Car Camping Conversion - Part 3

Just came back from a week-long test of the setup and it was a success as far as I’m concerned! First off, a few notes and modifications:

Stuff to not bring:

This thing is kind of useless since you can use a big sponge and bucket and wash yourself way faster and with way less water and setup. Gas stations and stores have bathrooms with warm water as well. I’d just get gas and use the bathroom and wash up.

You really never need this unless you’re camping out in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Tables are not a scarce resource on the road: parks, Tim Hortons, rest stops, campgrounds…

I brought way too much cooking stuff. Even making coffee in the morning was time consuming and mostly pointless as Tim Hortons sells coffee for 2 dollars and you get to sit there in a climate controlled place for as long as you want, with free Wi-Fi and the ability to recharge electronics.

My days were in general way too hectic to just sit there unpacking and cleaning kitchen stuff and to cook for 2 hours. The only times I would cook would be during camping, where one fire can make quite a large batch of food before it dies down. Just eat your damn food cold/lukewarm the rest of the time.

Will keep the kettle around to boil water on the fire for hot chocolate or tea. Coffee will not stay warm until the morning so there’s no point.

Something new to bring:

I was concerned with the lack of space so did not get a cooler, but there’s definitely room in the passenger seat and it will be very welcome instead of grabbing food out of random grocery bags. This has a bunch of little pouches where you can store utensils and whatever else. It also keeps food smells contained.

Just buy frozen foods and they will keep your things cold for a while as they thaw and then you just eat them!

I’ve only tested my setup in cold weather so I’m not sure how long yogurt and milk would last in the summer heat.

MVP:

BLUETTI Portable Power Station EB70S 800W . This thing is awesome. A larger one or one with solar panels would be worth it as well. It’s great to be able to go to bed and have all your electronics to watch movies.

It fully recharges overnight and then can power my many electronics for a few days. You can also plug it in your cigarette lighter while driving and it recharges a little bit.
The big power draw was the laptop, which can be recharged at coffee shops in the morning if time permits.

Now here’s some pics and notes from that first test week!

First night of car sleep at rideshare spot. Pretty bad, lots of people coming and going in the middle of the night. Would not recommend.

Making coffee in a park in Nanaimo. Everyone looking at me like a hobo and avoiding me. Took way too long. Not worth doing by myself every day.

Road food: Buy a rotisserie chicken from the grocery story, eat a bunch of it then use the leftover meat to make sandwiches. Cheap, fast, relatively healthy.

Me testing the phone camera remote / tripod at a rest stop.

Me realizing I needed a haircut.

The first day I decided that going to coffee shops to work / internet / charge electronics was a much better use of time/money than making coffee on a propane stove every morning.

Keeping up with my 2022 resolution of pushups/ pullups. Made me realize how hard it is to find any spot with no people.

Stuffing my shoes after getting stuck in a storm. You can use these dirty smelly napkins as Firestarter later on.

Protein goo. Greek yogurt + peanut butter + protein powder. This is just so good. Also very cheap, keeps a long time, easy to eat any time, anywhere. Zero cooking time and you can add anything you want in it. Peanut butter also costs like 1$ per 1000 calories. Can keep any bike adventure infinitely fueled for cheap.

Charging the Bluetti at a campground.

Look at this beauty, you can even shut the door and leave it charging overnight. I bought an extension cord so I can always do this no matter how far the charging ports are from my car.

One reason to do this car camping trip is actual campfires. I don’t enjoy sleeping in tents at all and they’re a pain in the ass to set up/ dismantle. They’re cold, all your shit is wet and smells like smoke.

It was really cold and wet that day in Tofino. I learned that it takes a lot of firestarter and napkins to start a fire on wet ground with wet wood.

But eventually you have fire that can cook actual things. I love campfire cooking even by myself.

This is where I also learned that one bundle of wood will last long enough for you to cook a week’s worth of meat and then some. Next time I will plan ahead. Love to have everything taste like smoke.

Nice sleeping spot near the ocean in Campbell River. Was only disturbed by one passing drunk/hobo at 1am. Really best to avoid any area where people hang out. Bums go to sleep at 2am and then construction workers get up at 4am so you get a very small window…

Sleeping at a church parking lot. Much better. You have to call and ask first, some have said no, but most will say yes if it’s just for one night. They even had security guards who were told not to disturb me. And they didn’t! Amazing.

Another place to do pullups as children watch me, amazed at my physical prowess.

Day I discovered Tim Hortons is cheaper than Starbucks and also has free Wi-Fi. People just stop going to Starbucks. Why do you do it? 6$ coffee is really something you need every day? I’m on the road, I have an excuse, what’s yours?

That’s is for the test week update! I have to admit that after 2 days I was ready to quit because I didn’t realize how inconvenient it was to find undisturbed and legal spots to sleep overnight.
Most large parking areas have “no overnight parking” signs because bums abused the generosity of society and just camped out there for weeks/months, ruining everything with filth. You can’t camp out at Wal-Marts without asking anymore and the one time I tried they told me “no”. Had much better luck with smaller businesses.

Rest areas have a 4 hour limit because, again, bums destroyed them by camping there for weeks and months so now Mounties patrol the highways and kick people out.

Still working on a better system to find good areas to sleep but I should be an expert by the end of this.

Hotels are at minimum $120 per night around here so by my count it’ll save me around $10 000 during the summer.

Have to say that dealing with booking hotels and packing/unpacking the car during the Washington road trip was a huuuuge hassle and you constantly risk forgetting / losing things.