What We Really Needed to Overland for 2 Months

A friend compared it to having a baby. When you have your first child you get overwhelmed at everything there is to buy for a baby. You put everything on the registry. You buy it all. Then you realize that you want the baby in the easiest outfit to change when it’s 3am and pitch black. And the kid has grown out of those cute itty-bitty clothes before you could every put them in it. We had a unique experience learning how little you really do need to take care of a baby. With both of our kids, we spent the first two weeks in a hotel room across the country while we waited for the adoption paperwork to go through. We could only take what we could get on the plane. You learn quickly you need very little. Or there are Targets pretty much everywhere. The same happened on this trip. 

I’m going to put together two posts. 1. All the stuff we took along and 2. The stuff we should have left at home. We will start with the stuff that made our trip a success. 

The Tent

The single biggest purchase for the trip was the iKamper. We struggled with putting that much money into a tent but it turned out to be the best decision ever. There is no way the kids and I could have put up any other rooftop tent by ourselves. This was the only way for us to have room to travel that long and see our sanity. We got into a rhythm and can set it up in about a minute. The mattresses take a little bit longer but when it’s raining it’s nice to be able to get into somewhere dry that quickly. It was super comfortable and easily fit all four of us when Josh was with us. It kept us dry and warm even on the nights it got down to 40. We love all the windows that let us control our level of air circulation, privacy and views of the stars. 

The Stove

Confession. Despite having our own cabin and having camped before, we had never used a camp stove. We always cooked on a fire or inside. I didn’t know what I was looking for when I researched stoves but got really lucky. The Mr. Heater BaseCamp stove  turned out to be perfect for two big reasons. First is the triple burner. We only used all three burners at the same time on a few occasions. However, it gave us plenty of room to space out our pots and pans to use both burners. It can be hard fitting multiple pots on a normal 2 burner stove. The big thing that everyone raves about for this stove is the controllability of the flame level. We can get the flames super low which is nice for keeping things warm, making coffee, etc. We have a different camp stove up at the cabin that we now use there and we always wish we had a mighty red one.

Hanging Storage System

Josh thought I was silly to want hanging storage, but it turned out to be super helpful in saving us time and organization. I bought a cheap hanging storge shelf from Ikea that we used to throw all our shoes in as we went up to the tent and other things we didn’t want to lie around. I pulled a bungee cord through the loops on the top and hung it under the tent. Best $7 we spent the whole trip. I originally bought a cheap hanging organizer to put daily items in that we wanted to be able to reach quickly (sunscreen bug spray, flashlight, etc.) and keep stored. I couldn’t find one that had zip enclosures and ended up splurging for the iKamper version that has velcro enclosures. It was pricier but was made to clip onto the underside of the platform and was very secure. We never had items falling out when it was in the car.  (Honorary Mention should go to bungee cords. Always carry a few extras. They solve so many problems!)

Attic

Storage and organization were the keys to our happiness or frustration. Living that long in a confined space requires minimalism and organization. Neither are strong points of mine. Working on it. While a lot of what I was seeing on Pinterest and Instagram during planning didn’t feel functional, the idea of putting the attic over the kids’ heads made sense. It was perfect. I considered making one and then decided to just splurge and get the one made for my vehicle. The simple cargo net allowed us to put all our sweatshirts, coats, etc. up top and made them easily accessible. The weather often changed so quickly on us and not having to open up the back of the car was useful. 

Fridge

The two things we knew we couldn’t do without were a comfortable place to sleep and a way to keep food cold for an extended period of time. We went with the Dometic 50L fridge. It was plenty big enough to store the perishables we needed for days at a time. We lost everything in our fridge early on when we stayed somewhere longer than expected and ran out of battery charge. After that we tended to only buy meat when we knew we were about to eat it. The fridge can get super cold and we used it as a freezer on the bottom for stuff we wanted really cold. We also splurged for the pull out slide so that we could see and reach the food inside. Our car is quite lifted and otherwise it would have been difficult. 

Power Bank 

I don’t think we could have done the trip without our Goal Zero. The amount of driving we did, helped with the battery a lot. We wired up the car so that when we drove, the engine was running the fridge and charging the battery. As long as we were staying somewhere one night, we didn’t have a problem keeping everything charged. We had to remember to plug in my phone while we drove to maximize the battery when we were stopped. If we were staying somewhere with outlets, we could also plug the power bank directly into the wall for an even quicker charge. The Goal Zero was also how we kept the bio lites, my laptop and speaker charged up.

Collapsible Sinks 

Our packable sinks turned out to be an important part of our daily routines. We started with one sink during our test run weekend and immediately bought a second. In order to conserve our water usage, we needed to create an efficient system for washing our dishes and pots. At campgrounds that had dish cleaning stations, the sinks were also useful for collecting our dishes and carrying them to the cleaning sink easily. 

Trasharoo

I wasn’t totally sure how I was going to use this bag. However, all the tough overlanding vehicles had a Trasharoo, so we figured I needed one too. Turned out, it was awesome. All of our trash that needed to be packed out went in there. Any dish rags that weren’t dry, got stuffed in the outside mesh pockets. Our hiking poles that kept getting in the way, got locked on the outside of the bag. Extra firewood? Into the bag. Dirty charcoal chimney that I didn’t want to get on our stuff, into the bag. Wet sinks? Into the bag. We used it daily. So much so that I actually ripped it with our firewood one time. Once we figured out how to keep it secure on the tire, it was super easy for us to open and tighten down based on the size of the load. 

Sand Mat 

This might seem like a luxury, but our CGear mat was a great addition for the trip. We used it at the bottom of our ladder to help keep the tent clean. The mat was great for going over mud, rocks, sand, everything. It was easy to shake everything off and then fold up to stuff back in the car. We were super careful to not track sand and dirt into the tent. Shoes were taken off at the ladder. Having the mat meant that we had somewhere to do this without getting dirty or wet feet/socks. 

Tool Kit 

This isn’t even a question. If you are going on a big trip like this, away from civilization, you must have a good toolkit. During Overland Expo East last fall, I attended a technical course for women drivers. The truth is that women and men think about things differently and I wanted the perspective of fellow women. They helped me understand the difference between what I actually needed and what was just for show. One of the women showed me her toolkit which she had meticulously stored in a tool roll. She said that all the men envied her setup and often asked her to borrow tools. I thought she was joking. And then we built mine. I bought the heavy-duty tool roll from Adventure Tool Company to save space and keep everything organized. We created our own custom kit featuring both English and Automotive wrenches based on research we did. I got quite the attention anytime I had my roll out to do work. Oh, and I was able to fix our bumper in the middle of the Circus Circus parking lot in Vegas.

I haven’t been paid a cent for these items. I wish I had been though… This is just the stuff that make our time on the road easier and more enjoyable. I’d love to hear what your best secrets are.