Tips & tricks
Long RV trip? Don't forget the . . .
By Russ and Tina DeMaris
Jul 3, 2008, 07:03

As RVers progress out of the "weekend trip" stage and into those longer  jaunts away from the home base, there's always a worry: What if you forget something important? Many RVers have experienced the "night before syndrome:"  You toss and turn most of the night, stewing about whether you packed all the essentials. It's a rotten way to start a great trip.

There are some tricks that will help you not forget the critical things, and let you stew less about the not-so-criticals. 

First: Become a list maker. As you plan your trip, don't just plan the routing and the "must sees." Plan also for the things you'll need on the trip. As soon as you think of something you might need to accomplish that trip--using the binoculars for watching wildlife, for example, put it on your list. Binoculars! We've found a special notepad for these kinds of things can help a lot.

You'd be surprised the things you can easily shunt off and forget about--until you've actually gotten out on that highway. Often bathroom sundries can be sneaky. When we ready to get away from the home base, we'll set things aside we may use but once a day (or less). Hair spray? Razor? Dental floss? Set it aside on the bathroom counter in a zip-lock bag. That way it's still available for use, but ready to be grabbed as your do your packing.

Some things it may pay just to get "duplicates" and stock them in the RV. If they can take the extremes they might encounter in the rig, and if they're inexpensive enough, keep a extras in the rig so you don't have to 'pack up half the house' when you head out. Some clothing meets this bill--particularly if you won't need any "dressy" clothing while on the road. A couple pairs of jeans, a weeks worth of socks, a few shirts, these probably won't break the bank.

Most RVers find this to be true over the long hall when it comes to the galley. If you have 'inherited' extra pots and pans and other cooking gear, what better place to store (and use) the 'extras' than in the RV. If not, a trip to the second hand store may help your find a wealth of those necessary items without costing an arm and a leg. Of course, over time you'll find you may want to replace some of the less-than-desirables one at a time until the quality of your RV stuff meets what you're used to.

Sometimes the things we worry that we'll forget are things having to do with the house. Leave a set of keys with a trusted friend or relative. Once you're on the road, if you wake up worrying that you forgot to shut the hot water heater off, give a call home. Of course, there's no better way to cultivate the willingness on the part of the folk back home than to offer to do the same for them when they've gone off on vacation.

Still, the worry may remain: Do we have everything we need? There are two approaches to fixing that worry.  First, the psychological: Unless you're heading way off the beaten track, if you forgot something you can't get along without, you can probably find it in a store close to where you're going. 

The second, the physical: When we were snowbirding and would be gone for months at a time, instead of laying awake the night before the trip, we'd move into the RV several days before departure day. With the RV in the driveway, we'd live in it, going through our daily routines "at home." If we'd forgotten something, it was a short stroll back into the house to get the missing whatever. 

RV treking is one of the best ways to get away from the stresses of this system. With a little forethought (and list-making) you can leave another added pressure behind--the one labeled:  What did I forget?



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