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San Clemente State Beach Campground

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San Clemente State Beach Campground
September 12th– 14th, 2021 (2 nights)

Just an hour drive north from our home in Carlsbad, San Clemente SB Campground sits high on bluffs above the beach.  San Clemente is a small beach community (southernmost city in Orange County) which is located roughly halfway between San Diego and Los Angeles (just north of Camp Pendleton Marine Corps training base).

San Clemente State Beach Campground is very popular, especially in the summer months, but we found it quite easy to get reservations during the week (spots usually open up last minute).  The campground has full hookup along with dry camping sites.  We chose a dry camping site because these sites are more spaced apart (they are also less expensive and easier sites to reserve).  At the time we were there, the central Dump station was available for free.  However, staying just a couple of nights, we didn’t need it or even need to use our Holy Grail Portable Grey Water Tank Solution!  Our site, #122, had shade but also plenty of sunshine for our solar panels to keep our batteries fully charged each day.  There are spectacular ocean views from the hard to reserve sites closer to the edge of the bluffs, but also some smaller ocean views even from sites farther back (like our site).

When we drove into the campground, we noticed lots of white chalk type circles on the ground at each site (similar to a marked crime scene).  We later found out the purpose of these markings when our Scamp kitchen was invaded by ants the next morning!  The ranger told us that the entire campground is basically sitting atop a giant ant hill and they recommend campers purchase diatomaceous earth from the camp host ($10 a bag).  The white powder is supposed to be sprinkled around each tire and any other trailer part that touches the ground.  They said ants won’t cross the powder lines.  We found out the next morning after applying the powder that it doesn’t really work in the short run (as we had ants on the second morning) and witnessed them walking across the powder!

The beach is a short walk down a steep trail.  There is a small tunnel that leads under the railroad tracks onto the sand.  It’s a nice beach, but when the tide is high there isn’t much sand left between the water and the bluffs.  We saw a wave create a water surge that unexpectedly overran one sunbather and her blanket (forcing her to pick up all her belongings and move farther back to the bluff)!  We were seated much closer to the bluffs while flying our new kite, but took that as a warning as a time to head back to the campground!

There’s a really nice beach trail, the San Clemente Beach Trail, that runs parallel to the railroad tracks and goes about 2.3 miles from the campground all the way to the San Clemente Pier and beyond.  People walk, run, and bicycle on the trail while appreciating gorgeous ocean views along the way.  We did it early in the morning and it was very foggy.  We walked all the way out to the end of the San Clemente Pier and couldn’t even see land when we looked back!  There are a lot of nice restaurants and shops in town.  We ended up walking about 6 miles doing a loop from the campground along the San Clemente Beach Trail and then up Avenida Del Mar (past a lot of downtown stores and restaurants) and back via El Camino Real (which runs close to the 5 Freeway).

Another scenic trail is the Sea Summit Trail.  This trail is not too close to the campground, so it’s better to drive and park (we parked in a neighborhood adjacent to one of the trail openings, but there is also parking at the San Clemente Outlet Center).  The trails here are meticulously maintained and more like groomed walking paths than actual nature trails.  The paths are on top of the bluffs and provide stunning views of the ocean (and sunsets).  There are stairs that lead down to the beach.

Overall, we had a great time at San Clemente State Beach Campground.  The campground itself is very pleasant with the dry camping spots nicely spaced out.  There are fantastic views of the ocean and plenty of walking trails to enjoy.  Also, being so close to the sea, there are nice breezes that blow through the campground and keep things cool.  Be prepared for possible ants and remember that this campground is close to Camp Pendleton so it is common to hear booms from artillery units conducting training (we did hear booms until 10:30 p.m. while at the campground).  Spectacular sunsets can be enjoyed from the campground while looking out over the bluffs and watching the sun dip into the sea.  So, if you are in need of a little rest and relaxation and like the idea of being near the ocean and getting fresh air, reserve a spot at San Clemente State Beach Campground (just don’t forget to bring along your ant repellant!).  Itching to go back!

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly. 

The Scamp “Enema”

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The Scamp “Enema”
Many small travel trailers, the Scamp 13’ included, have toilets that sit atop their Black tanks.  This simple system allows biological waste to be stored directly under the toilet and then eliminated (dumped into the sewer) when the camper’s Black tank valve is opened at the Dump site.  The opening at the base of the toilet bowl is closed by default until the user depresses the toilet lever (usually on the side of the toilet), which opens the toilet bowl hole and allows the waste to drop into the Black tank.  Surprisingly, this toilet mechanism keeps offensive smells mostly contained in the tank so bathroom odors should not get out of hand as long as the Black tank is properly maintained.

During our first year with our 2020 Scamp 13’, we relied exclusively on Happy Campers (see article “Drain and Clean Your Tanks Regularly …“) to sanitize our tanks.  This is a very effective organic holding tank treatment that dissolves solids and eliminates odors.  We have been extremely satisfied with Happy Campers and have continued to use it.  However, even with holding tank treatments, sometimes our Black tank sensor (SeeLevel II) reads a small percentage level in the tank even after dumping and treating.  I called Scamp and they suggested hosing down the inside of the Black tank to get rid of all residue.  To do this, simply attach the Dump hose to the Black valve on camper end and sewer connection on the other end, open the valve to release all material in the Black tank into the sewer, leave the valve open and the Dump hose connected to the camper valve and sewer connection, and take a garden hose into the Scamp bathroom.  Either have the garden hose turned on and the valve on the hose off or have someone turn the garden hose on once you are at the toilet with the toilet lever depressed.  Then with the hose pointed into the Black tank (toilet bowl hole open) spray inside the Blank tank.  It’s a good idea to wear a face mask covering your mouth just in case there is splash back!  Use the high pressure spray to shoot water all the way around inside the Black tank.  You should be able to see any remaining debris flush out and go down into the sewer connection hole at the base of the Black tank.  After completing, close the Blank tank valve and remove the Dump hose.  Once you are done, the tank should be extremely clean with no visible residue.

Now, complete the Happy Campers regimen (e.g. 1 scoop Happy Campers in 1 gallon of water into sink / toilet followed by 2 additional gallons water) and let mixture sit in tanks for at least several days to sanitize.  Then, drain both tanks.  Your tanks should now be very clean and sanitized and ready for your next trip!  Ever since we started giving our Scamp “Enemas” after each trip, our Black tank sensor consistently reads 0 after each cleanse.  Tanks so much!

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly. 

Central California  

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Central California  
August 22nd – August 29th, 2021 (7 nights)

This adventure was put together at the last minute after plans for our Mammoth Lakes trip were scrapped due to poor air quality (as a result of summer fires in California).  The locations were chosen based on towns showing good air quality on the AQI air quality map, the amount of time we had available for travel (7 days), and campsite availability.  We also had just purchased new bikes and a bike carrier for our Scamp 13’ and wanted to go places where we would be able to ride.

Santa Barbara
Whenever we head north, we make it a point to stay over a night in Santa Barbara (a 3 ½ hour drive from our home in San Diego).  Not only is it a fantastic location with great scenery and plenty to do, but our cousin Jon lives here and he lets us camp in his driveway!  This trip was a little different though.  When we arrived, we discovered a car in his driveway.  Jon’s son, Melvin, was in Italy and his car keys were nowhere to be found!  What to do with the Scamp?!!!  Fortunately, my cousin’s next door neighbor saw us and realized what had happened.  He generously offered to let us stay on his property (and even provided electric and water hookups)!  Phew!

On this trip, we visited the Old Santa Barbara Mission and walked around downtown Santa Barbara to eat lunch at our favorite Mexican food restaurant, Taco Pipeye.  We also rode our new bikes from my cousin’s house all the way down to the Goleta bike path, past the end of the runway of Santa Barbara airport, and toured UC Santa Barbara!  We also had a great dinner with my vegan cousin Jon and enjoyed his ocean view while we ate on his balcony.  Overall, we had a very enjoyable and busy 24 hours in Santa Barbara.

Pismo Beach
Just about an hour and a half north of Santa Barbara lies Pismo Beach.  Campsites in this beautiful beach town are very difficult to get.  However, we got lucky and two of the best possible sites at Pismo State Beach North Beach Campground just happened to show available when I was looking (likely last minute cancellations)!   In order to stay 3 nights though, we had to move from site #27 after the first night to site #29 for the remaining 2 nights.  Both of these sites are premium sites and right next to each other and directly in front of the beach.  The only downside with splitting the reservation is paying the reservation fee ($7.99) twice and being required to completely leave the campground between Noon to 2 p.m. the day the next reservation begins (for campsite maintenance).  “Rules are rules” is what we were told by one of the camp hosts!  So, we packed up after our first night and headed to a nearby horse lot where we ate lunch before returning to check in for our second campsite at 2 p.m.  On our way back to the campground, one of our tail lights on our Scamp 13’ blew out (our tow vehicle gave a warning on the dashboard showing short circuit).  Fortunately, there are two fully equipped RV supply stores right across the street from the campground and had the bulb we needed for less than 3 dollars a pair!

Pismo State Beach North Beach Campground is fantastic.  The campsites are very spread out and the beach is just over a little hill adjacent to the campground.  There are no hookups, but there are water spigots and a central dump ($10 at this time).  We had no problem staying 3 nights (even with the two of us taking a shower each night) by using our solar panel briefcase to recharge our batteries during the day and our “Holy Grail Portable Grey Water Tank Solution” to drain our Grey water tank after a couple of days.  The beach in front of the campground is very wide and beautiful with a glorious view north of the Pismo pier.  There are some nice walking paths that are on the perimeter of the campground.  One goes south above the beach toward Oceano.  Another leads into the Pismo Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove.  This site hosts over 10,000 butterflies annually.  The Monarch Butterflies flock to Pismo Beach from late October through February, seeking shelter from freezing northern winters.  The butterflies cluster in the limbs of the large Eucalyptus trees that tower over the grove.  Although we saw Monarch butterflies on this trip, we did not see even one at the Grove (not the right time of year)!

Walking over the sand dunes from the campground onto the beach and taking long walks is a favorite activity for many campers here.  We enjoyed walking the sand from the campground to the pier and strolling out to the end of the pier.  Exploring  the town of Pismo Beach is also entertaining. There are a lot of shops and restaurants and plenty to see.   For example, we enjoyed perusing the toys and kites at “The Sky’s The Limit” on Dolliver Street.

Bringing bikes to North Beach Campground is definitely recommended.  We had a blast riding our mountain bikes up the coast along streets, bike paths, and dirt trails.  We pedaled almost all the way to Avila Beach (stopping right before the steep drop into town) – about 8 ½ miles each way.  We used Google Maps for directions and selected “Walking” so we would be off the main roads whenever possible.  Every day, we enjoyed cool ocean breezes and sounds of the waves from inside our Scamp 13’ so much that it was hard to leave after just a few nights.  We met one nice couple in an Airstream that reserves a spot here every summer for 2 weeks at a time as an affordable family yearly gathering spot!

Solvang
After using the central Dump on our way out of the Pismo Beach North Beach Campground, we drove about an hour south and inland to the quaint Danish town of Solvang.  We stayed at a Boondockers Welcome location, a home just a couple of miles from the center of town.  Our host location was part of a parcel that was once a large farm.  We stayed in their large driveway and the hosts provided us electricity and water ($5/night).  Our hosts were very friendly and gave us fruits and vegetables from their farm as well as shared bicycling tips for good routes throughout this wine country.  The only noise we heard in the evenings was the loud chirping of crickets!

The days were hot (90 degrees) but the mornings and evenings cooled down considerably (high 50’s).  We rode bikes in the early morning and late afternoon and relaxed during the day to avoid the heat.  The quiet country back roads of the Santa Ynez Valley are magical and we cycled passed beautiful vineyards and farms.  If you are in this area, we recommend these neighborhood streets to bike on:  Calzada, Samantha, Robler, and Baseline, with the winery called Bridlewood being the caketopper highlight (on Baseline).  We also had a chance to explore the Danish town of Solvang with its Old Mission Santa Ines and Danish shops and bakeries.  After a couple of nights and days of exploring, we bid our generous hosts goodbye and headed toward the ocean again.

Oxnard
Our last stop before heading home was to see our friends Cheryl and Hugh.  They were scheduled, with us, to go to Mammoth Lakes / Silver Lake before that trip was cancelled.  Instead, they invited us to stay in their driveway at their home near the beach in Oxnard (about 1 ½ hours south of Solvang).  The temperature really dropped as we drove up and over the mountains down to the coast.  The searing heat was replaced with cool foggy air – a welcome relief from the hot temperatures of the Santa Ynez Valley.  Our Scamp 13’ easily fit at the side of our friends’ driveway along with our tow vehicle.  They even have a Dump port in their driveway which we used to dump our Grey water!  Oxnard is a beach community with a harbor with shops and restaurants.  Cheryl and Hugh live only a short walk from the sand.

Our friends Cheryl & Hugh are super generous and treated us like royalty.  They fed us a great lunch, took us on a tour of downtown Oxnard on their new golf cart (with the Beach Boys music cranking on the stereo), and later treated us to a fantastic seafood restaurant dinner!  And, Cheryl made her famous gluten free Lava Cake (dark chocolate cake with molten chocolate oozing everywhere) for dessert back at home (of course there was vanilla ice cream on the side)!  To top it all off, they even gifted us plates with images of camper trailers on them for our Scamp 13’!  We are always blown away by their hospitality.  We had a fantastic visit with Cheryl & Hugh.  And, we also thoroughly enjoyed playing with their Havanese dogs, Avatar & Gidget.  On our way out the next morning, Hugh made sure we took a couple of King Salmon filets that he caught on his recent trip to Alaska (which we ate a couple of days later and were delicious)!  We drove back to our home in San Diego (3 hour drive) early enough to get our Scamp cleaned up and ready for our next trip!

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly. 

Secret Planning Tools & Strategies For Long Distance RV Trips

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Secret Planning Tools & Strategies For Long Distance RV Trips
Planning a long distance RV trip with multiple stops can be overwhelming.  Questions such as:  Where to go?  Where to stay?  How much will campgrounds cost?  How long to stay at each stop?  Are there amenities such as hookups?  Where are dump stations along the route?  and many others often arise when arranging such a trip.  Where to begin?!!!  I’ve put together a number of tools and strategies below which hopefully will help answer many of these questions and make the process of trip planning fun.

When and Where to Go?
The answer to this question is often dictated by the weather.  Unless one has an important reason to go somewhere specific, such as a business trip or family gathering, most of us will head to locations where the weather is good so we can enjoy our RV vacations (which usually involve a lot of outdoors activities).   In planning trips for our Scamp 13’ (with San Diego as our home base), paying attention to good weather usually means planning coast and mountain trips in the summer, all types of trips in the late spring and early fall, and coast and desert trips in the winter.  By following this method, we usually avoid temperature extremes, which can not only be extremely uncomfortable, but also damaging to the pipes (e.g. freezing) in small travel trailers.  Living in California, we are lucky in that there are usually locations throughout the year where the weather is favorable for small travel trailer trips.

In addition to the weather, it’s also a good idea to plan trips around locations of interest to you.  It only makes sense going places you will enjoy.  I have a friend who likes to attend the big annual quilting show in Sisters, Oregon every July.  Another friend loves fishing and has a standing reservation at Silver Lake Resort.  Building a trip around these activities is the perfect way to enjoy your small travel trailer and a fun interest at the same time.  Personally, I enjoy going to National and State Parks for the outdoor activities and many of my trips are to these locations.  After all, one of the big advantages of having a small travel trailer is being able to stay within these parks (often where hotels are non-existent or extremely expensive like the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite).  But, I also enjoy going to unique locations of interest, such as farm stays or specialty locations.  For example, I’m currently planning a fall trip through Oregon and hope to stay at several specialty stops including this alpaca farm, airport and airplane museum, small railroad depot, and organic farm.

Lastly, it’s often our schedules that dictate when we go.  For example, families may only be able to travel in the summer.  In these cases, pay close attention not only to the weather but also the potential for crowds when trip planning.  Even if the weather is good at a particular location during the planned travel month, if may not be a lot of fun if there are big crowds (such as at certain National parks).  I’ve found that going to lesser known parks can be equally enjoyable during the summer months.  For example, we had an awesome time at Lassen Volcanic National Park this past July and probably enjoyed it as much as our Yosemite trip two months earlier.

Planning Tools
Once you have decided when and where you want to go, it’s time to utilize some key travel planning tools which will not only help you decide on the best travel routes, best places to stay, and where to dump, but also potentially will save you a lot of money and make your trip more memorable!  The first tool I recommend is using Google Maps to search drive times between your planned stops.  Search “drive time from X to X”.

We try to limit our daily driving to no more than 4 hours per day (and driving no more than 2 consecutive days in a row).  However, we do sometimes make exceptions to facilitate certain trips (occasionally driving 5 or 6 hours if necessary and/or driving more than 2 consecutive days in a row if the drives are 3 hours or less and we want to visit a certain location).  For example, in the summer we go to Mammoth Lakes in the mountains (about a 7 hour drive), but it’s not possible to stay overnight midway as it is the desert and too hot.  However, when we arrive we often stay several days at each location, making the long drive on the first day worthwhile.

A second free tool is the AAA Triptik Travel Planner.  It’s free, but you have to have a AAA membership if you want to save your trip (which isn’t really a big deal unless you are plotting out a lot of stops and want to come back to refer to the website map in the future).  This is a fantastic route planner because it gives a lot of great information.  It shows your route on a map along with pins at each stop (which you can print).  You can set a time or distance interval that highlights with a circle on the map each interval.  For example, if you want to limit each day to 4 hours driving, you can set a 4 hour interval and then the tool highlights these intervals on the map with red circles.  The map lists trip total drive time and miles along with complete step by step driving directions (if you want).  There is also a selectable legend that will show gas stations, campsites, restaurants, and other areas of interest on the map.

Sometimes it may be necessary to find an RV DUMP Station along your route.  Having this information in advance can be very useful as it may allow you to stay at free locations (such as Boondockers Welcome or Harvest Host sites) without having to spend money for a campground just to have access to a dump.  This RV Dump Stations Map by Roundabout Publications (publisher of travel books) is a third free tool which shows Dump stations all over the country (note:  I have not verified the accuracy of this map so use at your own discretion).  In addition to showing dump station locations, the map also has a legend indicating the cost of the station (some are even free!).  In our experience, private dumps generally charge between $7 to $10 per dump.

State and regional parks often have websites and maps showing state and regional campground site locations (the 4th free tool).  For example, on the Oregon trip I’m planning, I referred to the Oregon State Parks “Find a Park” map extensively.  And many regional parks have campground maps that provide campsite locations.  For example, Sonoma County has this regional campground map.  I’ve found that state and regional parks campgrounds often offer very generous amounts of campsite space and tend to be an excellent value.

If you think you might enjoy some niche stays, such farms, wineries, museums, or people’s homes/driveways, consider joining both Boondockers Welcome and Harvest Hosts (inexpensive annual memberships).  With this 5th tool, just a couple of stays will offset the cost of the annual subscription.  Before signing up, go to their websites and view host location maps.  The Harvest Host map even lets you plot your route and shows stay locations on the map!  If it looks like there are many places to stay on your route, perhaps give it a try.  We’ve had great stays using these memberships and enjoyed meeting the hosts.  Also, memberships can allow you to save a lot of money if you stay at multiple locations throughout the year (as individual stays are free / although we generally give a small gift or make a purchase).

Power Tools:  Using All Tools Together
I’ve found it incredibly efficient to use all of the above tools simultaneously together to review maps regarding the route and stops (Google Maps / AAA Triptik), Dump station locations (RV Dump Stations Map) , available campgrounds (AAA Triptik / State & Regional Parks map), and boondocking sites (Boondockers Welcome / Harvest Hosts).  To do this, just open up multiple browsers so you can jump back and forth comparing all the information.  Doing this allowed me to quickly see driving times and possible campsite locations on my planned trip.  I was also able to identify some interesting boondocking possibilities without being concerned about a lack of a dump station at these locations (since I also had the Dump Station map and knew there were dumping options on the drive).

Fun Things to Do
Now that you have figured out when and where you are going, made a map of your trip (and chosen stops so you aren’t driving much longer than 4 hours per day and limiting travelling to no more than two consecutive days of driving), it’s a good idea to get some insider information on fun things to do at your locations.  A few sources I’ve found helpful (beyond just Google searches) are campground reviews, State tourism commission websites, and a couple of travel websites.  For example, when I searched Wallowa Lake State Park campground reviews, along with actual reviews of the campground, I found some great tips.  There are recommendations for things to do and places to go, like taking the tramway to the top of Mount Howard, trails to hike, great restaurants (like the Wallowa Lake Lodge), good shopping (including art and bronze galleries) in the town of Joseph, and fishing.  State tourism commission websites are also good sources of local knowledge.  I checked Oregon’s “Travel Oregon” website for our upcoming trip and found some interesting things to do that I didn’t see anywhere else.  For example, I definitely plan to reserve a pedal train car with Joseph Branch Railriders!  I did something like this in Sweden and it was a blast!  Tripadvisor and TripSavvy are a couple of travel advisory websites that are good for providing lists of fun things to do.  Here is the TripSavvy list for Joseph, OR.

Conclusion
Now that you are armed with these Secret Planning Tools and Strategies for your future long distance RV trips, you can rest easy knowing that “you’ve got this”!  You can now plan RV trips like a pro and have fantastic experiences without the stress which typically comes with figuring all this stuff out!

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly. 

How to use Magnets to Create a Comfy Dry Bath

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How to use Magnets to Create a Comfy Dry Bath

***WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD – Small parts (magnets). Keep away from children and pets.***
***WARNING: Magnetic Field – magnetic fields may interfere with pacemakers / other health devices.***

After you have converted your Wet Bath into a Comfy Dry Zone (see “How to Turn Your Wet Bath into a Comfy Dry Zone” if you haven’t done this already), turn toward magnets for a better way to secure your shower curtain to the walls rather than using hooks.

We initially used plastic hooks attached to the wall with Velcro in our Scamp to secure the shower curtain so we could pull it across the front of the toilet area to keep it dry while showering.  However, after using this system for a while, it became frustrating because the shower curtain often would slide off the hooks.

While considering a number of different approaches, the idea of using small magnets to quickly attach the shower curtain to the side of the wall stood out.  I have worked with small rare earth magnets on numerous projects in the past for securing hatches in model aircraft, so I felt comfortable that they might work well for this application.

The basic approach is to use the existing PVC rod in the Scamp (above the inside of the bathroom door used to hold the door curtain) to secure the door side of the curtain by putting a ring on it at the end.  Then, it’s just a matter of pulling the curtain across the toilet compartment and securing it on the other side of the wall with magnets (which quickly hold the curtain securely in place).  Because the Scamp has a rat fur type of headliner, the magnets are applied directly onto the fiberglass wall for a more secure attachment (top and bottom of the wall and along the wood door frame on door side).

I decided to use small inexpensive rare earth magnets which I purchased at Harbor Freight for less than $3 for a ten pack.  I ended up purchasing three packs (30 magnets) so I would have plenty of magnets to work with (remember, each connection uses a pair).

I chose to use hot glue to secure the magnets to the fiberglass because it is quick to apply and can easily be removed if necessary.  The downside is that the magnets can pop off if enough pressure is put on them. I purchased a mini glue gun at Michaels Art Supply for less than $3 along with some extra mini glue sticks.

I selected three mounting points at the top and bottom of the wall for the curtain to attach along with several points on the door frame to hold the curtain.  I used a pair of angled needle nose pliers to hold a magnet while I applied a bead of hot glue to the back and then, using the plier handles, pressed each magnet against the fiberglass (or wood) and held for a few seconds until the glue dried.  Installing the magnets is quick and easy!

To secure the shower curtain, just pull it across the toilet area and, using magnets, secure it to the wall along the areas where there are magnets glued to the Scamp’s fiberglass wall (and also along the wood door frame).  When the curtain isn’t in use, I leave enough magnets stuck to the door frame on one of the magnet locations so they are easy to reach when needed.  The idea is that the shower curtain is used when showering and then simply detached and rolled up and tucked on the door side when not in use.  You will find that this method works well for keeping the toilet area dry (along with the toilet paper).

We had a chance to vigorously test the new magnetic system on our recent 11 night trip from our home in San Diego to Lassen Volcanic National Park (see our recent trip report).  We found that the magnets work really well, but care needs to be taken when removing the magnets after showering to prevent the underlying magnets which are attached to the fiberglass wall from pulling off.  After a little experience, we learned that it’s best to slide the top magnet to the side rather than pull straight back.  When we adopted this approach, we stopped having any problems with magnets popping off.  However, when we returned from our trip, I glued secondary redundant magnets next to each magnet so that even if one pops off during a trip there are still plenty of magnet points to attach to.  9/4/2021 UPDATE:  I found the small round magnets pop off too easily from the fiberglass, so I switched to these bar magnets for the ones attached to the Scamp.  This seems to be much more secure.  Overall, we have found that this is an excellent solution to securing a shower curtain in the Scamp as it quickly creates a great comfy dry bath.

After doing everything in this article, you should have a reasonably dry toilet compartment after each shower!

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly. 

Lassen Volcanic National Park (with lots of fun stops)

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Lassen Volcanic National Park (with lots of fun stops)
July 3rd – July 14th, 2021 (11 nights)

This was one of those epic Northern California summer adventures with the highlight being a stay at an otherworldly campground high up in the mountains surround by volcanoes and set on a beautiful lake.  Throw in some underground lava tube exploration and geothermal boiling sulfur pools and this trip is a recipe for a lot of fun!  And, best of all, it’s only about four hours north of San Francisco, right here in the United States!

Whenever heading north, our first stop is usually Santa Barbara to visit my cousin Jon and family.  The ride from our home in San Diego is usually about 4 hours.  But, on this strip, since it was the start of 4th of July weekend and a Saturday morning, we decided to leave really early to beat traffic.  We left at 5:30 a.m. and arrived in Santa Barbara at 9 a.m. making record time (3.5 hours)!  It seems not many people are on the roads this early!  We had a great day with my cousin Melvin and even tried an excellent Mexican restaurant called Tacos Pipeye which serves fantastic tacos, mole chicken, and enchiladas, for a very reasonable price!  We missed my cousin Jon and his wife Ida on this stop as they were on a Tesla drive trip out to Santa Fe, New Mexico, but we would see them at the end of the trip on our final stopover.

We usually break up the drive from Santa Barbara to Oakland with a middle stop in between (following our rule of driving no more than 4 hours per day), but since we wanted to experience 4th of July at my sister’s home in Oakland this year, we did the trip straight with just short breaks for gas.    We arrived in Oakland at around 12:30 p.m. (after a 6 hour drive) and used wood boards to raise the rear of our tow vehicle so that our hitch cleared the driveway transition, allowing us to get our Scamp tucked away in the narrow side yard space between my sister’s home and the bordering neighbor’s fence.  Since it was expected to be a very rowdy 4th at night, we felt like it would be safer in the driveway than sleeping on the street.  And, East Oakland did not disappoint – the mostly illegal fireworks started even before sundown and exploded all night long!  People were out on the street right in front of my sister’s home exploding firecrackers and igniting other illegal fireworks, so we were glad we weren’t sleeping in our Scamp out there this trip. Thankfully, with our ear plugs, white noise app, and the Scamp’s insulation, we were able to sleep soundly!  We had a great time with our family in Oakland, including a nice walk on Alameda Island the next day.

We met our San Diego friends Alexis, Chris, and Ben at Anthony Chabot Campground on Sunday (only a 30 minute drive from my sister’s house).  They rented a camper van and we arranged to have two adjacent campsites (#11 and #12) at this really woodsy campground overlooking Lake Chabot in East Oakland.  Although the campground is very close to Oakland, it feels very remote (a 20 minute windy road entrance).  Many sites are full hookup and under tall trees.  There are nice trails for walking and bike riding, including some that go down to the lake.  There is no swimming in this lake due to algae.  We had fun with our friends, went on a hike down to the lake, and even had some s’mores by the fire!  The next morning I was surrounded by a big group (rafter) of wild turkeys while I was writing my travel log at the picnic table!  They didn’t mind my presence and were just intent on looking for food on the ground.

We left for Russian Gulch State Park the next morning, a campground along the Mendocino coast about four hours north of San Francisco.  On the way, we stopped at the picturesque town of Healdsburg (just north of Santa Rosa in Northern Sonoma County) and had lunch in our Scamp.  We spent a little time walking around the charming town center and window browsing the quaint shops.  When we arrived at Russian Gulch State Park later in the day, we found our site #17 in an empty meadow, as it turned out the surrounding sites in the same meadow were closed during our visit.  There are no hookups at this campground, but there are water spigots close to each site.  There are great hiking trails here and we hiked the North Trail and Water Fall Loop Trail in the morning (which took us 3 hours for the 8 mile hike).  The trail goes through redwoods and fern forests and features a small waterfall.  In the afternoon, we walked the less rigorous Headland’s Trail (along the bluffs with spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean) to view the Devil’s Punchbowl.  This is a 100-foot by 60-foot sinkhole basin created when a tunnel penetrating inland from the ocean collapsed.  When the tide is high, the sinkhole becomes an explosive cauldron of sea water.  Although our friends Alexis and her family couldn’t get a spot at Russian Gulch State Park, they did find accommodation at nearby Caspar Beach RV Park (just a few minutes’ drive from our campground).  We enjoyed s’mores and hot dogs (and steak) with them (in that order)!  They are great chefs and provide fun company!  The next day we explored the coast including walking the quaint seaside town of Mendocino village, where I purchased a “Been Squatchin” tshirt (Big Foot / Sasquatch is a local legend in this area).  We did not spot Sasquatch on this trip though.  Note:  we had no HD TV or cell phone service down at the Russian Gulch SP campsite.  Instead, just a short drive up the hill to the parking spots next to the Ranger entrance booth provided cellphone service.

After a couple nights and fun times at Russian Gulch State Park, we left for Lassen Volcanic National Park (a 5 ½ hour drive:  7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.).  I find if we leave early in the morning on long drives and still arrive early, then it doesn’t feel like we’ve spent the entire day driving.  There were a lot of curves and climbs driving from the coast, crossing the mountains, descending into the Central Valley (Redding), and then ascending again into the mountains to get to Lassen.  Lassen Volcanic National Park is at over 6,000 feet above sea level.  We stayed at Manzanita Lake campground which is right on a scenic lake with volcanoes in the background (including Lassen Peak).  The first thing we did on arrival was dump ($8 honor system) because we had just stayed at Russian Gulch State Park without any dump station there.  The dump station is right before getting to the entrance to the campground and was empty whenever we passed by.  The weather was warm (in the 80’s).  After we first arrived and had lunch, we went to a ranger talk close to the Loomis Museum (at the entrance to the park).  Our site (#A17) was completely shaded with very limited sunshine (which helped tame the heat).  This meant that we needed to move around our solar panels during the day to maximize our charging.  We left the solar panels out overnight and did not have any issues with them being disturbed (or getting wet since the air was very dry).  The spots are nicely spaced out, and although the campground was full, everyone seemed to have a good amount of room around their own campsite.  We had to drive up the road about a mile to Mile Marker #14 in order to get a cell signal (there is a turn out with usually a few cars parked making calls).

There is a little trail to the lake from the campground and a nice walking path that goes all the way around its circumference.  It takes about an hour to walk the full lake loop, which is a nice easy flat walk along the water.  People were swimming, kayaking, and fishing on the lake and everyone seemed to be having a great time.  We weren’t able to bring our inflatable kayak on this trip as our tow vehicle was full due to having to haul items up to Oakland for my sister.  Although it was warm during the day, the nights were cool (60’s) and sleeping in the Scamp was very comfortable.  We enjoyed watching movies at night (see article “How to Watch Movies in the Wild”).  Our “Holy Grail Portable Grey Water Tank Solution” saved us a lot of hassle and money during our three days at Lassen.  Instead of having to completely decamp in the middle of our trip and drive the Scamp over to the Dump and spend and then set up our Scamp again at the campsite, we stayed put by using our portable jugs and dumped them along with our regular Black and Grey water on our way out of the park!

One relaxing and really fun thing to do at Lassen is to drive the 30 mile Northern – Southern route to the other end of the park, stopping along the way at various mile markers which have different scenic activities (it’s about an hour without stops each way, so allow at least several hours and take your time).  It’s recommended to download the NPS (National Park Service) app at the Google Play store for free before you go and also download Lassen Volcanic National Park from within the NPS app into your phone so you won’t need an internet connection to access all the park information.  It’s also a good idea to download audio files you can play on your phone about the park here.

There is a reasonably priced gas pump at the campground store (Regular Unleaded only), so it’s best to fuel up before taking the Northern – Southern route drive since there are no other gas stations anywhere close by.  Along the way you can see Choas Crags (an area with volcanoes and rocks covering the ground due to a volcanic eruption 1100 years ago), the Sulphur Works (hydrothermal pit of bubbling stinky mud), various lakes, great views, …..  We spent a little time at the visitors center at the South side of the park relaxing before heading back (there are refreshments and food for sale inside the center).  Another fun activity which doesn’t take too long is to drive to Subway Cave Lava Tubes (just about 20 minutes outside the campground).  It was 102 degrees when we arrived at this lava tube but, after walking down the stairs into the cave, we experienced very cool temperatures (the temperature inside the cave remains a constant 46 degrees year round!).  The night before leaving for our next campground, we hiked around Manzanita Lake under no moon to take some Milky Way images!  It was pitch dark and we wore headlamps.  We saw deer and some other night creatures along the lake trail!  We were rewarded by a stunning Milky Way which rose above Lassen Peak and Manzanita Lake at around 10 p.m.!  We dumped (including 3 Grey containers) before leaving early in the morning for Oakland.

After a four hour drive to Oakland, we reached my sister’s house around lunch time.  We decided to set up the Scamp in the driveway again since it worked out so well on the 4th of July.  After lunch we took a long walk along Alameda Island beach (watching some kite surfers) and then had A+ Burgers for dinner at my cousin Rebecca’s house in Oakland.  We also played some card games and Qwirkle with our family before leaving for Washburn Campground in San Simeon the next morning.

Washburn Campground is about a four hour drive from Oakland and is located in the San Simeon / Cambria area on the coast.  It is a “primitive” campground (only $20/night + $8 reservation fee), although there are water spigots here.  For us, since our Scamp has a bathroom and we have solar panels, the type of campground really doesn’t matter too much if we are only staying two to three days.  In any case, we filled up our Fresh tank at my sister’s house in Oakland before we left.  We had site #W264 which had plenty of sun for our solar panels!  The sites are well separated and the area did not seem crowded.  The campground is high up on a hill with a nice view of the mountains and ocean below.  We walked down to the beach from our campsite along the road and it’s only about a mile each way.  There are also trails but signs warned of ticks with Lyme disease and recent mountain lion sightings so we stayed on the road.  The campground area was overrun with “cute” ground squirrels and they were not very shy.  Some even jumped up into the undercarriage of parked tow vehicles (not sure what they were doing under there).  We made sure to keep our Scamp door shut so as not to discover any unwanted guests inside.  Our San Diego friends were camping in the adjacent campsite (San Simeon Creek Campground) and we met them there in the evening for some excellent chicken burritos and salad!  Washburn Campground / San Simeon Creek Campground has a Dump Station at the entrance and the charge is $10.  Since our Grey tank was only 50% when leaving and we only had one more night left on our trip (and we also had our Holy Grey solution just in case), we skipped it and saved the money.

Our final drive before heading home to San Diego was back to my cousin Jon and Melvin’s house in Santa Barbara.  After the three hour drive, we decided to go to Tacos Pipeye again with our cousin Melvin since we enjoyed it so much at the start of our trip!  Once again, it did not disappoint!  We also had a nice walk through downtown Santa Barbara before and after lunch.  My vegan cousin Jon and his wife Ida were back from Santa Fe and treated us to a wonderful homemade dinner (risotto and Beyond Meat burgers) that night.  And, we also got to see our cousin Carolina.  The next morning we drove back to our home in San Diego (4 hour drive) and arrived early enough to get our Scamp cleaned up and ready for our next trip!

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly. 

No Hookups, No Problem!

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No Hookups, No Problem!
While going through my pre-trip checklist (see my article “Use Checklists to Prevent Problems”) right before heading out to Yosemite a couple of weeks ago, I noticed our heavy duty surge protector hadn’t been used in a while.  The surge protector has been sitting in its cardboard box on the top shelf of our garage cabinets and collecting dust for some time.  In May 2021, we were fortunate to be able to stay within the park at Yosemite (Upper Pine Campground), but had to plan for no hookups as the Yosemite campsites don’t have any (which is often the case in National and State parks), so we didn’t need to take the surge protector.  During the trip, we used our 100W solar briefcase (two 50W panels) every day, and even though our campsite was mostly shaded, there was always enough sunlight to keep our Scamp’s batteries well charged.

Our campsite at Yosemite also lacked any other hookups (e.g. water and sewer).  However, there is a central dump station at the entrance of Upper Pines Campground and drinking water spigots at each bathroom.  We dumped on the way into the campground and used our Holy Grail Portable Grey Water Tank Solution so that we didn’t need to move the Scamp all week!  I filled up our portable Grey tanks (four 5 gallon jugs) once during the week and drove them to the central dump early in the morning when there is little activity at the dump station and poured them out.  Filling our Fresh tanks was easy using our dolly and 6-gallon water jug.  The water spigot near our campsite was just a short walk away and the spigot had high pressure, so filling our Fresh jug was super-fast.  I made two or three water refill runs during our Yosemite stay.

Having had a chance to reflect back on the past year and a half since receiving our new Scamp 13’ using our trip log book (see my article “Take A Page From Star Trek and Log Your Travels”), I was surprised to realize how few times we actually used any types of hookups!  We sometimes used electrical and water hookups while staying in the driveways of family, but for the most part, our stays have mostly been at National and State parks where no hookups were provided.  And, these stays have usually been at locations where central dump stations and water spigots were available and our solar panels (along with our Jackery 500) served to maintain a sufficient charge on our Scamp battery.

Along with solar panels, we rely heavily on liquid Propane during most of our stays.  Propane does a great job of powering most of our appliances which can run on this gas.  Propane is efficient and can last a long time.  Appliances in our Scamp that can run off propane are the gas stove, refrigerator, furnace, and hot water heater.  The great thing about propane is that you can carry a lot of it (we always carry 2 Viking composite propane tanks) and it can be run without hookups.  One tank can usually last us over 10 days even in very cold weather when we run our furnace.  One just has to take care to follow proper safety protocols when running propane.  Small travel trailers are usually outfitted with combination carbon monoxide/propane detector alarms; the one in our 2020 Scamp 13’ is located near the front door under one of the dinette seats.  It’s essential that every small travel trailer have one of these alarms because carbon monoxide and propane gas exposure can be lethal.

After almost two years of travelling with our Scamp 13’ to mostly State and National parks, we’ve learned that during our stays water is usually available via spigot (or it can be brought in containers) and electricity can most often be provided by the Sun using solar panels (assuming good weather).  We’ve noticed that the Scamp’s electricity demands are not high (especially if using a battery bank, such as the Jackery 500 in which to run non-essential tasks like watching the 12V television and charging devices like phones, cameras, etc.) and propane can also be used to alleviate electricity demand by powering our refrigerator.  And, lastly, we’ve learned we can extend our time between trips to the Dump Station by as much as 5 or 6 days by using portable containers to hold Grey Water.  Ultimately, it’s the Black and Grey tanks that force us to a Dump Station (see my article “Why It’s Smart to be a Zen Boondocker….”).

So, instead of steering clear of campgrounds without hookups, embrace them and expand your options for adventures.  And, once you understand the constraints of your small travel trailer, you can plan your trips so that Dump Station stops occur when you need them (such as every five or six days), allowing you to stay in one place longer and more easily (by using portable Grey Tank containers which can be dumped independently of your trailer).  Happy Camping!

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly. 

Yosemite National Park

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Yosemite National Park
May 10th – May 16th, 2021 (6 nights)

Yosemite is a must see National Park mainly because of its abundance of scenic beauty.  Waterfalls, huge granite sheer mountain walls, wildlife, and a beautiful valley with meadows and countless hiking and biking trails add to the immense wonder of the park.  If you can reserve a spot at one of the campgrounds in Yosemite, consider yourself very lucky as these spots are extremely difficult to get.  For tips on getting a spot, see my previous article “Winning Yosemite’s Campground Reservations Online Lottery”.

The drive from Carlsbad, California to Upper Falls Campground in Yosemite takes between 7 and 8 hours.  To make the drive easier, we decided to stop midway both on the drive up and way back home.  We stayed at two Boondockers Welcome locations, so the overnight stays didn’t cost us anything (other than the $50 annual subscription fee).  We stayed in the driveway of a nice home in Visalia going to Yosemite and at a miniature donkey farm in Bakersfield on the way home (this was our 2nd visit!).  Using this subscription is a great way to make trips easier and get some interesting experiences!

Yosemite has several campgrounds and we chose to stay at Upper Pines.  This is a fantastic campground nestled within the pines and having a sheer granite wall towering high overhead.  There are 240 campsites at Upper Pines and each has a picnic table, food locker and fire pit.  Although there are no hookups, there are bathrooms and access to drinking water from central spigots.  There is also a Dump Station at the entrance to Upper Pines campground.  We found the Dump Station to be completely empty throughout the day.  It gets busier around midday when people are checking in.  Although the campground has a lot of shade, there was enough sunlight at our site #126 to keep our solar panels out and charging our Scamp battery.  Site #126 was rated for a travel trailer with maximum length of 12 feet.  It is the responsibility of the camper to ensure that both the travel trailer and tow vehicle fit on the campsite pad and do not stick out onto the roadway.  With our Scamp 13’ and our Volvo XC40 (around 14’) we were still able to just fit by angling our tow vehicle slightly to keep the nose off the road.  A longer tow vehicle or trailer might have a problem in this short campsite.  So, it’s important to read the campsite description before reserving to make sure your setup will fit!

We made sure to use the Dump Station on entry to Upper Pines campground (which also includes a fresh water filling area) so our Scamp 13’ was completely dumped as well as filled with fresh water.  Fortunately, we carried our Holy Grail Portable Grey Water Tank Solution with us so we did not need to move our Scamp 13’ the entire 4 days at the campground!  On the morning of the 3rd day, I filled our 4 five gallon grey water tank jugs and drove them to the Dump Station and poured them out there.  We didn’t have an issue with our Black tank as it can generally go for about 6-7 days with two people.  Our electrical needs were taken care of by using our solar panel briefcase each day.

For just $26 per day, staying in Upper Pines Campground is a fantastic bargain!  It’s an easy walk or bike ride to sites throughout the Yosemite Valley, including Curry Village, the general store, Cook’s Meadow Loop, and Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls.  And, a lot of great trails, like the Lower Yosemite Fall Trail, Cook’s Meadow Loop, Mirror Lake Loop, Valley Loop Trail, Vernal Fall and Nevada Fall Trails, Mist Trail, John Muir Trail, and Yosemite Falls Trail are all easily accessible from Upper Pines Campground.  We chose to walk throughout the valley, but bike rentals are also available.  Alternatively, for a nice hotel within the park, plan a stay at The Ahwahnee hotel and expect to pay over $500/night!

The campground was very quiet but populated.  We had the opportunity of meeting a nice retired couple travelling in a van from Maryland (tent campers).  They invited us to dinner at their campsite one night (great salmon and rice dish) and we cooked them pasta on another night.  They are on a four month trip across the country visiting National Parks.   We were fortunate with the weather and crowds.  Every day was clear and sunny and afternoons were warm but not too hot.  We experienced dramatic starry nights and enjoyed watching the climbers’ lights as they scaled the faces of some very high vertical walls in pure darkness.  Our days were filled with long walks throughout Yosemite Valley and early morning hikes.  Our favorite hike was up to Vernal Falls – the most interesting part is a steep stone staircase that goes up to the top of the falls.  A rainbow forms across the stairs due to the heavy mist created by the water fall.  We ventured out to Yosemite Valley almost every night to enjoy the stars and engage in astrophotography.

Our four nights at Upper Pines Campground went by very quickly.  Yosemite is a great place to get outdoors and also relax.  There’s hiking, horseback riding, fishing, biking, boating, climbing, and countless other activities in which to engage.  We did speak to one of the rangers and he advised us that it does get like Disneyland in the summer with serious crowding.  So, if you can arrange it, go in early to mid-May because the weather should be good (although can be unpredictable), the water falls are generally raging, and it’s most likely going to be less crowded than during the summer months.  Yosemite National Park gets 5 stars!

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly. 

Outfitting Your Small Travel Trailer for its Maiden Voyage

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Outfitting Your Small Travel Trailer for its Maiden Voyage
One of the great benefits of owning a small travel trailer is that it can be set up with all the basic essentials and, in turn, be ready to go on a moment’s notice.  Since there is minimal storage available in a small travel trailer, it’s very important to carefully select what is really necessary for your travels.  All of these things will need to fit in a small number of drawers and cabinets, like living on a boat or in a tiny home.  It’s likely that you will refine this list after having some experience in the field and learning your needs.  Just like at home, you will need items for each room / function within your small travel trailer.  

The Kitchen
You will want your kitchen to be fully functional and ready to cook meals and wash and dry dishes.  Essential kitchen items include a long stick lighter (and a backup lighter) to be able to light the gas stove.  The kitchen supplies we carry in our Scamp 13’ are:

Kitchen Drawer

  • Rubber Utensil Holder Organizer (washable)
  • Sporks (combo forks / spoons)
  • Tea bags / tea strainer
  • Scissors
  • Can opener
  • Rubber spatula
  • Wooden spoons
  • Metal Citrus Squeezer
  • Measuring Spoons
  • Long stick Lighter
  • Cutting knife with cover
  • Cutting board
  • Metal spatula
  • Coasters (Cork) (x2)

Cabinets Above Kitchen Sink

  • Paper Bowls
  • Paper Plates
  • Measuring Cups
  • Metal canteens (bowls)
  • Plastic cups/Bowls/Plates (reusable)
  • Metal Cups (for hot drinks like tea & cocoa)
  • Small Lightweight Metal Tea Kettle
  • Tupperware (x2) for food storage
  • Extra Microfiber kitchen towels (x2)

On Kitchen Wall

Cabinet Below Kitchen Sink

The Bathroom
It’s best to keep the bathroom as minimalist as possible because it’s small and room is necessary to move around.  In turn, the only items we put in the bathroom are placed in a space saving way.

Cabinets Above Dinette (x2)
The small cabinets above the Scamp 13’ dinette are a great place to store little things.

Main Upper Storage Cabinet

Lower Storage Cabinet

Once you outfit your small travel trailer with all the essentials, you will be ready to go on a moment’s notice.  You will still need to pack all your clothing and food for each trip, but will rest assured knowing you have all your key trailer supplies at hand and will not have to think about packing these items over and over again and you’ll live happily ever after!

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly. 

Why it’s Smart to be a Zen Boondocker, Even if You Never Plan to Go Off-Grid

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Why it’s Smart to be a Zen Boondocker, Even if You Never Plan to Go Off-Grid
If you plan on using your small travel trailer anywhere other than at a RV park or home with hookups, it will benefit you greatly to have the skills to go off-grid (even if you never plan to do serious off-grid camping).  Many National and State Parks (as well as regional parks) offer no hookups (although shared water spigots are very common and sometimes central Dump stations are available).  On a recent visit to Joshua Tree National Park, we discovered some water spigots at the entrance, but no hookups at the end of the long road at the Jumbo Rocks Campground.  Taking ample water supplies for our kitchen and shower along with fresh drinking water made the trip there very pleasurable.  And having solar panels and a separate battery power station meant we didn’t need to worry about running down our Scamp’s onboard 12-volt battery.  Propane provided power for our gas stove, refrigerator, water heater, and furnace.  And, using our Holy Grail Portable Grey Water Tank Solution effectively doubled our Grey Water tank capacity and, in turn, staying capacity to about 5 – 6 days!

To make things even more interesting and enticing to be a Zen Boondocker, there is also often a significant daily rate difference for sites with and without hookups for campgrounds which offer them.  We discovered this on our visit to Oceano Dunes Campground in Pismo Beach.  Hookup spots (Electric & Water only) at this campground were $40 per night and only $25 per night without hookups at the time of our trip!  While it’s tempting to select campsites with hookups over ones without if they are available, there is often another substantial benefit other than monetary to choose a non-hookup site instead.  Hook-up sites are sometimes at newer locations within a campground which may be less scenic and/or with sites much closer together than older sites farther away from the utilities. For example, at Oceano Dunes, the hookup sites were much smaller and closer together all clustered at the front of the campground in a parking lot near the entrance.  And, the non-hookup sites were much farther back from the entrance in their own section with much more green space surrounding them (each with a picnic table and fire pit!) and alongside a scenic lagoon and walking trails.  So even when visiting campgrounds with hookups, it’s still a great benefit to be able to choose a non-hookup site and go for a few days without having to plug into an electric outlet, hookup to a water hose, or connect to a dump line.

Another great benefit of being a Zen Boondocker is that it makes staying on friends’ and family’s driveways and Boondockers Welcome sites nice and easy (even if they don’t have a water hose or electrical outlet at the driveway).  No problem!  We’ve found that for longer trips (e.g. travelling from our home in Carlsbad to northern locations like Lake Tahoe or even Oregon) stop overs at family homes in Santa Barbara, Oakland, and even Boondockers Welcome locations provide great break points to reduce overly long tiring drives.  So, being able to easily spend a night or two with no concerns about water, power, or dumping makes our small travel trailer truly self-contained and very useful.

Site availability is another factor which allows Zen Boondockers with small travel trailers more campground options.  It’s not uncommon for the larger sites with hookups to completely book out very quickly, often leaving the smaller non-hookup sites as “scraps”.  However, we’ve found these “scraps” to not only be more likely available but also often ideal and more desirable.  For example, at D.L. Bliss State Park in Lake Tahoe, we skipped the larger hookup sites farther from the lake, and, instead, opted for a tiny 15’ spot in the tent camping area.  The site we chose was the closest to the lake and had no hookups.  However, there was a water spigot close to the site and we were able to set up our solar panel.  It turned out the site was fantastic and we could see the water from our bedroom!  After looking over the entire campground, we felt our site was probably the best one because it was so close to the lake and had a fantastic view.

Factors for Zen Boondocking
Here are the essential factors to consider in order to become a Zen Boondocker and enjoy all of its benefits:

Conservation
We try to use water sparingly, but are not overly obsessive about it.  Many boondockers are super conscious about catching water and reusing it, taking bird baths or only bathing once per week, ….  Our philosophy is to be comfortable during our trips while still being able to extend our stays without having to relocate.  We do try to rinse our dishes outside if water is available and it’s allowed at the campsite.  But, we also take short hot showers at the end of each day and brush our teeth at the sink.  In order to compensate, we plan our trips so we are not dry camping more than a few days straight which means with the measures taken below it’s possible to be a Zen Boondocker and glamp out (2 showers a day, etc.) at the same time!

Food & Water
It’s helpful to know how long you will expect to be gone on your trip to help plan out your food and water needs.  Provisioning (e.g. store shopping) during the journey may be necessary if it is a long one.  We’ve found that for a 10-day trip, we can carry all the food and drinking water we need in our SUV.  However, we do need to resupply our fresh trailer water reserves during the 10-day trip around every four days (assuming we are carrying our two 6 gallon jugs of resupply fresh water for sink/shower/toilet).

Food
We always map out our trip before leaving and write down every meal for each day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner).  We turn on our Scamp’s refrigerator a couple nights before our trip and then fill it the day before we leave (our Scamp is stored in our home’s garage and has electricity).  We load most of our food into cardboard boxes and store them in our SUV.  We can carry up to 12 days (enough for 2 people) of food in cardboard containers within our SUV.

Drinking Water
We always bring two 4 gallon BPA-free water jugs in the back of our SUV for all our drinking and cooking needs when we go on a typical 10-day trip in our Scamp.  We fill these tanks at home by using our reverse osmosis system.  By carrying an additional 8 gallons of fresh water in our tow vehicle, we are effectively increasing our Fresh water tank supply by 67% (12 gallons Fresh increased to 20 gallons)!!!  This gives us a lot more fresh water supply.  Health experts typically recommend a person drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day (8×8 rule), which is about ½ gallon of water per person per day.  So, by using this rule, two people would bring 10 gallons of water on their 10-day trip (1/2 gallon/day x 2 people x 10 days).  We tend to drink slightly less water than this amount because we also drink coconut water, macadamia milk in our cereal, oat milk in our tea, sometimes soup for lunch, and we eat a lot of juicy fruits (like oranges).  So, for us, bringing 8 gallons of fresh water on a 10 day trip works out great (we always have extra water when we return home).

Fresh Water for Trailer
In addition to bringing drinking water, we also will fill two separate 6-gallon jugs if we are heading straight for a dry campsite (no water or water spigots nearby).  We use these to refill our Scamp’s fresh water tank (12 gallons + 6 gallons in hot water heater tank) when it runs low (usually after a couple of days with 2 people showering daily).  We stayed at a Boondockers Welcome location right outside Joshua Tree National Park which had no hookups.  Having the extra 12 gallons of fresh water to fill our Scamp’s Fresh water tank made a couple day stay smooth.  And, with our portable jugs, it was easy for us to refill them at a visitor’s center close by without having to relocate our Scamp.  We can go about four days before having to refill our Scamp’s Fresh water tank.

Electricity
It’s best to start your journey with your small travel trailer’s 12-volt battery completely charged.  We plug our Scamp into our 110-volt outlet in our garage a few days before we leave and keep it plugged in while we run our refrigerator before the trip.  The trailer’s 12-volt battery will also charge while we are driving since the Scamp is plugged into our tow vehicle and receives a charge.  To keep our 12-volt battery charged when we are at the campsite without hookups, we bring a 100-Watt solar panel briefcase and hope the sun is shining.  The solar panel does a great job of keeping our batteries fully charged during the day and provides enough power so our 12-volt battery can easily last the night.  We can still go a couple of days without the solar panel if we are careful to just run the essentials sparingly (LED lights, water pumps, fan, etc.).  To help reduce the draw on our Scamp’s 12-volt battery, we also carry an auxiliary battery power bank (which we also fully charge before we leave home).  Our Jackery 500 is a 518Wh lithium battery which we use for charging our phones, cameras, drone, television, and an electric toothbrush when boondocking to reserve all of our Scamp’s 12-volt battery power for essential devices/functions.  On longer trips between campgrounds, we usually place the Jackery 500 at the back of our SUV and charge it with the tow vehicle’s 12VDC port so the Jackery 500 energy is replenished during our drive.

Propane
Propane does a great job of powering all our appliances which can run on this gas.  Propane is efficient and can last a long time.  Appliances in our Scamp that can run off propane are the gas stove, refrigerator, furnace, and hot water heater.  The great thing about propane is that you can carry a lot of it (we always carry 2 Viking composite propane tanks) and it can be run without hookups.  One just has to take care to follow proper safety protocols when running propane.  Small travel trailers are usually outfitted with combination smoke / carbon monoxide detector alarms.  The one in our 2020 Scamp 13’ is located near the front door under one of the dinette seats.  It’s essential that every small travel trailer have one of these alarms because smoke and carbon monoxide exposure can be lethal.

Holding Tanks
These are the tanks that hold the Fresh, Grey, and Black water.

Fresh Water Holding Tank
The Fresh water holding tank has already been addressed above within the Food & Water section.

Grey Water Holding Tank
The Grey water tank is generally the Achilles heel for small travel trailers.  This is the place where used fresh water goes (e.g. waste water from the sink and shower).  For us two people (taking 2 showers each night), our Scamp’s twenty-one gallon Grey tank fills up in about three days.  To extend our time off-grid, I developed the Holy Grail Portable Grey Water Tank Solution.  Using this solution (which utilizes four 5 gallon jugs), we are able to almost double the off-grid capability of the Grey water tank.  And, it certainly is nice not having to limit campground visits to only 2 – 3 days due to Grey water tank size.  For the Scamp’s 21-gallon Grey tank, this system effectively doubles time between dumps from 2 – 3 days to 4 – 6 days (depending on water use).  And, it’s also really great not having to pack everything up and drive to a central Dump in the middle of a trip and then have to drive back to the campsite to set up the trailer all over again (which we had to do in the middle of our 3-night stay at D.L. Bliss State Park at Lake Tahoe).

Black Water Tank
This is the holding tank for the toilet – it holds sewage and waste water.  In our Scamp, we’ve found that the 9 gallon Black tank takes much longer to fill than the Grey tank.  Our Black tank usually takes about 6 days (two people) before needing to be dumped.  There isn’t really a clean way (pardon the pun) to extend the time between Dumps for the Black tank.  Some people dump this biohazard material into portable containers to extend their time off grid, but we choose to only drain Black Water at a Dump station.  In turn, our Zen Boondocking needs to be refreshed with a Dump every 5 – 6 days.

Conclusion
Being a Zen Boondocker will open up new worlds for you and your small travel trailer.  You will not only be able to go to remote off-grid locations, but, more practically, enjoy the many advantages of choosing campsites without hookups and extend your stays at these locations.  For example, you might be able to stay at more scenic and roomy campsites for longer periods of time at a lower cost than campsites with hookups.  And, visits to places without hookups (such as Joshua Tree National Park) will no longer be limited to just an overnight stay.  So, find your center, and become Zen with your Boondocking spirit!

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly.