The Cat That Walks By Herself

For this trip I brought my GCI Outdoor Folding table, which basically serves as a place to park the Coleman classic green camp stove, and all of our kitchen accoutrements so that they don't take up all of the room on the picnic table. This thing is pretty cool and you can use it for other functions -- for outside movies, we use it to hold the projector and speaker. Bonus points for having a small bungee cord to attach your paper towel roll. No more asking "Where are the paper towels?" every five seconds. We used the storage on the bottom center for my kitchen box, kept utensils off to the right side, plates on the top left, and the sink for the dirty dishes on the bottom left. I love this thing and wish I'd bought it sooner. This was around 90 bucks when I bought it and it was the last one they had at Dick's Sporting Goods. I've been waiting since last spring to use it on a camping trip and it didn't disappoint. 

We also picked up this nonstick aluminum griddle, which makes cooking for more than one person at a time a lot easier. It takes a little getting used to because the burners are on the ends, but it's better than working in tiny pots and pans. Coghlan's is a ubiquitous camping gear company, sold whereever gear is sold, and tends to be very reasonably priced. If you're a novice camper and just want to try some things out before investing in something more extravagant, they have pretty much everything you need. I think this griddle was around 22 dollars. 

Ordinarily we just bring a few trash bags with us and we wind up awkwardly hanging it on a tree or the canopy leg or something. This means that it's often somewhere off in the dark away from the campfire. I bought a pop up trash can from Coghlan's (their stuff is reasonably priced and great for the beginner -- there's no need to spend a bunch of money on camping gear in all cases and this is one of them.) You put the bag in, clip it with some clothespins, and now you can have your trash and/or recycling bin at the fire with you. We also used our cooler as a side table, which means that I wasn't running back to the car everytime I needed a new beverage. You can zip it closed, and it's relatively leak proof so you can store the trash in your car overnight if you don't feel like hiking to the campsite dumpster or driving over there. When you're ready to leave, collapse it down and stick it in your trunk. Barring any catastrophes, the inside should stay pretty clean. Our old method sometimes meant trash bags blowing away in strong winds, or falling down when there was too much in them, or just being carted off int he night by critters. This thing addresses all of those issues. You can find this trash can at virtually any place that sells camping gear. 

During the heat of the day, I turned on my Geek Aire Fan (20+ hours of battery life, ya'll), and dunked my Matador Nanodry towel in some water, then wrapped it around my head, making sure to wet my ears and neck area well. Then I cranked up the fan and sat in front of it and managed to stay mostly cool for the four hours where the heat was hovering around 84-86 degrees. The nanotowel dries very quickly, especially when you've got a fan running on it. I was able to use it for showering later that evening with no problem. I had my doubts when I purchased it, but it's turned out to be a handy piece of gear in the heat. This towel was about 35 bucks on Moosejaw, which gives excellent cash back rewards. The geek aire fan is about 150 dollars if you get the one with the Misting attachment, which I did, and then did not use. Any battery operated fan would work fine, or an electric one if you've got power at your site. 

 

Hoping my next trip is more cozy and less hot.