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Camping Money and Regular Money are Two Different Monies.
Now you know that when there's something you REALLY want to do, all reason goes out the window. But in this case maybe it's okay because we've figured out how to take trips without going broke.
Probably the main thing is planning. This will be our third road trip this year and we have been able to spend some downtime at the cabin in between. That allows us to take our time in planning the next trip. It seems we're constantly making little improvements to our system. Things like being more familiar with camping location options -- do we go for a state park, a national park, or simply dispersed camping in a national forest? Number 3 is our favorite but they all require looking ahead and doing some research.
Another task is fine-tuning meal planning so the foods we bring really do meet our needs. That one is a big deal and it keeps us from eating out too often. Days in the forest call for cooking but a travel day that ends at a rest area might call for having only healthy snacks or dinner out because cooking in a parking lot in a rest area or truck stop doesn't work so well which means we plan around those days.
Determine how many meals you need each day. We are one-meal-a-day people so packing is fairly light even on long trips. We still may need to make a stop to restock. Consider the size of your cooler or fridge, power set up or ice, and plan accordingly.
Our rig set up is all about simple & multipurpose.
This is a long-er post covering the set up that's working well for us. We hope there's a tip here that gives you ideas for your build. FYI: it's a synopsis of our set up from the first trip to now.
It's worth the read!
This is our 2019 Toyota Tundra 1794 and first gen MoonLander. We named her Honey. "Honey the Moonlander" because we had been married only four years when we got her installed in Denver in 2024 and we are still (forever) on our honeymoon. So far we've traveled and camped in 18 states. This fall we're headed northeast to Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine after a couple nights at the Pinhoti Trail Fest in Alabama. Our trip home will criss-cross several portions of the Apalachian Trail so we'll get a little more hiking in. Of the places we've camped, the best summer climate was in Flagstaff and we're hoping for a 3-month summer stay next year. The coldest nights were in the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area in Colorado and nope we haven't used a heater yet. Two bodies can stay really warm in a MoonLander. Most windy camping was in Key West (check out our SlumberJack tarp video on this page) but on the bright side, we paid only $210 for a full week at the Trumbo Point Key West MWR campground (no BLM land in Florida). Thank you to Luke at Radica for showing off his SeaSuckers at the first MoonLander meetup in Colorado in 2025 -- those things allow us to use a SlumberJack* even though our ML height is 7'11" and the straps won't reach the truck wheels. Both were great purchases.
We have used a bed rug from day one. Our gear is packed in 4 totes with gaskets on the lids. These stack 2-deep on a folding table*, turned upside down. The folded legs keep totes from moving around during travel. The tabletop slides across the rug like butter so accessing gear is easy + we can use the table when camping. Much better than built in storage, in our opinion. This also gives us full use of the truck bed when we're home at the cabin, since we can easily take everything out -- we're always hauling firewood for our woodstove or our hiking friends to a nearby trailhead.
We have an EcoFlow solar-rechargeable powerbank* with an extra battery. These can also be charged while driving and when plugged into shore power. After a couple 3-week trips using only a Yeti cooler, we added a SetPower fridge with several freezer bags. The bags can be frozen in the SetPower and then used in the cooler. On shorter trips we use only the fridge; it holds all our food and our dog's raw meat. The fridge travels in the back seat with Ellen Barkin and plugs into the aux power. While camping it is plugged into the EcoFlow bundle in the truck bed which also powers the MaxAir fan, lights, and charges electronics.
After a few trips using a single burner butane cook stove we traded it out for a 2-burner Camp Chef propane stove. You can check out both cook stoves in use on this page. Fred and Ellen are carnivores so we carry lots of meat, butter and eggs. Our favorite Smithey cast iron skillet goes with us*.
Our bed is on the full-size platform and consists of a grass tatami mat* with a 4" cotton & wool futon mattress*. This is the same mattress we use at home so there's no adjusting our 60-something-year-old bodies to a different set up for camping PLUS we're crunchy and don't like foam.
Also in the back are two 5-gallon stainless steel Jerry cans for water from our well at home because plastic and municipal water are yuck. We carry a travel Berkey* for all our drinking water (and pack the fluoride filters in case filling from a spigot somewhere is necessary). The coffee setup is a bit bougie: Roc manual espresso maker, a rechargable grinder for our home-roasted coffee beans, a battery-powered frother, maple syrup from our Vermont friends' sugar store, and high quality heavy cream. Life is too short for crappy coffee, right? Ten gallons of water has been sufficient for up to three weeks out. We use a spray bottle for washing dishes instead of filling a bowl or tub, a trick we learned from Bryan Snyder's book, "Renegade Car Camping." Our dish & laundry soap are environmentally safe for rinsing outdoors. We use Seedlings baby wipes for bathing but occasionally hit the shower at a truck stop like Loves or at a campground if available. Sometimes a creek or lake. There's a collapsible bucket potty and Chris has a girly urine funnel for the bottle that we both use inside the camper. No bear bait in the middle of the night.
We take a large toolbox* for the mechanic (Fred) and a smaller bag with magnets, Velcro and tape. There's a first aid kit with bandages, alcohol, colloidal silver and essential oils. We carry two Kilo camp chairs* everywhere -- they fold up really small but snap together in a couple minutes. We carry a battery charger* for power tools and the Rigid fan which is perfect under the bed where our AussieDoodle, Ellen Barkin, sleeps at night.
*double use -- these items are used in our set up and also at home in our cabin
Looking for the perfect camper for your own camping set up? We love showing off our rig in person and are often doing that in a parking lot or campground so Radica made us ambassadors. Our code is ML-FRED-7451. The best part of this is that it can be a great deal for you.
Use this code for $300 off your order!
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