Have things changed for you? (Class B related)

[markopolo]

I find it interesting how we change. Our likes and dislikes etc. This forum spans 7 years now so it is interesting to see some of my old posts.

When we both had busy jobs destination camping was what we really liked. A week in Pacific Rim National Park for example was just what we wanted. Cooking pancakes outside in the early morning even if it was 50F was fun even if your food was cold before you finished eating. I couldn't wait to try cooking over a campfire after seeing photos of Davydd doing that.

Right now, touring around is what we like to do. We didn't cook a single meal outside on our last trip. That was a first for us. We really didn't do much cooking at all on the trip. Roasted chicken and fresh salads from grocery stores can hit the spot. Some of the fresh prepped meals in grocery stores aren't that expensive compared to the raw ingredients now. I remember a salmon with shrimp sauce with mixed rice dish that I picked up for around $6 in a grocery store in Quebec. I doubt I could make that dish for $6. So right now, convenience and touring is what we like.

I full expect we'll change again.

[booster]

Originally Posted by markopolo

I find it interesting how we change. Our likes and dislikes etc. This forum spans 7 years now so it is interesting to see some of my old posts.

When we both had busy jobs destination camping was what we really liked. A week in Pacific Rim National Park for example was just what we wanted. Cooking pancakes outside in the early morning even if it was 50F was fun even if your food was cold before you finished eating. I couldn't wait to try cooking over a campfire after seeing photos of Davydd doing that.

Right now, touring around is what we like to do. We didn't cook a single meal outside on our last trip. That was a first for us. We really didn't do much cooking at all on the trip. Roasted chicken and fresh salads from grocery stores can hit the spot. Some of the fresh prepped meals in grocery stores aren't that expensive compared to the raw ingredients now. I remember a salmon with shrimp sauce with mixed rice dish that I picked up for around $6 in a grocery store in Quebec. I doubt I could make that dish for $6. So right now, convenience and touring is what we like.

I full expect we'll change again.

Interesting that you mention the roasted chicken and salad, as we just did that for the first time on our last trip. We usually will cook chicken breasts on the grill with enough for a couple of days of salads, but didn't feel like doing all the work of the cleaning, marinating, etc at that time. We both kind of went, " you know, that was really worth the little bit it cost, compared to the convenience".

[Davydd]

Marko,

On our southwest trip this fall we used our Dutch oven twice, once to make stew and once to make apple cobbler. We also did the crockpot in the sink trip while driving once again. A lot of times, especially if the weather is nice, we do our cooking outside with a Coleman propane stove mainly just to keep the smells out of the B and when cooking things like bacon for breakfast. We've got our routines down for efficiency. I also like to eat out as I am a road food addict on Roadfood.com and I created and run a group on Facebook called, Pursuing the Breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwich. But after awhile eating out every meal also gets rather tedious and even boring and is really not very healthy. Keep in mind most of our trips have been for a month or more so we vary things and I do plan out some restaurant destinations.

We also vary where we stay anywhere from a Walmart (deliberately in Dodge City, KS) to KOAs (they are consistent, full service, for travelers, but expensive) to state parks, national forests and national parks. We had one stretch of 9 straight days this last trip dry camping in the national parks and forests which leaves me wondering why the fuss over something like an E-trek. Our record is 14 straight days in California in our old Pleasure-way Plateau with on battery. It is not all that hard to do. Still only up to 13 hours on our generator after 56,000 miles in three seasons mostly to brew morning coffee. We stay on the 2-lane blue highways over 90% of the time and take the business routes through the small towns to see the town squares and potential cafes. Yet, McDonalds is always a consistent morning stop for more coffee, restroom break or Internet catchup.

Four days in one place was the most we did on our last trip. The first was at the Kansas BEE Social in September at a public campground and the second was at Capitol Reef National Park Fruita campground, a place we had camped twice before. On our Alaska trip we ended up only once spending as much as 4 days in one place and that was drycamping in Seward backed up on the bay because it was just so nice. Our most is 5 days in one place, Bucks Lake National Forest Sierra Nevada Mountains in California and Glacier National Park, both dry camping situations.

[yizit]

We like mixing it up. Depending on our "plan" for the day, we might fix a quick breakfast, cold cereal etc, have a big lunch out and save half for later or the next day. Last year we bought a slow cooker, best thing we did. I'm not a cook, I like quick fix meals. If it takes more then 15 min to prepare, it doesn't get made. Also carry a gas grill, grilling or making meals in aluminum foil...quick, easy, and no clean up.

We no longer go on "vacation", we call them "trips", since we have retired. Our first year after retirement (going on #4), we were still on vacation mode....gotta keep moving....no time to sit around. Some days are still that way, but we are learning how to slow down. To much to see, to little time. We take off in January to escape the cold, and each year we spend more time away. This year we are heading southwest and hope to be gone 6-8 weeks.

Where we spend our nights are state parks or national parks primarily, private campgrounds second popular, and one nighters at a Walmart, etc, or casino. We prefer casinos because they are usually quieter and have 24 hour security. We just bought a new RT Adventurous with 2 AGM batteries and a solar panel. We are set to dry camp for longer periods of times. We'll be doing that more this winter "trip".

[gordonhks]

My things have changed for us. We used to be based in Kansas City. I had a saying (borrowed from a friend) that Kansas City is in the middle of everything and close to nothing. We had to travel 600 miles or so to see anything different. Unless you count the rather cool regions of the Ozarks, which were only 250 or so miles away. As a result of our geographic location almost all of the trips were big events, of at least one week and generally more.

We have since relocated full time to Florida. North of Tampa Bay to be more precise. There are a plethora of locations within 2-4 hours away. Now we pull the B out of storage in the morning, shlep some food into the refrigerator. Grab some clothes, electronic toys and DVD's and head out. Within a couple of hours we are at a very cool beach, spring or river and kicked back enjoying the scenery. On this last trip (we just got back yesterday) we were only gone 30 hours. That is 30 hours from breaking out the B to putting her away. In that time we explored Anna Maria Island, Longboat Key, Lido Key, Casey Key, and spent the night at Turtle Beach. Oh yeah, we even squeezed in a Costco run at Sarasota on the way home.

That all having been said, we are planning a 10,000 plus mile trip to Alaska next summer.

But all in all things have changed for us measurably....But the B still fits into the equation admirably.

[kellyllek]

I live alone in mostly one large room. I really feel going Class B will be pretty much what I do now but mobile. The first year I cooked out on my mini joe charcoal BBQ just about every night. (I even rigged up an electric coal starter through the base of the BBQ, and set the whole thing sitting on a small metal trash can, and cut a hole in the bottom so I don't have to empty the ashes ). But now I use it maybe once a week, though a little more in the summer.

In the course of cooking out though I changed my diet to lose weight, and being on my own the bag salad with endless varieties have been an easy revolution. But now I'm lazy and I often go to Trader Joes and grab 4 or 6 various bagged salads, and then a couple packs of their pre-cooked chicken. The rosemary version is my fav. and each pack lasts me two 'salads'. I simply add olive oil and salt and pepper. Sometimes macadamias or peanuts. Really though I can add anything, and it's endless! but my favorite non-cooked salads are the precooked chicken, pre-cooked bacon, crab, poached salmon, shrimp, or meatless entirely with stuffed grape leaves or just olives. Again, it's endless, it's mostly healthy, and 10+salads a week as led me toward 80lbs in weight loss.

But nothing beats the BBQ and throwing anything you can imagine on it, right down to the lettuce itself! I could write a book on the endless salads you can do (I wouldn't be the first!). The upshot is I imagine I'll really enjoy cooking both out and in, but I reckon most of the meals won't involve cooking. I'll spend more time brewing up coffee, which is another topic of conversation...

[Mike]

We're tourers, plain and simple. There's still too much out there we haven't seen, to stay put for very long. Not set in stone, but in general, we like to keep moving. A couple of days max at any one place, before we get the itch to get going again.
When we do park to rest or eat, our usual relaxation and food choices are based on proximity. Whatever we happen to be near will usually do, and that could be anything from an interstate rest area, to a National Park campground, and all the other options in between.
Since we rarely make coffee or prepare food, we buy almost everything we eat cooked or cold, and carry a backup supply of assorted junk food, in case we're in the middle of nowhere. So, depending on where we are, our options might be many, but are always limited by proximity. It may not be the best choice nutritionally, but it serves (no pun) the purpose in the morning, or near the end of the day, depending on what we're in the mood for. When available, our daily routine might start with coffee for breakfast from a truck stop or a Starbucks, followed by something from McDonald's to stoke the fire. Another one of our weaknesses road food wise, has been the Walmart hot deli counter, too. If we happen to be at a campground where there's a general store or other grocery place, we might avail ourselves of whatever they had to offer. If the choices weren't particularly attractive or palatable, we'd just snack on our usual backup supply of ready to eat junk food, and deal with a more typical meal at our earliest opportunity.
I think we've decided that the convenience of not having to cook it, and clean up afterwards, except to dispose of the containers and plastic cutlery, is worth the price of admission to us.

[Rok]

Maggie, my wife, likes to eat healthy, so we usually load up on prepared dishes from the local Health Food Store in Seattle called PCC (Puget Consumers Co-op). When on the road we will try to find similar places, but we will also go to Whole Foods if we have to. Most things are just heated in the microwave. I don't think we've ever used the stove. We have a Keurig for Maggie's coffee and my hot chocolate. I'm not as health food concious as she is, so I will grab something from most any fast food place. One of the things I like is BBQ, so I actively seek that out whenever possible. That's not to say that I don't have my health food favorites as well.

So I guess we started out lazy, so we won't have to gravitate into it. We've only been at this for 8 months, so our diet might degrade further, but with Maggie's health consciouness, I doubt it.

One thing that we learned quickly was to travel less each day and camp/explore more. When we started out we were driving 3-8 hours a day. We found that that doesn't leave much time for fun stuff. Now we try to take off a few days earlier and see some sights.

That's the most substantial change we've made.

............Rocky

[Davydd]

Our schedule is such that we prefer to drive only in the morning and get to our next stop as early as possible. It makes for a better chance of getting a good camp site and gives you most of the rest of the day to do things.

[ennajean]

Still on our fall trip.....we did spend 2 weeks in Lake Havasu Az. which was our longest stay ever in one place....stayed at Cattail Cove state park about 15 miles outside of Lake Havasu. Usually spend 2 to 3 days in a area. We vary between cooking outside on a fire or restaurants or getting deli food. It's amazing how a dish of cereal tastes good after a few days of eating out or a piece of toast for breakfast.

[Rick]

Like most of the posts we like to travel and move around. If we have hydro I will use the forman grill for chicken, salmon, shrimp etc. We also have an electric burner we use. No hydro it is the colman. We went to florida last winter and enjoyed eating out at some of the neat restaurants along the gulf coast. We are heading back there again this April.