5 Months on the Road…What I’m Packing
When we decided to take an extended honeymoon, one of the biggest areas of concern was… what do we bring and how do we make it work for 5 months? One of our favorite travel inspirations is Expedition Overland. One of the sayings that Clay Croft and his team make is to make sure each item packed has more than 2 uses or has one critical use on your expeditions.
With this in mind, we minimized, minimized and did some more minimizing. What follows is what we plan to bring on our honeymoon trip. We will be splitting our time between hotels and camping. I selected the top 4-5 items in each category. I hope this helps as you plan for future extended travels!
Cooking Set Up
We’ve gone through a variety of changes as we’ve gone camping more and more often. The first few times we brought so many more items than were needed and on this trip it is CRUCIAL to bring only what is necessary. Here are our top 5 must have items for our road trip:
GSI Camper Cooking Set (super compact and has everything we need including a pot, pan, plates and cups)
Gas 1 Dual propane and butane stove - because you need something to cook on and this one allows us to use either or!
This one may come as a surprise BUT we will be bringing a 3QT Instant Pot! Because we will be staying at hotels half the time for work, we decided to bring a small instant pot to help with meal prep for the week (also helps with that #frugallifestyle)!
What is even camping without a CAST IRON SKILLET?? We love our Lodge Cast Iron Skillet and can’t wait to cook on it on top of the camp fire.
To organize all of the kitchen utensils, we have everything organized in a toiletry bag. Yes, it sounds weird but it works! This Relavel bag allows us to bring everything we need and keeps it organized.
Hiking Gear
Boots - I lucked out having small feet so I got to shop at the kids section for waterproof, hiking boots at Columbia!
Back pack- Because we’ll be taking Luna on our hikes, we ordered this Kurgo 2 in 1 backpack and carrier.
Hydroflask - This water bottle is EVERYTHING! There’s nothing like having a cold drink of water in the middle of a strenuous hike. I LOVE this thing! I have seriously dropped a million times and it will survive anything.
Handwarmers - So this girl has a condition called Raynaud’s disease where when I’m cold, I lose all blood flow to my fingers. These are a MUST have in my back pack! My friends and family know me so well, I got a few of these for Christmas!
Apparel & Accessories
Patagonia sweater- I bought mine on Poshmark (NWT) for half the price of a new one! Always check second hand before buying new!
Down Jacket by Marmot! I am unable to find the exact jacket but the one I currently own folds into itself to make it extremely compact. I am ALWAYS cold so this jacket helps me stay so warm!
Tevas - I got these Teva’s as a Christmas present as well (Thanks bro!) and I LOVE them! I wear them on our hikes and they also feel indestructible!
Darn Tough Socks - These socks are incredible AND have a lifetime guarantee!!
A wardrobe capsule! I’ll post more details about this in another post!
Truck Set-Up
Smittybilt Rooftop Tent - Our weekend home will be the Gen2 Smittybilt Rooftop Tent! We LOVE our RTT! Our tent has traveled to three states so far and helped keep us safe and dry under a tornado watch in Florida. It is sturdy and a great tent!
Massimo Electric E-Kooler- We did not know how important having this fridge would be for us. It has a charger that we connect directly to the truck and it is amazing! Absolutely no complaints on this amazing fridge. This is also a huge money saver as you can literally bring a mini kitchen in this thing!
Bed Cover - Back Flip MX4 - This bed cover allows us to keep our items protected from everything! When the tent is not on, it is so easy to snap up or lower!
Good tires- We selected the Falken Wildpeak AT3W [285/70/17] for the Tacoma.
Ram mounts - We use Ram mounts to hold our phones, iPads, and our Garmin in Reach. They are not going anywhere on those things!
Luna’s Set Up
Backpack (see above)
Foldable Playpen - Because of our hybrid set up, we bought a Ruff n Ruffus foldable playpen to serve as Luna’s home away from home. So far she loves it and it is pretty sturdy!
Jacket - Luna needs to stay warm too! We bought her this Kurgo jacket to help keep her warm in the cold nights. It is also waterproof and reflective which is a huge bonus on the campsites.
Chuckit! Travel bed - Luna LOVES her travel bed. It packs into a small bag and we bring it with us everywhere!
Storage
Packing cubes - These things are such a huge help with organizing! We use these for all of our trips small and big!
Toiletry bag - For any and all personal items. This toiletry bags holds so much and folds down significantly!
Plano boxes - We have two Plano boxes. One houses all of our kitchen wear and the other houses the rest of our camp items (like lights, fire starter, chairs, etc).
Stasher bags!!! Yes, these get exclamation marks because these are one of my favorite items in the world. These are reusable bags (#protecttheearth) that are dishwasher, oven, freezer, and microwave safe. I primarily use them for holding snacks for the trails but they have a million uses!
I hope this list helps you with identifying your priority items on an extended trip! We will keep you updated on any items that we replace or may add some crucial items to this list. Our goal is to pack as light as possible and really tried to stick to the 2 uses or 1 critical use mentality.
I’d love to hear what are you must take items on long trips! Share them in the comment section below!