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By Alyssa, July 20, 2010 10:17 pm

Can you tell I’m on a camping kick?  I’m coming up on July camping trip #3 and, at the request of my friends that know my obsessiveness, decided to share my camping checklist.

I’m a checklist girl, always have been.  I wrote checklists as young as 9 years old that listed things like, “Wake-up… check, Get dressed… check, Watch cartoons… check, etc.”  I’ve looked at almost a dozen camping checklists online and none apply to car camping.  So I wrote this one.  You’ll notice my list is sectioned off by where I keep things, one large Rubbermaid tub and a smaller picnic basket.  We pack everything in the bed of our Toyota Tundra.  Guess if I’ve got a checklist and four camping trips in one month, I better start calling myself a camper, huh?

Car Camping Checklist (or Truck Camping Checklist if you want to get technical)

Basics (Truck Bed)

• Rope and Bungee cords
• Tarp
• Camp stove
• Propane
• Sleeping bags x4
• Pillows x4
• Blankets
• Pack-n-play or Porta-crib
• Chairs x4
• Beach Umbrella
• Sand toys
• Firewood

Basics (Rubbermaid Tub)

• Tent
• Tent stakes
• Thermarest pads x2
• Air mattress with pump (D batteries)
• Coleman lantern w/gas
• Flashlights/Headlamps
• Extension Cord
• Dish wash bin
• Tea kettle
• Coffee and Cocoa
• Large Cutting board
• Paper towels
• Wet wipes
• Mini-broom and dustpan
• Trash bags
• Insect Repellent
• First Aid (band aids, etc)
• Flyswatter
• Clothes pins
• Newspaper
• Axe

Kitchen (Picnic Basket)

• Mugs, Plates
• Knife
• Silverware
• Tongs, Spatula, Serving Spoon
• Frying Pan
• Serving Trays
• Oven mitts
• Dish towel
• Sponge, Soap, Scrubber
• Matches, lighter
• Salt/Pepper
• Aluminum Foil
• Table Cloth

Ice Chest

• Ice
• Butter
• Ketchup, BBQ sauce, etc.
• Eggs
• Cheese
• Bread/Tortillas
• Meat
• Fruit and Veggies
• Milk
• Chips, snacks
• S’more items
• Water, Drinks

Personal Items

• Shirts, shorts, pants, socks, underwear
• Sweatshirts, jackets
• Hats
• Pajamas
• Swimsuits
• Hiking shoes
• Water shoes
• Towels
• Sunscreen
• Chapstick
• Sunglasses
• Toiletries

Pet items

• Food
• Dog bed
• Leash
• Toys

A few things we would love to purchase in the future: canopy with screen, cots, camping cookware (right now I use one old frying pan and our camp stove comes with a cast iron griddle), S’more/hot dog skewers (the telescoping kind).  I’ll be honest that camping is growing on me.  It’s not that expensive, you can’t beat the Colorado scenery, and the kids absolutely love it.  Sleeping on borrowed cots made a HUGE difference in how much I liked living in a tent this last weekend, even with the boys waking up at 5:30 a.m.  I’ll let you know if I’m still positive after camping trip three and four.

Let me know what I’m missing from the list.  I’m probably obsessive-Type-A-over-prepared, but that’s the nice thing about car camping.  You can stow all of the extra crap in the car and feel good that you didn’t forget anything.  Happy camping!

Comments (4)

By Alyssa, July 15, 2010 2:13 pm

If you read my last post, you know I promised to write about the first of many camping trips I have planned. Surprisingly, this excursion turned out to be pretty interesting as my Army unit trained on survival techniques in the gorgeous Colorado Rockies.

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WARNING: I did include one picture of a rabbit I killed and cleaned.  I did not find it appropriate to take a picture of anything except the cleaned meat, but the meat isn’t washed in the picture.

Oh, and second warning, in most of these pictures, I haven’t showered or brushed my teeth.

************

I arrived at the site on Friday around 10 p.m., past my bedtime, and immediately threw on a headlamp to cross a small creek and set up a sleeping area.  Too tired for a hooch (Army term for poncho tent), I hoped the base of four Ponderosa pine trees would provide shelter from the rain and a high enough spot to avoid damp ground.

Here’s what it looked like when I unzipped my bivy sack (cover for my sleeping bag) the next morning:

And here’s a picture of my temporary set-up (Army backpack or ruck under my poncho and sleeping bag inside of my woodland camouflaged bivy sack):

There isn’t enough room for me to write about all of the classes I took on Saturday, but if you’re interested, almost everything I learned came from the U.S. Army Survival Manual FM 21-76.

After knots classes (using rope in survival situations), I built my own little fire using flint.

Although my fire looked puny compared to the signal fire we lit.

I learned about setting snares for small animals (I’m so super-camoed I’m sure it’s hard to see me behind the snare)…

and set-up my hooch just before it started pouring rain.

If you’re wondering why I’m wearing ten different kinds of cold weather gear in these JULY pictures, it’s because I’m a pansy when it comes to outdoor temperatures below, well… the seventies.  P.A.N.S.Y.

Somewhere in between the survival classes, I sat down for a nice radioactive Army meal, the kind that won’t go bad for about a billion years.  The chicken tasted pretty… orange.

After eating that substance, I decided that although I would have to kill a live animal in my next class at least it would provide me with less-neon protein.

The rabbit kill.  This subject seemed to be the only thing my friends wanted to hear about after this trip so I’ll give you some details.  Our instructor stressed the humane killing of animals which I appreciated (part of the reason I buy grass-fed beef) and the techniques we used caused as little pain and suffering as possible to the animal.

After watching my instructor kill and clean his rabbit, I chose a fluffy white and black bunny from the cage holding four other rabbits.  I say bunny because this guy looked like Thumper.  Disassociating myself with the cuteness, I grabbed the rabbit’s back legs and proceeded to swing him slowly upside down.  Not sure why this technique subdues the animal (much like chickens and other fowl) but after a minute or two, he stopped kicking long enough for me to slowly lift him with my left hand.  I thank my son’s martial arts class for the next part as I used my right hand to swiftly karate chop the rabbit right behind the ears and break its neck. I immediately placed him on the ground and used my foot to brace his head as I twisted his neck to ensure a clean kill.   Looking back I think the karate chop was the most important part.  The faster and more efficiently this step is done the less pain to the animal.

I cleaned him using a simple field knife… no details here as there are many different ways to clean an animal. Here is my one and only pic post cleaning (I saved the liver and heart and as much meat as possible during the cleaning):

Someone was kind enough to bring BBQ sauce which made the meat considerably better.

After it was all said and done, I really enjoyed this trip.  I’m not a big fan of having to kill my own food, but I feel confident I could do it again to survive.  I greatly respect those that have lived through real survival situations.

If you’re interested in some extra reading, check out the Wikipedia description of the area, Camp Hale.  I couldn’t believe some of the history behind the land from WWII training to a super-secret CIA operation in the sixties.  Happy camping season to you and yours!

Comments (3)

By Alyssa, July 9, 2010 5:16 pm

I married a sailor for a specific reason.  Sailing vacations mean a nice warm bed, showers, and a kitchen.  In Colorado, our sailing is limited by, uh… no ocean, so we’ve found ourselves doing what all the other Coloradans do for vacations.

Camping.  Tent camping, actually.

I’m not a camper.  I’m a wanna-be sailor.  The Army ruined me of ever enjoying sleeping on the ground.

Now imagine what it was like for me today when I looked at the calendar and realized in the next thirty days, I have four camping trips scheduled.  FOUR.  When I agreed to a July group camping trip way back in March, I thought to myself, fine… great, got my one camping trip of the summer out of the way.

My boys, you see, LOVE camping.  They love the tent, the dirt, the marshmallow stickiness.  So I submit to one camping trip a year.  One.  And then there were four.  Two with showers, one with port-a-johns (another thing the Army ruined… wait… they weren’t ever cool), and one that I’m getting paid for.

I start the getting paid one tonight as I drive up to the Colorado Rockies and hike in for Army survival training.  Kill your food, build your lean-to, stoke your fire-kind of survival training.  I figure if I survive this weekend I can survive a month of camping, right?  I’m just hoping the amount of hours I’ve spent drooling, I mean, studying Bear Grylls on Man vs. Wild will count for something.

Camping trip one, here I come!  Pictures to follow…

Comments (12)

By Alyssa, July 7, 2010 9:01 pm

Because I loved receiving mail while deployed, I try to send a couple military care packages off every year.  If you’ve never sent a package, there are a few key things you should know.  This list is for those military care package newbies.

1.  Who wants a military care package?  If you don’t have someone specific you’d like to send a package, check out these sites and find a military member that would love to receive a little gratitude in the mail.

Any Soldier- Created by a soldier.  They provide the mailing address, you provide the package
Operation Gratitude- Send in donations and they send off the package
Troop Care Pack- Send pre-packed items to soldiers

2.  What do I send?  As I detailed in my Christmas care package post, I loved getting:

Food: Drink mixes, beef jerky, trail mix, protein bars, gum, chocolate (Oct-Mar only or it melts)

Other stuff: Old magazines (no pornography please), quality ear plugs, bungee cords, chapstick, hotel-size hygiene products, baby wipes (in small containers), fly swatters or strips

Find out if your soldier is in the middle of nowhere or on a Forward Operating Base (FOB) and design the package around the service member’s current mission.

READ THIS:  Jot down everything you’re packing in the box before you seal it up as you’ll need that list for the next step.

3.  What are the postal requirements?  This is the only not so fun thing about sending care packages… custom forms.  Although letters don’t require a customs form, you’ll need one for a care package.  Hopefully, after viewing this guide, it will be easy-schmeasy.

Here’s a great outline for a customs form that I found:

Here’s my example form for my fictional Private Joe Snuffy care package (Nope, I never stay in those little hash marks with my letters and, yes, I always mix up the first name, last name part.)

Take a couple of these forms the next time you’re picking up stamps or running an errand by the post office and fill this baby out at home.  If you’re like me and you always mess up the first one (case in point above), it will be a lot easier to do it again without angry peeps in line behind you.  Also note that last checked box as it sends the package back to you if your service member moved or came home before the box arrived.

Oh, and just so you know, sending a box “Priority” or “Overnight” only means quick delivery to the port in the United States.  Once it gets into the military mail system, there is no such thing as priority.

4.  When do I send a package?  NOW!  O.K., if you can’t send one right this second, think about sending one this summer.  There really isn’t anything better than receiving mail when you’re deployed.  Packages need at least two weeks to arrive at their destination so plan ahead for holidays, especially Christmas.

Don’t think you have time to send a care package right now?  Send a service member a thoughtful email through USO (United Service Organization).  It only takes a few seconds to express your gratitude for our heroes.

Comment if you have additional questions or tips.  Happy packing!

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By Alyssa, July 3, 2010 11:15 pm

Take a break from the BBQ and fireworks to check out this site by veterans, for veterans!