A Few Things To Remember For A Camping Trip
September 12th, 2009 by Rick Finley, under Travel and Leisure. No Comments
If you go camping, you know how easily some of the essentials can be forgotten. While the following is not an all inclusive list of items to take on your next camping trip, it may give you some ideas that will make your next trip go more smoothly.
Do not forget your tent. Even RV campers often find that a tent makes a great storage locker for extra gear. Often the kids will enjoy sleeping out in a tent giving mom and dad more room in the RV. Cabin style tents provide more headroom for campers that do dome style tents.
We also take lots of plastic tarps. One goes under the tent to prevent water from seeping back though the floor. A small tarp makes our front porch for taking shoes on and off when entering or leaving the tent.
We have one tarp that is large enough to cover the entire top of the tent as a rain fly in case of rainy weather. This was especially helpful the day my son learned that the water would come inside if you touched the tent and that he could spell his name with the moisture on the side of the tent.
During cooler weather tarps make great windbreaks for the picnic table. We use a canopy and tie the tarps to the support poles on three sides to make a very warm enclosure during early spring camping.
Often we will pay the extra two to four dollars per night in order to get a campsite with electrical hookups. This allows us to make travel much lighter. We will throw in an electric frying pan, hot plate and old electric percolator to meet all of our cooking needs without having to depend on a campfire or bring a bulky camp stove. Sometimes we will throw in a fan to run in the tent. It does wonders at keeping out the noise of the next-door neighbors when campsites seem to be built on top of each other.
The most important thing that we take on our camping trips is a good attitude. I find that if my wife and I have a good attitude that our kids always have fun. If one or the other of us start the trip off on the wrong foot, it can spoil the weekend for everyone. Whatever you do as you plan your camping trip, be sure that you pack a good attitude.
Rick Finley writes articles on purchasing a good battery camping lantern at Buy Camping Lanterns.
