Alternative title: Many have asked me for this blog post and I have been negligent thus far.
Another alternative title: I have not been paid to endorse any of this equipment - I just like it.
The most important piece of equipment on my car camping sojourn was my 2016 Subaru Outback, nicknamed Lakester. Lakester is my best friend and travel companion and was the most photographed thing in all photo albums from the trip - humans, objects, scenery included. My late husband Mike found this beautiful vehicle at a used car dealership in Madison, WI back in 2018 after exhaustive research; a perfect example of his wisdom and vision. (He probably saw this trip coming long before I did.)
The rest of the equipment is all secondary. So if you follow in my footsteps, put your focus here first: Get a vehicle as reliable and handsome as Lakester and take good care of him. Read the manual, make regular visits to the dealer, get timely oil changes...all that. Baby that baby.
Here is a picture of my dear, sweet Lakester. (Camp friends, circa 1995, I hope you're laughing by now.)
Equipment I found to be essential: Big ticket items that I bought new
Luna Life Air Mattress - This is an inflatable air mattress that is designed to fit perfectly in the back of a 2016 Subaru Outback when the rear seats are laid flat. It comes with 2 "Base Extenders" (inflatable cubes which fit into the space between the back seat and front seats), a small electric air pump that plugs into a car's 12-volt socket (which many still refer to as the "cigarette lighter" plug), and a patch kit. Best qualities after almost two years of ownership: it has been durable (no leaks, no patches needed), it takes less than a minute to inflate, and I have slept really well on it.
A great design feature of my Luna Life is that it has two different air pockets, connected in the middle, so you can inflate only one side at a time. When solo car camping, I keep one side folded under and I keep the other side inflated and set up as a single bed. When I am camping with a friend, we inflate both sides and sleep either in the car or in a tent. (Fits perfectly in a 4 person Eureka.) And because the two sides are not connected (the air doesn't flow from one side to the other), the nocturnal tossing and turning of one person doesn't wake the other.
Alpicool Travel Fridge/Freezer - To save money, I wanted to consistently prepare my own food rather than eating out. While in the past I have camped with coolers and ice before, it started to drive me crazy on extended road trips. I found myself constantly hunting for ice, worrying about the ice, dumping melted ice and dealing with soggy food containers. So I knew one of my big investments was going to be a travel fridge. I decided to try out an Alpicool C20 Portable Car Fridge.
My Alpicool is small and weighs only 20 pounds with no food in it. It has a single storage compartment which can be cooled to fridge or freezer temperatures - (though I only used it as a fridge.) It comes with a cord for plugging into both a 12-volt outlet (cigarette lighter plug) and a 24-volt AC power (regular wall socket). A digital display shows the temperature in the fridge, and it has a temperature memory function - so even after being turned off it remembers its most recent setting. Thankfully it runs quiet - which is important because I slept next to it every night! While driving, I plugged it into my car for power. When stopped, I plugged it into the Bluetti Portable Power Station (featured below). Even if I only stopped for gas, I unplugged it from the car. It also has battery protection, so my vehicle battery was protected even if I forgot to unplug it. (Which I never, ever did.)
BLUETTI EB3A Portable Power Station - A portable power station is a battery-powered inverter generator that typically features AC outlets, DC carport, and USB charging ports. My power station is the item I researched most heavily before starting out, and I still feel extremely lucky that I guessed well and didn't spend too much. I didn't really know how much total power I was going to need. Some people use larger models for air conditioners and TV's, laptops and CPAP machines. But that doesn't really say "camping" to me. The main thing I needed to plug in was my fridge. So I got the smallest portable power station that I was confident would power my fridge overnight.
I like that it has an easy-to-read display screen that shows exactly how much charge is left in the battery, as well as your current input and output totals. There are 7 different ways to charge it up, and a zillion different outlets-types. It does allow for pass-through charging but I hardly used that feature. It was highly reviewed and was selected by CNET in 2022 as the best value portable power station. If you are tech-savvy you'll enjoy the details on the Bluetti website.
While driving, Old Blue traveled up front in the passenger seat. If it wasn't charged up to 100%, I would keep it plugged into the 12-volt outlet and charge it back up. It definitely charges faster on a 24-volt outlet (not in the car), but the 12-volt car adapter did the trick over long distances. It goes from zero to 100% charge in less than an hour when plugged into a 24-volt outlet. I did not buy the optional solar charging panels and adaptor, but if I keep traveling that's an investment I will definitely consider.
When NOT driving, I made sure everything was unplugged from the car, then plugged the fridge into the Bluetti. I could run my fridge at 40 degrees for about 15 hours straight if I only used my Bluetti. Night-time was key - as I didn't want to run out of battery while I was sleeping 7-8 hours and wake up to my food going bad. I quickly discovered that as long as my Bluetti was charged up over 50% it would power my fridge for a good night's sleep, until I was on the road to my next destination (and using my car as a charger again.) *Note: It helps that I was traveling in March and April and in locations where the air temperature was low at night. As I traveled in May and temperatures were rising, it took more power to keep the fridge cool. I'll need to keep this in mind for summer travel.
Sometimes at night I would also use the Bluetti to charge my phone or other devices. It would NOT run my 5-cup Mr. Coffee - that was a disappointment. (Hence this photo of me using Mr. Coffee in a campground bathroom.)
I did sometimes have to alter my plans when my Bluetti was out of charge and I was ready for an out-of-car adventure. But because it charged so fast on a 24-volt plug, my plans didn't have to be altered for very long. My go-to stopping places were laundromats, libraries and hotel lobbies. I found it best to be straight with the folks who worked there and explain what I needed. Electric campsites at state parks also worked well.
Sometimes it was an inconvenience to be traveling with a fridge that needed to be plugged in all the time. An example was in Beaufort, North Carolina. I stayed overnight in a state park, then planned to catch a morning ferry to Shackleford Banks - an island with wild horses. I planned to be gone all day, and I worried about leaving my fridge sitting in the car in the sun, I knew that would require 100% of Bluetti's 'juice". I drove around for a bit considering McDonalds or motel lobbies - but then had an "a-ha!" moment: I realized that harbors and marinas have power stations. So I parked in the municipal lot next to the marina, plugged in my fridge and Bluetti, and read my book and drank my coffee for an hour while my Bluetti got up to 100%. (In retrospect, that would have been a great day to have the solar panels.)
Scepter 5 Gallon/20 Liter Military Style, BPA Free Water Container - Good drinking water is essential to safe travel. This water container is easy to fill, easy to pour into water bottles, and easy to clean. One of the best $50 I ever spent. I don't plan on putting anything but water into it, because I learned long ago that bears smell the residue of anything sugary in a plastic water jug, even if that jug only currently contains water. (That lesson was learned in the Boundary Waters in 1992 - but that's a whole other story...)
Portable Car Battery Jumper Starter - In case I need a jump when no-one is around, I keep this charged up and in my car at all times. It's smaller than a box of macaroni & cheese and is very easy to use. I needed a jump twice as my Subaru battery started to go bad after six years or so. Both times were on the east coast swing of my trip. The first time my brother was around and gave me a jump with his Suburban. The second time I was on my own in a Dunkin' parking lot in New Jersey. (Would you believe me if I said I only pulled over to finish listening to a podcast with my full attention?) I didn't know that turning off my car and listening to the radio for a couple minutes would kill my already struggling car battery, but it did. I was almost glad to test this piece of equipment in an urban setting rather than out in some remote part of Texas. I plugged in one end of the cables to the portable jump starter, attached the cables to my battery in the correct places, and turned the key. Lakester started right up. (I don't recall if I rewarded myself with a donut.)
Other equipment: Smaller pieces I found used or made myself
Jetboil Flash Cooking System- I bought my Jetboil from a website for used camping equipment called OutdoorsGeek.com. I don't travel with any other camp stove. The Jetboil is famous for boiling water quickly and easily - it boils 2 cups of water in less than 2 minutes. But it also can be used as a camp stove. Jetboil is an all-in-one system - everything you need (except the fuel canister) stacks and stores away inside the 1.0 liter cooking cup: base stabilizer, burner, cooking vessel, lid, measuring cup, The burner attaches to a canister of Isopro - a fuel blend made by MSR and found at Walmart, Bass Pro Shop, or any camping store.
I also cooked all my meals on the Jetboil's single burner. I used a small non-stick fry pan when I made sausage and eggs, and a small camp cook pot when I made pasta or beans and rice. I like my camping equipment to be simple, user-friendly, fast and durable - and Jetboil has all those qualities.
Yakima Skybox - Rooftop Cargo Carrier
I started pricing rooftop cargo carriers and quickly realized that buying used was the only way to go. I spent a lot of time on Facebook Marketplace, using search words like "rooftop cargo" and "Thule". Then I would look up the different models, read up on features, and check reviews. The cheapest used Thule that I could find was $400. Then one day I came across a Yakima Skybox for $125. The owner said that the keys were missing, and the back end was damaged - but I decided to go look at it and see if it was repairable. I was happy to discover that it was fully functional: the claw-like grips that hold it to the roof of a vehicle are solid, and it still opens and closes quite well. The damage in the back didn't look too bad. So I bought it. Next, I bought a new set of lock and keys for $10 on Amazon; I spent $25 at a locksmith shop having them install the new locks; and I used duct tape and stickers to repair and beautify the damage on the back. So for a total of $160 I had a perfectly functional, water-tight, beautiful XL rooftop cargo carrier. Yay me!
Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) - PLB's transmit personalized distress signals via satellite and are an important safety item to have on hand if you are frequently hiking in places where cell phone service cannot be relied upon. They are only activated in emergency situations, and they transmit your location to emergency personal. This is a safety item that can get quite expensive, and can come with features like text messaging, but I opted for the emergency beacon feature only. All it took was one story of a friend who broke her ankle hiking in the back country at Glacier National Park and her families' extraordinary efforts to carry her out, and I knew I would not hike again without carrying a PLB. Let's be careful out there,
Window coverings - To transform my Subaru from a car to a bedroom where I felt comfortable and safe sleeping, I crafted window coverings made of Reflectix and old blankets. The Reflectix provides both insulation and a thickness so that they squish perfectly into each window opening. The blankets made it pretty to look at from the inside. I'm especially proud of using an old blanket that already had a pocket in it for the window next to where I slept - because it gave me the perfect spot to store my glasses and lip balm at night. I followed a YouTube tutorial by a car camper named Nikki Delventhal to create them (except the part where she makes them foldable): https://youtu.be/v7LTNJP5rpU
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