Alaska2018

The last couple days I have worked on some miscellaneous projects. Custom journal cover to record our daily mileage, track gas, food, resteraunts, campgrounds, national parks, and more. Signs to hang at the Watson Lake Sign Post Forest in the Yukon Territory. Custom t-shirts for the whole family.  Each day is a different color.  We will pack enough for one week.  Blue day, orange day, black day, etc. Insect repellent. From what I have read, the mosquitoes in Alaska are roughly the size of Alaska!  As an herbalist and aromatherapist, I am able to formulate safe yet effective salves, balms, and other products for my family.  These are important for keeping us healthy year round, but planning them for travel is quite a task since I won't have all my supplies in the camper.  One challenge is balancing insect repellent with not attracting bears!

In 2016, we took our first cross country trip, camping the whole way.  That trip is detailed at brothersbrt.blogspot.com.  A few planning aids from that trip will be used again this time. - Furkot.com  This is a cloud based travel program that helps with the "big picture".  I can input the gas mileage, how many hours per day we plan to drive, how long each stop will be and even search for campgrounds and points of interest along the way.  It gives me a pretty good idea of where we will be on a given day.  We don't pre-book our lodging as we often fall behind a day, or get ahead by two days.  We stop at a nicer campground once a week for Ken to work remotely and to do laundry, buy groceries, let the kids swim, etc.  But, overall, Furkot has been a great help with general planning. - The Next Exit .  This book details what is at the next exit on the interstates.   Simply look up the state, interstate, then look for the exit number.  ...

It is often the sand in our shoes, not the boulders we walk on, which cause the most discomfort.  The rods which hold he pop-out tent bed canvas have always irritated me when they are not in use.  They store under the folded bed mats - but it is awkward, and to me, it seems like I can't get to them in the right order when setting up and tearing down.  Here is my solution: Broom clamps mounted under the overhead shelves above the folded tent beds.  Care had to be taken with the hook end so that it didn't flop downward.  Also, I tried to place the clamps so that none of us would scrape our heads on them getting in and out of the tent beds.  (Ken is notorious for scraping his head on things!!) I haven't mounted the other one yet, it is a bit more awkward and I need to unfold the tent to get to the area.  However, while I had the drill and screw gun, I did mount clips for a new broom. Tonight, the camper goes for inspection, so I cleared out most of my cle...

A few years ago, Ken replaced the heavy wood panels in our big camper fridge with whiteboard panels.  It is great to be able to write on the fridge!! I didn't have a similar setup in the little camper, so I made a chalkboard.  First I removed the plastic trim along the open door edge, removed the panels and sprayed them with chalkboard spray paint.  I gave them a second coat, then after it was dry, reinstalled the panels and trim and now have a write on fridge!! Panels, painted and drying. Reinstalled and ready to use. I would love to paint the entire camper interior, but I don't have time right now.  However, a write-on fridge door was a quick project that the whole family will appreciate when we need to make lists, leave notes, etc. Unfortunately, when I added a vinyl decal to the panel, the paint came off on the transfer paper.  I used removable vinyl, so it can be taken off, repainted, etc. Next up:  tackling the fitted sheets. Perfect width, but 18" to...

Some of our camper hacks for this trip are detailed below.  We are heading to Alaska in the summer - the Land of the Midnight Sun.  Thanks to my Dad, we decided to outfit our windows with Reflectix.  It makes a huge difference with regard to the light coming in as well as insulating the tent beds. Next, we needed to make the beds comfortable for our family.  We will have two adults, three teens and a 10yo on this trip.  Long days of driving or hiking will require a comfortable bed!   We used to put an egg crate foam on our bed, but it didn't work so well with the expandable beds and having to fold up the mattress to stow for travel.  Enter my new favorite blog:  The Popup Princess.  Thanks to her, we decided to put inexpensive, interlocking foam under all the bed areas, except the jackknife sofa (I will address THAT issue in a bit). The next problem was the floor.  DH loves to have area and throw rugs in the camper.  I don't.  ...