I just put the finishing touches on a downloadable/printable journal for SUV RVing, vandwelling, overlanding, road tripping, etc. It’s free and you can download it below.
The idea is that you download the PDF, print the necessary quantities of
the pages you need, punch holes in them, and stick them in a three-ring
binder. Take the binder with you on your trips and jot down the relevant information as desired.
After each page in the journal is an example page with red text that will help you better understand what each field is for. These pages do not need to be printed.
The printable pages in the journal include:
A few different kinds of blank pages for notes
Campsite log
Hiking log
Expense log
Vehicle maintenance log
Vehicle mileage log
Journaling page
Fuel expense log
“Trips at a glance” page
Blank to-do list
Blank shopping list
Location notes page
“Week at a glance” page
“Month at a glance” page
Again, you just need to print out the pages you’re interested in.
In addition to the pages in the journal, I also recommend printing a single-page year-at-a-glance calendar here.
This video (also embedded below) goes into a bit more detail about the journal and shows you how I’ve got mine arranged in a binder along with tabbed dividers, etc.
I always travel solo on my SUV RVing adventures, and I use the REI Camp Bed 3.5 Self-Inflating Sleeping Pad as a mattress. Because I only camp alone, the need for a 2-person mattress to fit into the back of my SUV never came up, but I was recently reminded of them when reading an article on Adventure Journal that introduced me to the Klymit Insulated Double V Sleeping Pad, which retails for $160ish:
Klymit Insulated Double V
It’s 47 inches wide. The narrowest portion of the rear area of my SUV (the spot between the two wheel wells) is 44 inches, but I think the mattress would fit just fine with a little bit of bunching on the sides. Because I have what is probably one of the smallest SUVs out there (a RAV4), my guess is that this and other two-person mattresses would fit in most larger SUVs.
I was vaguely aware that 2-person sleeping pads or camp mattresses existed, but I decided to dive deeper into the realm and see what other offerings I could find on the market for those of you who do travel with a significant other. These pads/mattresses are listed from narrowest to widest.
And then there’s the Wolfwill SUV Air Bed, which can adjust to fit a variety of sizes.
Of course the other option here is to simply get two single camping mattresses and put them next to each other.
One other thing to keep in mind when buying any camping mattress or sleeping pad is the amount of insulation it will provide. A mattress that’s full of air and nothing else will not insulate as well as a foam mattress, for example. Some pads are hybrids that inflate but also have layers of closed cell foam in them. How well a pad can insulate is conveyed in its R-value, which is stated on the pages above for many of the mattresses. If you camp a lot in cooler temperatures, the R-value is definitely something to look at.
Note: Some of these links are Amazon affiliate links.
In this video I go over my expenses from my recent month-long road trip I just got back from. I cover vehicle costs, food costs, gas expenses, and other expenses.
For a couple of years now I’ve used sewn rectangles of no-see-um netting and individually wrapped magnets to keep bugs out of my SUV when camping with the windows rolled down. Here’s the latest iteration of the setup in action:
Magnetic car window screen setup
I made an entire video about the setup here, and I explain in the video how you can easily make your own set by using small magnets and duct tape.
If you don’t want to make your own, or if you want something that’s more finished and longer-lasting than the duct tape, I have something for you. I recently discovered a much better and more durable way to encase the magnets, and that is to use a heavy duty nylon fabric that seals onto itself. This creates a tough, waterproof sleeve/housing for the magnets. I’d like to offer these magnetic window screen kits for sale, and I have two of these kits currently for sale to gauge interest. EDIT: Both sets have been sold.
Each kit includes the following:
2 no-see-um mesh bug screens (approximately 22 inches high and 40 inches wide). This stuff is much better than traditional mosquito netting; even tiny “no-see-ums” won’t be able to penetrate the screen, but it will still allow plenty of air flow. Make sure this size will fit your window before ordering.
24 easy-grab neodyium magnets (12 for each screen). These are very, very strong little magnets of a very high quality. They’re smaller, stronger, and less brittle than ceramic magnets. Each magnet has a little silver dot on one side. This is to mark the polarity of the magnet to make the magnets easier to stack.
2 heavy duty reusable plastic zipper bags. You can store the screens and magnets in these bags when they’re not being used. Toss the bag into your seat back pockets (where I keep them), your glove compartment, etc.
Instructions
Here’s what you’ll be getting with each kit:
The heavy-duty storage bag and set of instructions.A couple of the screens have minor cosmetic blemishes like the double stitching shown here. No big deal. This is why they’re currently being offered at a discount.Screen and magnets inside the storage bagThe whole shebang. Each kit will come with double what you see here (i.e., enough for two windows).The magnets
And you can view and download the instructions (PDF) by clicking the image below:
Click the image to download the PDF version of the instructions.
I currently have two of these kits for sale. I made just a couple to see if there is enough interest in them to warrant investing in more tools and materials. If so, I’ll make more in the future. I’m selling each set (enough for two windows) for $35, including shipping to anywhere in the lower 48. Final pricing once I make more will be $45 or $50. The reason for the discount? Twofold: 1) I want to quickly gauge if there’s any interest here, and 2) there are some cosmetic blemishes on some of the magnets and the screens (as seen in the images above) that in no way affect their usability.
Interested? Contact me here using the contact form and let me know. I’ll then send you a PayPal request for $35, and you’ll be able to pay with a either a PayPal account or a credit card, but I won’t be able to see or have access to your credit card information (that’s how PayPal works).
In this final video from my four-state, two-country road trip, I leave Death Valley and make the trek eastward toward my adopted high-elevation homeland of Utah. Along the way I check out some historical sites in Death Valley, a ghost town in Nevada, an incredible crater out in the middle of Nevada called Lunar Crater, and more! (Click here if you can’t see the video below.)
And here are some pics from the day’s adventures:
My setup at the Death Valley camp in the morning
The grave of Val Nolan near Old Stovepipe Wells
The rhyolite train depot/casino.
Lunar Crater, Nevada
Looking the other way from the Lunar Crater parking area
Black Rock Lava Flow sign
Information about the Black Rock Lava Flow
View back toward the Black Rock Lava Flow parking area
In an older video, I shared a quick and easy way to setup an awning on the side of you vehicle, but today’s video shows my preferred method. It’s faster to set up and more secure than the clamp method.
The tarp that I use in the awning is this one that I got from Walmart (and other colors are now available online too). I’ve seen them at many Walmarts in the camping section.
In this video I embark on a 33-mile day hike in Death Valley National Park. Touted as Death Valley’s “premier backpacking route,” the Cottonwood-Marble Canyon Loop takes in slot canyons, petroglyphs, natural springs, wild horses, wide-open valleys, and more.
If you’re interested in finding out more about this hike, this (scroll down to the Cottonwood-Marble Canyon Loop section) and this (a PDF) are good places to start.
This is another vlog in my series from January and February 2017. I left northern Utah, where I live, and traveled down through southern Utah, southern Nevada, western Arizona, southern California, and back through central Nevada, all while camping and adventuring out of my 2011 Toyota RAV4.
Here are a bunch of SUV RVing-related things that readers and viewers shared with me this week. Thanks guys!
Got something else that you think the SUV RVing community might find useful? Shoot me an email and let me know about it.
A Campground Database
One video watcher and book reader (hi Linda!) passed along a website for finding campgrounds. It’s called Hipcamp. It’s along the same lines as Campendium and FreeCampsites.net but doesn’t appear quite as good as either of those for finding free places to camp. I browsed some of the areas that I’m familiar with and found that it only has established paid campgrounds. Sometimes that’s exactly what you want, so this is a good website to know about and to add to your arsenal. Check it out and tell me what you think.
Some Useful Apps
A new email subscriber to the blog (hi Gennaro!) recommended a few apps that he’s found useful on his road trip adventures (all are free except Goodreader, which is $4.99):
MAPS.ME – Offline maps for many places in Europe and the US. (iOS & Android)
GoodReader – A document reader. Gennaro uses this to read PDFs and magazines. (iOS only)
Kindle – For reading ebooks (including mine!). (iOS & Android)
iFirstAid Lite – First aid illustrated and explained. (iOS only; Something similar for Android is First Aid Emergency & Home.)
A Clever Curtain Solution
Video watcher and fellow YouTuber Florida Girl Adventures has an FJ Cruiser and came up with a clever way of hanging up curtains in her SUV. She attached the hook side of a Velcro strip to blackout curtains and found that the Velcro stuck to the headliner on the inside of her vehicle. See the setup in action in this video (the curtain part starts at about 2 minutes and 17 seconds in).
Multi-Use Toilets
And finally, another reader/viewer (hi Richard!) sent me a link to an interesting product on Amazon. It’s the Cleanwaste Go Anywhere Portable Toilet, and Richard pointed out that it could be used as a small table when not being used as a toilet. In a space as small as an SUV, it’s always good when items are multi-use. The Reliance Products Fold-To-Go Portable Toilet is in the same vein.
(Note: This blog post contains Amazon affiliate links.)
In this video I hike one of the coolest slot canyons in Death Valley, Grotto Canyon. This is what I would call a technical non-technical canyon because you need to be comfortable with scrambling and rock climbing, especially as you go higher up the canyon. Climbing shoes certainly would certainly have helped tremendously for the more tricky dryfalls. (Click here if you can’t see the video below.)
The obstacle names I use in the video (First Obstacle, Second Obstacle, etc.) are not official and were taken from this website.
In addition to the video above, here are some pics from the adventure:
Looking into Grotto Canyon from the trailheadMy SUV parked at the trailheadOne of the Grotto Canyon obstaclesThe biggest Grotto Canyon obstacleGrotto CanyonThe Fifth ObstacleView from the Fourth Obstacle bypassView from the Fourth Obstacle bypass
