This summer I had the pleasure of going on a 4000 mile road trip with my best friend.
Despite COVID-19 being a thing, we traveled to 9 states, and 7 National Parks in 8 days (We wore masks and socially distanced the entire time). Crazy some might say.
On that trip there were things that I loved and some thing I wished we had just left at home. Here is a list of the things of things I wish we had brought, things I wished we hadn't, and things I was so grateful we had.
Things I wish we had brought:
A better cooler: We only brought a tiny cooler that was not super good at keeping things cold for a long time. This meant a lot of refills on ice especially when it was 100 degrees in Utah. Although the size of the cooler was great, it ate up money having to buy a ton of ice every day. We ended up just not using the cooler the last couple of days because we didn't want to buy more ice.
A better garbage system: This is one that we did not struggle too much on. We managed to throw our garbage away throughout the day. But it would have been nice if we had something like a trash bag that was not a little grocery bag.
A speaker: This would have come in handy on the nights that we wanted to watch a movie. But other than that
One more cast iron: We had one cast iron which was definitely nice, but when we tried to cook pizzas it would have been nice to have two so we could have put one over top of the other to cook our pizzas.
Better sleep system: We got a little hot in our sleeping bags in Utah. I wish we had brought a few blankets rather than my sleeping bag. Having a better sleeping pad would have been nice too.
Things we wish we had left at home:
Tent: We brought it in case we didn't sleep in our car, but we never even touched it. It just kinda took up space.
Less prepped meals: It was an effort to save some money, but in the long run we strayed so far off of our "meal plan." It would have been better to buy groceries as we went since we had to go to the store to get ice anyway. It was nice having some things to eat like ramen and snacks, but we had a lot of meals that I planned we never even touched.
Four pounds of trail mix: I decided to buy a 4 pound of trail mix from Costco... I still have it two months later.
Extra Water Bottles: We brought a bunch of Nalgene water bottles, but both of us just used our one water. We were always near the car so we could fill up. It would have been different if we were planning on backpacking or going on long day hikes in the desert, but alas we did not.
Things we were so glad we brought:
Table: Our "table" was a piece of wood we found in the trash and some cinder blocks, but our dirtbag dinner table was one of the best things we found. We used it every day, for coffee, meals, and to play games on. We even put it behind our head at night to be our "headboard." One of our pride and joys. (See our makeshift table in the photo)
Crazy Creeks: We both used these everyday. We used them as extra sleeping pads each night, we used them when making lunch and when I wanted to change I would stand on it so I didn't have to get my feet dirty. If you don't already have one, I love mine so much, it is so worth it.
National Park Pass: I cannot stress how much this is worth it if you are going on a road trip. Or even planning on going to more than two National Parks in a year. This pass is only $80 for a year and you get access to the Nations National Parks (This does not include camping or other fees, only entrance fees) We saved almost $100 for all of the National Parks we went to.
Big Water Jug: This 7 gallon water jug was so nice, we only had to refill it once and we had water the entire time. We also took advantage of water fountains and other places to fill water and that helped our water situation. We were in the Southwest a lot and it was in the 100s a lot so water was a necessity.
Downloaded music/books/movies: Other than streaming music when we did have service, it was really nice to have stuff that was downloaded for the times we did not have service, or didn't have a lot of service (which was a lot). We not only loved having music, but podcasts, books, and even movies downloaded as well. On the 4000 miles we listened to an entire book from start to finish, and we watched Netflix movies a few nights as well. It was a little treat being able to snuggle up in the car and watch a movie in the woods. Next time I will also download some comedy shows to Spotify as well.
Honorable mentions
Jetboil: We used this everyday, from coffee in the morning to our ramen at night. This was our reliable friend.
Twinkly Lights: These made our nights in the car a lot more aesthetically pleasing, plus they weren't harsh on your eyes, so we did not have to have our headlamps or car lights on.
RAMEN: We ate more ramen then I would care to admit.
Overall this road trip was such an amazing experience and would go back and do it in a heartbeat. If you have the chance to go on a road trip with your best friend or even by yourself, do it, you won't regret it.
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