M
muskie - tagging you so you are sure to see this.
Our trip was a full week. Saturday to the next Sunday. Things I did wrong was we moved every night except the three nights at my buddy's place. That was a lot of setup and tear down. I planned for short driving days but they always took longer than I planned so we were racing to get in before dark and then we would try to leave by 10 so we had limited enjoyment at our camp sites. First night it was pitch black backing this thing in for the first time. I don't know how but I did it first try. We did get a pretty good system for setting up and tearing down and we can do it pretty fast now. We ended up re organizing the trailer then taking a picture and using that to repack each day.
One major challenge for us that we didn't plan for was bears. So either you need a campsite with a bear locker or you need to put your food in the truck. We have a giant Yeti style cooler that barely fits in the extended cab and that was a pain in the dick to deal with. So for our next trip I need to plan on that better.
Lighting was the thing that needs the most improvement. We learned that night one setting up in the dark. We were very thankful for the headlamps and the fact they also had red leds, but that wasn't really enough. I put lights in the tent which were amazing but we need something outside. Heather wants me to add some ambient lighting under the trailer so when you are walking around it you can see but it isn't so bright that it is affecting other camp sites. I would also like something that glows down into the trailer so you can find stuff. Finally we need a light in the annex which needs to be red and white. I piss at least once a night so when I get up I need a light.
I bought the unlimited data package for the trip in the truck so we at ATT data that way and we use Google FI which has US Cellular, Sprint, and TMobile and we still spent a nearly 24 hour period where we had nothing. I never saw that coming and that was a bit of a difficulty. I didn't think anywhere we were going would be that far off the reservation so we relied on the trucks built in GPS and winged it. We got low on gas at one point so that was a little hairy but in the end it worked out.
Our Stanley cook set is great but the pan that comes with is the complete opposite of non stick. Heather would complain about it daily. Our oven was cool and garnered some attention, but not near as much as the trailer. I discussed mpg with
Bub and
Yaj Yak and
ilikemtb999 and I don't recall what it was but we decided it was within expectations. I know at first it was rough and kept getting a little better. I did decide the trailer is too light to use two mode though and MPGs improved once I turned it off.
It was much colder at night that I expected when I planned it. Cooler weather came in just as we were leaving and of course the forecasters are never right. First night setting up in the dark didn't realize a tent window was open since it was so dark so woke up and went DOH. Our first 3 nights were all sub 40 and the coldest was about 36. The mornings were crisp but otherwise we weren't uncomfortable. We brought our bikes but unfortunately due to my planning there wasn't a lot of opportunity to use them. Heather really wanted to see some starts but as I previously mentioned I went for wooded sites, whoops. We had plenty of power since the Goal Zero charged off the truck during the day and we don't use much power but the solar needs improvement if we keep to wooded sites.
Firewood, oh man, what a PITA that was. You aren't supposed to bring it with you and some of these camp sites don't have it and when you get in late finding it isn't easy. Wifey was not pleased a couple nights because of that. I think I am going to throw a few emergency 2x4 chunks in the trailer for the next trip to avoid any meltdowns.
Water system was super handy for all our cleaning. We went the whole week and I think only used like half the water. We had a Gatorade cooler for drinking water and had to fill that up twice. uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
I think that concludes my rambling for now. I'll be happy to answer any questions.