Mini Van Camping Road Trip East Coast to Rockies
I want to convert the minivan into a camper temporarily.
Below are the explanations and details of what I am looking for:
I am no rookie when it comes to family camping. When the kids were wee little ones I decked out the Tent camping by staying a week at one place at a time... then to facilitate the packing and unpacking, I moved on to a very nice pop-up. There we camped for years... but gas $$ became a problem with my suburban so with much sadness, I sold the pop-up and exchanged the Suburban for a Prius. (please no comments on this, it was a purely economical decision).:p
Camping slowed way down as the kids became teens with sports training and a couple went off to college. All that is left is the annual youth group camping trip.. tents.
But the embers have been re-kindled now that we have a 2-year goal to prepare to go out west to Wyoming for my daughter's graduation. I have recently remarried and with that came 2 more kids (9yb & 13yb) to add to my 13yb and 15yb old still living at home and a 2005 Toyota Sienna.
So my mind starts churning on how to do this trip in the cheapest way possible without it being as inconvenient and cumbersome as tent camping (with all the accoutrements). I gather that it will take 3 days to get to my destination in Wyoming. I would like to be able to stop for the night, have the ability for my hubby and me to sleep in the van while the boys sleep outside in a quick shelter (tent or something that is covered). I want something easy like an RV without having to buy one. In short, I want to convert the minivan into a camper temporarily. (we can fully convert it later)
Any tips on how to make this a simple, streamlined event? Has anyone out there done something like this before?
I remember one of our trips in the pop-up when we tried to do the stop-overnight thing, was nighmarish. Too much stuff, too much work for just sleeping.
Another idea I had was to haul an enclosed utility trailer or find a cheap teardrop??
Below are the explanations and details of what I am looking for:
I am no rookie when it comes to family camping. When the kids were wee little ones I decked out the Tent camping by staying a week at one place at a time... then to facilitate the packing and unpacking, I moved on to a very nice pop-up. There we camped for years... but gas $$ became a problem with my suburban so with much sadness, I sold the pop-up and exchanged the Suburban for a Prius. (please no comments on this, it was a purely economical decision).:p
Camping slowed way down as the kids became teens with sports training and a couple went off to college. All that is left is the annual youth group camping trip.. tents.
But the embers have been re-kindled now that we have a 2-year goal to prepare to go out west to Wyoming for my daughter's graduation. I have recently remarried and with that came 2 more kids (9yb & 13yb) to add to my 13yb and 15yb old still living at home and a 2005 Toyota Sienna.
So my mind starts churning on how to do this trip in the cheapest way possible without it being as inconvenient and cumbersome as tent camping (with all the accoutrements). I gather that it will take 3 days to get to my destination in Wyoming. I would like to be able to stop for the night, have the ability for my hubby and me to sleep in the van while the boys sleep outside in a quick shelter (tent or something that is covered). I want something easy like an RV without having to buy one. In short, I want to convert the minivan into a camper temporarily. (we can fully convert it later)
Any tips on how to make this a simple, streamlined event? Has anyone out there done something like this before?
I remember one of our trips in the pop-up when we tried to do the stop-overnight thing, was nighmarish. Too much stuff, too much work for just sleeping.
Another idea I had was to haul an enclosed utility trailer or find a cheap teardrop??
