Seasonal Survival, # 3, Getting from Here to There.

Seasonal Survival Guide

©

or How to Live and Eat and Other Mundane Stuff.

Chapter 3.

How to get your crap from place to place.

Van. Car with carrier. Truck and cap. Cargo trailer. U-haul.  Live in your home, RV style.

Seriously, if you're just starting out, or think you'd like to live the vagabond lifestyle of NPS staff, get a decent car. And make it bigger than you should.  I hate that I drive a gas guzzler, but it's also our moving van.  And since I move twice a year, and make a 1700 mile trek,  good wheels are a must.

Our first two summers, we used my beloved Ford E150 conversion van and DH's Aztek--aka the World's Ugliest Car.  My van was the best deal ever.  We packed it to the gills, and even with the conversion package (2 captain chairs and foldable bench-to-bed, we could get a ton of stuff in there. It also got 21 mph!  I could also turn that baby on a dime.

I loved this van.  Sigh.

Big enough for 2 grown ups to sleep in, too.  Can you say car camping?

Sadly, it finally reached its limit, and we now have a Chevy Trailblazer, with the longer cargo space.  Super comfy, horrid gas mileage (only about 17 on a really good day), and not all that roomy. Noisy too, especially in the wind.  But it has a tow package.  The upside is that it's actually comfortable and easy for 8 people to drive around in (as we will tonight for our spring time run to a local winery.....) 

Good bike racks have become an obsession for my DH.  This one wasn't it.

Pulling out of Ohio, a couple of years ago.

We bought it because we got a super deal on it.  It wasn't on our radar, but when Vanna Black petered out, the Chevy was available.  We still have the Aztek, which really doesn't have much space either. It's also the cheap version, and is darn uncomfortable.

We've also purchased a small cargo van.  My friend Ranger Michelle at Acadia had one, and it just seemed like the sensible thing to do.

We got ours a couple of years ago, with just days left before take off.  I decided we had to get one, and started looking at Craigslist~~scary under most circumstances.  I found an ad that said, "Cargo Van, $1000."  A new one runs between $4000 and $6000, so this seemed interesting.  I called the guy on a Friday night, and lucky me, caught him in the bar after work.  Silly him, he said, "Well, I'm actually hoping to get $400 for it, really."  Says I, "Can we come see it?"  "Yep," slurs he, and gives me the address.  DH and I drive over the next morning, and while we're standing there looking at it I called him back. "Will you take $400 in cash tomorrow morning?" says I.  He had obviously sobered up a bit, and replied, "I actually said that last night, didn't I?"  Oh, yeah.  He was very nice and funny about it, and the next morning we handed him the cash and happily drove off.   Freakin' awesome.

Arriving when there was no snow on the ground, 2010.

Arriving in the snow, 2011.

We are now at the stage where we can leave lots of our travel stuff packed up.  I call it the cabin stuff or the out-west stuff.  I no longer have to go thru the house and gather up supplies.  I've collected enough gear to have some for there and for here.  I've also starting upgrading some of it from garage sale quality to real stuff (got a uber-awesome deal on a Calphlon cook set 2 years ago).  Cooking and linens are now stuff I like, not just stuff I could find.

About half full... love love love these plastic tubs.

The other thing I've done is to choose one basic style of boxes and stick with it.  The plastic tubs I found were from Home Depot, in their Work Force line.  They are 'contractor' strength, and the three sizes nest on top of one another perfectly.  I found a couple one year and decided to get lots of them.  We drove from store to store tracking them down.  Sadly, Home Depot doesn't carry them any more.  Bad! Bad! Bad!  I try to use them for stuff that can stay packed during the winter~~linens, kitchen crap, etc..  This winter I decided to leave them in the trailer and hope the mice and ants would chose to leave them alone.  Success!!  Whew! Saved huge amounts of time and energy not having to haul the crap to the basement.  Yea!

The other bonus with the Work Force boxes is that I can use them for furniture!  One year they served as a coffee table (threw on old tablecloth over them~~viola!) and for the past 3 summers they've been a desk.  We picked up a piece of plywood and covered it with Contact paper, and ta-daa, it's a desk. This year, I picked up a small foldable table which I'll use in the living room for the office desk, and I'll use the boxes in DD's room for . . . wait for it . . .  my sewing table!!!   They also serve as drawers in the bathroom, which has a deplorable lack of drawers. In our room, we stack them for side tables.  I iz so clever.  But when you go from 2400 sprawling feet in your home to 644 square feet.... well, you get the idea.

Another helpful hint is to use cardboard boxes that are all the same size, be it egg boxes (excellent because they have handles), liquor boxes (good because they're study and small and can tuck into places, especially smaller cars), or printer paper boxes (good because they have the great lids).  My DH thinks bigger is better, but doh, I can't carry them.  Everything I pack, I can carry if I have to.  I prefer to have the boys or kind neighbors do the lugging, but I can if I have to.

We receive packing boxes once a month for supplies DD needs, and I keep those for my 'have to pack every time' stuff, like books and civilian clothes.  Since they're all the same size, I don't have to play Tetras to get them stuffed in the trailer.

I've also learned (the hard way) to keep the shipping boxes for cabin stuff.  I did keep the box my Calphlon came in, but I had to make a map of how the whole set fits in there.  Likewise with the microwave box.  I also use that to stuff in small kitchen stuff--towels, hot pads, etc..

I've had mixed success with the space-bags, you know the ones you fill and then suction the air out?  Don't expect them to be re-useable.  In theory, they are, but I've never been able to use them more than 2 times.  They do pack really small, tho.

I usually pack our electronics in the car instead of the trailer.  I have this super fear that the trailer will get stolen, or I'll break an axle and have to leave it behind.  I can replace clothes and kitchen stuff easier and cheaper than I can the tv sets (yeah, you heard me, sets plural.  I have teenaged sons, remember?) And of course, my sewing machine goes with me!  I try not to cram the car full, because our last stop before getting to the apartment is at the grocery store for a major stock-up trip.  This usually involves 3 or 4 grocery carts full of stuff.  I've decided it's cheaper to pay a little bit more for expendable supplies and buy it out there, instead of being the shipping company and carting it across the county myself.  I think I'm going to get more here this year..... so I'll have more room for food on our last night out.  Hmmmmm.... or maybe I'm just obsessing and over-thinking the whole deal.


Best kept secret for extra stash space is our flat-hat boxes.  It's amazing how many pairs of socks or undies you can pack in around the hat!

And a great note from Ranger Gaelyn: I packed in plastic milk crates for years, which also doubles as furniture. Then banana boxes for strength, uniform size and handles. Now it's same size plastic tubs with secure lids to keep the critters out. There is a definite art to packing and seasonals tend to have it down well.
Even moving my goods in the RV requires packing. I love no skid.



Coming soon to blog near you: What you might really need, and Keeping Your Seasonal Sanity.