Too much work for short trips, too small for long ones

Kayteg1 wrote:
You are mistaking pointing the facts for bashing.
Telling that Host owners with all those stairs - don't need treadmill would be bashing ;)

I just viewed videos on your Fleetwood model. Wow your right! So much more wardrobe space than a host mammoth or cascade. NOT....LOL

You are mistaking pointing the facts for bashing.
Telling that Host owners with all those stairs - don't need treadmill would be bashing ;)

Kayteg1 wrote:

LenSatic wrote:
I have all the clothes I would need, my wife...not so much. ;)

LS

Buy her a Host and she will have to learn how to travel without cloths due to lack of wardrobes ;)
We full-timed in the camper in winter and then took long summer vacations, so our load changed quite a bit, but as turn out in 9 weeks of summer trip I used the same 3 T-shirts and few swimming pants all over after washing.
The leather shoes got used once.
But in my younger years I was working lot of overtime, so could not plan for weekends. Occasionally in last minute Friday the boss told me that I have weekend off.
Had ClassC at the time and coming home at 2:20 I could have my family loaded and on the road by 3 PM. (the cellphones did not exist at the time and we still had good time)

Oh here we go with the Host bashing again!! LOL

LenSatic wrote:
I have all the clothes I would need, my wife...not so much. ;)

LS

Buy her a Host and she will have to learn how to travel without cloths due to lack of wardrobes ;)
We full-timed in the camper in winter and then took long summer vacations, so our load changed quite a bit, but as turn out in 9 weeks of summer trip I used the same 3 T-shirts and few swimming pants all over after washing.
The leather shoes got used once.
But in my younger years I was working lot of overtime, so could not plan for weekends. Occasionally in last minute Friday the boss told me that I have weekend off.
Had ClassC at the time and coming home at 2:20 I could have my family loaded and on the road by 3 PM. (the cellphones did not exist at the time and we still had good time)

skipro3 wrote:
My camper is almost always ready to bug out. I can load it on the truck in under 15 minutes, fill with water as I load the extras that are stored together in the garage. Everything has a place, so it's not like reinventing packing every time. Rarely do I load the perishables at home, instead we stop at the grocery store on the way. A few perishables, ketchup for example, are the packets from McDonald's stored from past trips and in the garage fridge in a soft sided cold bag.

When I return home, I top off the propane, clean the tanks and do the laundry within a few days. All clothes are dedicated to the camper, so no packing there. Same with bedding, linens, reading material, etc. I have a vacuum sealer and I imagine it would keep stored dog food from smelling up the camper. I use a ziplock bag that works just fine.

I'd say 30 minutes from the time I start until I roll out the driveway unless I'm gonna tow the Suzuki Samurai.

It is better if I start the fridge the night before, but not a necessity. Usually cold enough by the time we get out of the store on the way.

That's exactly what we do. The Casita is our bugout vehicle and is always ready to go in the time it takes to hook up. We have a full-sized refrigerator/freezer next to it with food that we can load up quickly depending on what we will need including lots of frozen meals. The trailer is in the garage and plugged into the house power, but we are off-grid solar and don't keep the onboard refrigerator/freezer running. I have all the clothes I would need, my wife...not so much. ;)

LS

I can put my on the truck in 30 minutes including the 10 minute to/from the storage yard. I can stock it in less than 30 minutes. If I haven't precooled the fridge because it's a last minute trip, I just throw in a dozen cold packs from the freezer. Getting home, it takes about the same amount of time to clean her up and unload. It all stays on the truck when I'm on the road as we just drive the entire rig around to sight see. Plus we don't have anything like rugs, lights, chairs, plants, etc so setup is back in until it's level and connect power, maybe 90 seconds. So two hours of work for 48 hours minimum of relaxation is totally worth it. A couple of weekend ago, we decided on Thursday to go up to Myrtle Beach for the weekend eating out for both dinners along with strolls along the deserted beach and around the campground. Unbelievable amount of recharge to us both physically and mentally.

I think the key is to have as much stocked in the camper as possible. For us, I have to throw in my wife's clothes and perishable food for the kitchen. Everything else like my clothes, dishes, pots, pans spices, non-perishables, towels, laundry detergent, soaps, etc remain packed. If I had to put everything in and take it all back out each time I used it, then it may not be practical for a weekend trip.

My camper is almost always ready to bug out. I can load it on the truck in under 15 minutes, fill with water as I load the extras that are stored together in the garage. Everything has a place, so it's not like reinventing packing every time. Rarely do I load the perishables at home, instead we stop at the grocery store on the way. A few perishables, ketchup for example, are the packets from McDonald's stored from past trips and in the garage fridge in a soft sided cold bag.

When I return home, I top off the propane, clean the tanks and do the laundry within a few days. All clothes are dedicated to the camper, so no packing there. Same with bedding, linens, reading material, etc. I have a vacuum sealer and I imagine it would keep stored dog food from smelling up the camper. I use a ziplock bag that works just fine.

I'd say 30 minutes from the time I start until I roll out the driveway unless I'm gonna tow the Suzuki Samurai.

It is better if I start the fridge the night before, but not a necessity. Usually cold enough by the time we get out of the store on the way.

To us, packing is part of the fun -- part of the anticipation!

(Unpacking, though, is a chore.)

Thanks for the tip, I'll check out that bag.

GordonThree wrote:
Rhagfo, I do stock the rig with condiments, non perishables, linens, etc.

Clothing I'm too frugal to duplicate, it's either at home or in the camper.

Dog bowls I guess I could buy extra. The dry food I feed stinks awful, so I wouldn't want an extra bag stinking up the rig. Haven't met an air tight container that can hold the stink. I think it's from the oils and they can pass right through the plastic walls. Too frugal to buy a stainless steel container.

Thursday is usually the shopping day for fresh food. If I didn't get too beat up during the work day, I'll stock up the trailer on Thursday and it is great, but it's not too common an occurrence.

Drive the rig to work, park in the street no problem. The old dog would sleep for hours in the truck without issue. The new dog is much more high strung, haven't tried this with her yet.

Pick up a large opsack bag. They are amazing at holding the odors in. Many folks use them to store pet waste when hiking. They say the worst part is when you unlock the bag to empty - the smell is much more intense. But when it's sealed, the odor is non-existant.