What to Pack in Your Trailer: For Showering, Etc.

Showering. You may be using the public showers at a campground or fairgrounds; perhaps taking turns at a rented motel room or even someone's private home; maybe even using your own solar shower. You should have:
* Shower shoes.
* Quarters and dollar bills for pay showers (sometimes you'll need to buy tokens).
* Towels/washcloths/clothespins for hanging up to dry.
* Carry-bag for taking toiletries and other personal items back and forth to your trailer.

Dry camping. This is code for 'no showers, no power.' You'll be doing the old spot-bathing routine, behind closed doors in your trailer. You should have:
* At least a gallon of water, from home.
* A water-fetching container, in case there is an on-site water source.
* A washbasin or bowl for washwater; plan to empty into a porta-potty or toilet rather than on the ground.
* Pot or pan for warming wash water on your trailer stove (optional).
* Towels/washcloths/clothespins for hanging up to dry.
* Package of large-size body wipes/baby wipes--great for cleaning up if you don't want to mess with water.

Idea for Dry Camping: A Solar Lamp

When camping without electricity (an element of dry camping), you still have need for light. Here's a super-fast way to rig up a solar lamp that can be hung outside or inside, as you need it.

The shade (thrift store or robbed from home) is suspended from a metal garden hook by means of a large S-hook. Ribbon, rope, or chain would work, too.

Under the shade, the top of a charged solar light stake goes inside a quart jar. Raffia was used to make the jar hanger, which hangs from the small end of the S-hook when under the shade. The large end of the S-hook connects everything to the garden hook.

Solar lighting is your good, good friend when it comes to camping away from a power source. No worries about smoke or fire inside your camper, trailer, or tent, and the next morning, you can pop the light top back onto its stake and let the sun charge it back up.

Plus--if you don't want to bother with  a shade--the solar light top in a jar still will help light up your night without power, whether you're indoors or out.

Let's Discuss: Dry Camping (By Request)

Dry camping: To camp without power or water hook-ups; also known as 'boondocking' (e.g., camping out in the boondocks--can be applied to parking-lot camping as well).

We've had a request to offer some tips on how to camp comfortably in your travel trailer when no power or water hook-ups are offered.

This practice, known as 'dry camping,' may be called for when...you're traveling, and not able to stop for the night at a full-service RV park; you take your trailer out to the boonies for a period of getting away from it all; you attend a trailer-camping event at a venue that offers parking only, no hook-up amenities.

Ironically, the majority of vintage travel trailers were designed, to large degree, FOR dry camping. The whole idea of having one was to be able to go anywhere, anytime, with complete self-sufficiencey.

Lights, stove, and heater all ran on propane carried in a tank on the trailer. Showers and plumbed toilets weren't included so didn't need water or power. If a trailer did have a water tank, it was small, with just enough water for sponge baths and washing a few dishes. People did not have, nor rely on electrical appliances to the extent that they do now. (Which is why your typical small vintage trailer came with one electrical outlet, if that.)

But today...


* Many old trailers have had their propane systems removed, and been re-wired to all-electric.
* Quite a few women whose trailers still have a propane system are afraid to use it.
* Later and larger trailers were made more for comfort in an RV park than for boondocking on your own.
* And let's face it--we've let ourselves become dependent on the electricity that runs everything from our hairdo appliances to our toothbrushes and cell-phone chargers.

What to do, what you need, and where to get it:


* Pare down to basic needs--which amount to warmth, a nighttime light source, and (speaking for Self here) a way to make coffee. Bring more blankets, get an alternative-power lantern, skip the electrically-enhanced hairdo and wear a hat instead.

* Picture your trailer as a tent. Then visit a camping store. You'll be amazed by the variety of camping items made to run on solar, battery, or gas-canister power. We'll leave it up to you and your budget on whether to buy or borrow, once you pinpoint a useful item (battery-operated fan, let's say, or a single-burner backpacking stove that'll heat coffee/tea water and one-dish meals).

* Ask more experienced dry campers to share their tips and favorite gadgets with you. With as many camping/glamping groups and social-media sites as there are, you'll readily get some answers.

Speaking of which...


The Comments floor is now open for your own great tips. Girl Campers do share, and lots of the Newgals (we like that better than Newbies) will really appreciate the additional advice.