It's that time of year! Hooray! I'm counting the days--less than a month until we head back out west. I indulged in some pre-packing this weekend. I did the linens a while back, so I took on the kitchen gear this time.
Packing to go west isn't too bad. There are a few clothing issues (which I could easily solve by just saying "This pile is my out west clothes and this pile is my at home clothes). But I have several favorites that I like for both places. There aren't too many cross-pollinated things, not being a clothes horse, but still more than I like to admit. And I only have one winter coat and I need that in both places. I suppose I could go hit the Good Will to find an out west coat. . . . hmmm.
Linens aren't too much of a problem. This year we're going to try a little foam pad deal that supposedly turns two twins into a king size bed. Three of our four years on the road we hauled out Select Comfort mattress with us and put in on two twins. Worked pretty nicely. It doesn't pack down really small, but smaller than a real king mattress would. One year, we decided to use the double bed that was provided. We barely slept a wink all summer. When you've had a king bed for 25 years, and your girth has significantly expanded in said time, well. . . . This year, since DH will only be out west for about 6 or 7 weeks, we're going to try another route. I'm hoping the beds didn't get moved out of our apartment. We had to do some fancy footwork to get 4 twin bed frames, springs, and mattress last year. We'll see. I'll have plenty of time to round them back up if I need to this year.
The real packing challenge comes with kitchen gear. I've accumulated almost enough stuff for the summer kitchen. DH has a couple of favorite pans, and I have a favorite pot, so I guess I'll take the pot, and he gets to keep the pan until he comes out. We really don't need the pan at home, because I've completed my Calphalon set here (Dang, I'm a savvy shopper--I've never had to pay full price for the stuff! And I think it's still made here in Toledo. Cool.) I'd like to keep it in the kitchen box, but he likes to use it here, so we lug it back and forth. There are a couple of other goodies like that--Pyrex dish in a warming carrier, good apple slicer, margarita cooler. And going out I can pack up all the stuff and still eat. Not the case coming home. Meal planning is an art when it's time to come home, especially since the nearest restaurant is 14 miles away. So I have to plan food we can eat without using real tableware, pots, pans, or microwave. Yea. Cereal it is for the last 2 days in the park.
Here's my packing tip for getting food on the way out. I stock up on all the basics here--flour, sugar, cereal, pasta, etc.. But I also take 2 empty coolers with us. When we get to Livingston or Bozeman, we hit the grocery and stock up on frozen and refrigerated stuff and get as much into the coolers as possible.
When we arrive at the apartment, Job One is put a frozen pumpkin pie in the oven, which means I need to get to a cooking sheet. I use the pizza pan for that. The apartment smells like home again in no time at all. Job Two is get the beds made. That of course means the linens have to be in the back of the cargo trailer, which works out nicely. The next day, the pizza pan is ready to pop pizza in the oven and we're really home.
This is the theory. . . it worked quite well last year, let's see how it plays out in real life!
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