistles and sensor lights on our vehicle.

Planning a route ( which shall remain somewhat secret to keep suspense building )involved determining which places we wanted to visit in each state on our itinerary and then mapping out our route. In all, we will visit about thirty states by leaving from Florida and ending in Maine.

Of course, I didnt mention the most important item we needed - a tent. Our tent doubles as a living room, changing room and bathroom, since our mattress is in the van. It has a piece that attaches to the hatch of the back of the van so that we can move from the car to the tent somewhat easily.

We also have a smaller tent to use as a changing room if we are staying somewhere more than a few days. We even have a makeshift shower if the campground doesnt have one.

That’s all for now. We depart on March 2nd!