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)
- SkyView Free – A stargazing app. (iOS & Android)
- 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.)
I car camp in my RAV too but shorter trips. I am always interested in new ideas and tricks. I read your Amazon book (both the RV SUV and climbing tips). I don’t care much about stealth camping so my curtain options aren’t black. I also love reuse options in a nerdy way so if I use something I already had or found for free, I am pretty giddy. I found a small roll of the silver bubble wrap stuff and cut shapes for the non electric windows on the RAV: the back and two porthole windows. One of the two things I bought for my set up is a set of 3M Command hooks for glass. I mount them on said windows and puncture the wrap stuff where the hook points are. Front window is just a reflective sun screen. The two electric windows on each side are covered by curtains hanging from the handles. I had two green tomato stakes. I draped a double layer of insulative fabric I already had over these. I bought four big twistums from REI. After making holes the twistums feed through and wrap around the handles. I have to crack windows so I don’t smother overnight and haven’t had bug problems with the curtains. But I do have no-see-um screens with magnetic strips attached. I once drove down a canyon at 40 mph with a screen on the outside and it was still there. Pretty awesome. All the best.
Hi EJ. Those are some great ideas. I like the idea of using the Command hooks to poke through the bubble wrap stuff and hold it in place. And using tomato stakes to hold up the the curtains is genius!
Thanks for the great comment. I’d love to see some pictures of your setup if you ever get a chance!