Lessons Learned on Our Car Trip

[@lizkeith1356]

you tube is blessed to have your videos. thank you.

[@firequeen2194]

Stopped by to see your advice. I’m in the Midwest and the Farmers Almanac says it’s going to be brutal. I work in a hospital and get off work at 4am. Getting the SUV prepped for winter overnights if need be. No way I’m venturing home at 4am on ice. I do dry camp a lot (with an old Garmin - satellite, which still works amazingly) but have downsized to a no plug hybrid SUV. Wish me luck and stay safe everyone!

[@lis819]

Here in Australia, when travelling the outback, many people will carry a satellite phone - also an EPIRP for sending a radio distress signal if needed. Just a thought from a retired remote area teacher :-)

[@renaesutton3145]

Maybe getting a Garmin inReach might be helpful, you wouldn't have to stick to highways and be able to explore back roads etc. and still have emergency contact if needed.

[@desertfish6239]

On our last trip I packed more snacks than meals. We purchased a complete family meal from a supermarket deli for about $12 and ate it at a park with picnic tables. We ate the leftovers the next day. We also found a Mexican restaurant that allowed senior citizens to order off the children's menu. The meal was $7 and was more than enough food. As far as clothes, I wear the same outfit on days we are just driving and take a change of clothes for dinner or an activity.

[@twohomesteads6512]

Our family is notorious for taking too much food. Something about having been raised by parents who grew up in the depression. We are afraid of not having enough for everybody. We all bring food to contribute to picnicking and overdo it. We do better when we assign meals on a camping trip and each person is responsible for specific meals. for the group. I know it is not quite the same as strictly a car trip. My sister and I did a trip a while back to Oregon and Washington and each brought our own food for just ourselves for the trip. That worked fairly well.

[@donna1018]

Great video! I’m in Minnesota and when we travel I always like to bring a pair of wool socks, for comfort in winter and hard sole slippers. I don’t trust the cleanliness of carpets in hotel rooms. And shower shoes for use in hotel showers for cleanliness and safety reasons. 😊

[@kimberlymaehrer6665]

We always pack extra clothes when we go camping. You never know when the weather is going to be colder/rainier/hotter than expected. I also usually have enough leftover food for an extra day or so in case the motor home breaks down and we are stuck for an extra day or longer, or in case we decide to slow down and take it easier on the amount of driving per day. I would rather pack a little too much than not enough.

[@madsquatch]

Fun to hear what books you're currently reading, would love to hear more in the future.

[@ostekuste3646]

When my wife and I are traveling we tend to eat lunch at restaurants and then have dinners at our destinations. We generally stay in rental properties that have kitchens. Lunches tend to be less expensive than eating dinner out, plus we are usually tired by the evening and just want to stay in! We do find one nice place for at least one nicer dinner to treat ourselves.

[@fourdayhomestead2839]

Great tips & update. Glad you had a nice trip. Healthy snacks & sandwiches while traveling definitely saves travel time.

[@Bgraytful]

Tip: soap embedded scrubbers are great and no detergent leaks. There used to be disposable dry dish soap sheets I cut into small pieces. Or in a pinch hotel shampoo will wash dishes. Also remember that Thermal cooking principals work in hotel rooms with towels and pillows. All you need is a way to get food hot before tucking it away (room microwave or tea kettle).

[@NavymomProud]

We had the best clam chowder ever at Moe’s years ago. Nice to hear they’re still in business.

[@Iris-u3h]

I often fill water bottles 3/4 full and freeze, when ready to go, top up with water and that keeps the cooler and food cold plus have cold drinking water. We love a road trip and Newport was a great favourite on our last trip to the states.

[@janjones4224]

Lots of helpful information, thanks for sharing.

[@MelP-o9f]

Do you can meals? Chili and chicken soup in pint jars. Easy to heat, easy to eat.😁 It eliminates the need for any kind of ice. We're always learning something new with car trips.

[@judycohentx]

Oh, yes! She cans meals.

[@danbev8542]

Dr Pam is the Queen of canning! I recommend you check out some of her older videos. She is amazing!

[@robin5382]

We have learned as well as you have regarding meals and clothes. We are usually sitting most of the day driving so we aren't really burning any calories so we really don't need much to eat. I always worry about clothes I my need and most often don't need them. But, "just in case," is in the back of my mind.

[@MQ-cw9qx]

This is a great video. It sparked much discussion between my husband and me about our own differences in packing 'necessities' for road trips. Thanks, once again for the info.

[@OldSchoolPrepper]

I'm glad you came back to Oregon...my home state. I live in a rural area off the coast approx 90 miles. I hope you had some Dungeness Crab (fresh) my favorite. Your reading material couldn't be more apropos in this day and age and that's as far as I will go into politics, we must learn from other countries with dictators. thanks for another great video. We travel from Oregon to Mexico 2 x a year via car and also have an emergency bag. In the last decade I've sed the bag twice...both times when we were broken down on the side of the road (in rural Mexico). We travel the Baja so it's not a scary place to be other than the fact water is scare and cell phone service does not have good coverage. I was so happy to have my food/water/blankets/ways to make fire. OF course locals helped us (as they drove by) both times so we didn't have to spend the night but we did have our snacks and water while we waited!

[@witoldyna]

My husband is now on limited sodium (2000 mg) and liquid (2 l) diet so I’ll modify our trip food but up until now we hated to stop on the road (for example we drove 11 hours from OK to CO with only gas station stops). I always packed cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, apples, some not so healthy snacks like Chex mix etc. Now it will be fruits, veggies, popcorn (no to low sodium) and similar things. He likes nuts so he will get nut mix, I don’t like nuts but I am not on limited anything diet so it’s easier. For food I’m planning to take canned food like chicken or chilli and just reheat it in the hotel. I add my canned chicken breast to ready salads (for example south west or sweet kale salad with about 300 mg sodium per our portion plus no salt added chicken to add protein). So, a bit of store bought and home made. I might try to freeze canned chicken breast and take it with us frozen - it would save some weight that my husband can’t carry that much anymore.

[@conniesowers5125]

I am a “what if” girl. I carry way too many things with me, especially clothes. Things for every temperatures, lol. The last few times, I really cut down on the amount of food we carry. It seems we really don’t eat as much as when we are home. I don’t want to be cooking and doing dishes the whole trip. When I do cook, it is mostly one meal dump, heat, eat meals. Snacks are downfall 😮.

[@barbarageorge7971]

My husband is more like you, he takes everything he might need and never uses most of it, then it takes him forever to put it away. And the same with food, ends up not wanting it and then it gets wasted. I like to eat out, cause it is my vacation from the kitchen.

[@patriciacooke886]

Yes, I hear you. My v.a.c.a.t.i.o.n.

[@danbev8542]

I think it’s important to have fruit snacks for long car trips- apples & bananas are favorites. Traveling can disrupt our digestion & the fruit helps. We take the trip from Maryland to Maine several times a year to visit family. Traveling through some of our biggest cities, it’s white knuckle driving for 500 miles! I’ve learned to make a high protein breakfast for early starts - usually scrambled egg sandwiches stuffed in paper sandwich bags. (Protein food helps keep drivers alert, along with coffee in our travel mugs.) The food on the I 95 corridor is terrible in the rest areas (unlike Europe!), but we’ve found a favorite spot for NY pizza. We love audio books for driving - it takes a bit of effort to find books we both enjoy - but it’s well worth it! Books must have very good readers and be entertaining, but light enough so the driver can stay focused. We are a good team - we trade driving, and the passenger uses her/his phone for navigating when we go to new places. For quick hotel overnights, we pack a smaller bag with change of underwear & toothbrush.

[@tahursh637]

When I travel with liquids (shampoo, lotion, soap, etcetera), I remove the air before I put them in bags. Even a thousand feet of difference in elevation causes pressure. When I leave, everything is 'collapsed' - at my destination, containers are nearly normal again. Coming home, I still remove air - when I get home, it looks like all of my containers were vacuum sealed 😅

[@marthasundquist5761]

I know it is generally cheaper, but I've discovered since we had our internet server down, it's wise to have different servic options. Our house was on T Mobile, my phone is Verizon. T Mobile was down, but I could call on Verizon. Recently, the situation was reversed but because our wifi is T Mobile, when Verizon had their glitch during thehurricane,I could sill communicate with the outside world.

[@annelefevre9457]

You can hardly get to Newport w/out hitting isolation spots! even going all the way up thru Portland,you’re going to hit some spots.But that Southern Oregon route is pretty lonely. I love Newport. My son and his family lived in Corvallis, and we made many trips over to Newport. Lovely spot. Our favorite is clam chowder! And we are at the most wonderful spots. Once you leave the Oregon desserts…..it’s so lovely. They have moved to Twin Falls Idaho now….so it is “bye bye” Oregon Coast! I miss it!

[@virginiaallen4723]

We actually camp in our car, which is a Tesla and we keep warm all night. We have a plug in lunch box that truckers use and warm our meals in there. While charging, we eat our meals. We recently went to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. We charge in Page and Tusayan. We take a regular cooler but would love to have one that keeps our frozen ready to eat meals frozen.

[@lamgardn3800]

Yes, Mo's! Our favorite restaurants on the coast! Did you have their blackberry cobbler a la mode? Fantastic!

[@babyroot3479]

We live in the great basin in NE Nevada I'm gonna guess you came through our tiny little town in White Pine County. Did you take the loneliest highway (50) on your journey? How do you feel about taking freeze dried meals on your trips? Much lighter and can be re heated right in gussetted mylar bags. Great information ❤

[@angelasheppard7197]

I was suprised to see your video pop up at 130am ct